A lesser known Paris treasure

If you are a museum and gallery explorer, Paris is a city that must not be missed.  Not only are there all of the well known galleries including the Louvre, the Musee d'Orsay, the Orangerie, and the Picasso to name just a few, there are dozens of less well-known, but equally enthralling places to visit.

Old Paris hands may scoff, but we just discovered the Musée Jacquemart-Andrée.  Housed in a magnificent hôtel particulier (a house of distinction) on the Boulevard Haussmann. Once the home of husband and wife Nélie Jacquemart and Edouard Andrée the art collection housed here is the most beautiful private collection in Paris.
  

The mansion and museum

In addition, the museum is the site of wonderful exhibitions.  At the moment it is housing Eugéne Boudin au fil de ses voyages and beginning in September it will have Désirs et volupté a l'époque Victorienne and will be featuring works by Alma-Tadema, Lord Leighton and Burne-Jones.

Concert at the Casino of Deauville (1865)

Venice - The Esclavons Quay, Customs House and the Salute (1895)

Not only are the exhibitions wonderful, the mansion itself is a living museum with gorgeous artworks of all kinds in all the public and private rooms.  To go to an exhibition is delightful, but it is only half the experience if you do not explore the remainder of the house and the other great art works.

The Winter Garden and the Staircase

 If you can, buy your tickets on-line you should do so and avoid the queues which can be extremely long.  Not having the facility to print out tickets we went early to avoid the queue but as a result we were too early to access the delightful tea rooms which are said to be the best in Paris.  On the other hand, by going early, we did manage to avoid the rain which has been plaguing the city for the last several days.