Musée Cognacq-Jay

Portrait by François Boucher, c. 1760, in the Musée Cognacq-Jay

The Musée Cognacq-Jay is a museum located in the Hôtel Donon in the 3rd arrondissement at 8 rue Elzévir, Paris, France. It is open daily except Monday; admission is free. The nearest Metro stations are Saint-Paul and Chemin Vert.

The museum's collection was formed between 1900–1925 by Théodore-Ernest Cognacq (1839-1928) and his wife Marie-Louise Jay (1838–1925), founders of La Samaritaine department store. At his death, Cognacq gave the collection to the City of Paris, which in 1929 inaugurated the Musée Cognacq-Jay at 25 boulevard des Capucines. In 1990 it was moved to the Hôtel Donon (circa 1575) in the Marais, where the collection is displayed in twenty paneled rooms (four floors) in the styles of Louis XV and Louis XVI.

The museum contains an exceptional collection of fine art and decorative items, about 1200 items in total, with an emphasis on 18th century France, ranging from European and Chinese ceramics, jewels, and snuffboxes, to paintings by Louis-Léopold Boilly, François Boucher, Canaletto, Jean-Siméon Chardin, Jean-Honoré Fragonard, Jean-Baptiste Greuze, Maurice Quentin de La Tour, Sir Thomas Lawrence, Hubert Robert, Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, and Jean-Antoine Watteau; sculpture by Jean-Antoine Houdon, Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne, and Jacques-François-Joseph Saly; and fine furniture attributed to Jean-François Oeben and Roger Van der Cruse. 17th century is also represented, notably with two paintings by Rembrandt while 19th century is represented with works by Camille Corot, Paul Cézanne and also Edgar Degas.

See also

• List of museums in Paris

References

• Musée Cognacq-Jay
• Paris.org entry
• ParisInfo entry
• Paris-Tourisme entry
• New York Times article
• Seymour de Ricci, Musée Cognacq-Jay : catalogue, Paris, 1929.
• Isabelle Néto, Musée Cognacq-Jay, musée du XVIIIe siècle de la Ville de Paris : catalogue des collections ; le mobilier, Paris, Paris-Musées, 2001.
• Nathalie Lemoine-Bouchard, Musée Cognacq-Jay, musée du XVIIIe siècle de la Ville de Paris : catalogue des collections ; les miniatures, Paris, Paris-Musées, 2002.
• Thérèse Burollet, Musée Cognacq-Jay, musée du XVIIIe siècle de la Ville de Paris : catalogue des collections ; les peintures, Paris, Paris-Musées, 2004.

Coordinates: 48°51′29.5″N 2°21′41″E / 48.858194°N 2.36139°E / 48.858194; 2.36139