Museo Nacional de Arte Decorativo | |
 | |
 Palacio Errazúriz, seat of the museum | |
 | |
| Established | 1937 [1] |
|---|---|
| Location | Buenos Aires, Argentina |
| Type | Art museum |
| Accreditation | Municipal museum |
| Key holdings | Palacio Errázuriz (1911) |
| Collections | Luix XV Art deco |
| Director | Alberto Bellucci |
| Owner | Government of the City of Buenos Aires |
| Website | museoartedecorativo.cultura.gob.ar |
The National Museum of Decorative Arts is an art museum in Recoleta, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
The museum has its origins in a marriage in 1897 between two prominent members of turn-of-the-century Argentine high society: Matías Errazúriz, the son of Chilean émigrés, and Josefina de Alvear, the granddaughter of Independence-era leader Carlos María de Alvear.
The couple commissioned French architect René Sergent in 1911 to design a mansion for Errazúriz's future retirement from the diplomatic corps, in which he had been Ambassador to France for a number of years. The ornate Neoclassical structure inspired the Bosch family to commission a similar palace nearby (today the United States Ambassador's residence). Completed in 1916, the couple devoted the following two years to decorating the palace, purchasing a large volume of antiques and other objets d'art.
When Mrs. Errazúriz died in 1935, however, the widower bequeathed the mansion to the Argentine government, on his son's and daughter's advice. The National Museum of Decorative Arts was established in 1937. [1]
Under Law 12351 the Argentine state bought the residence and the art collections which gave birth to the Museo Nacional de Arte Decorativo on 18 December 1937. The project of the building, a sample of pure eclecticism, was designed by the French architect René Sergent in 1911 but it was finished in 1917 due to the difficulties caused by the First World War. Sergent's team was a group of selected decorators specialized in interior-decoration and gardens. H. Nelson, G. Hoentschel, M. Carlhian worked the rooms; the gardens were the responsibility of the French expert Achille Duchêne. The materials were brought from Europe: wooden panels, mirrors, marble, woodworks, frames, latches; a number of European artisans were called for some of the stucco decorations.
Its imposing and sober façade takes from the French Neo-classicism of the 18th century, especially from the works of Jacques A. Gabriel, architect in the Court of Louis XV. The building has four levels visible from the external façade: on the basement, the windows of the cellars. Gigantic Corinthian columns in the façade cover the two most important levels: the principal floor with round arches leading to the garden and terrace and the first floor where the family rooms were installed. On the top floor, in the attic were the rooms of the servants with the windows hidden by a balustrade.
The Entrance Hall: The walls and the ceiling are completely covered by fake Paris stone. The luxurious stairs lead to the principal floor. Its sumptuous Louis XV style was accomplished including in its decoration Ionic pilasters, arcs and groin vault ceilings. Above the cornice are allegories of the Arts: Music, Architecture, Sculpture and Painting which emphasize the Neoclassic character of the rooms.
Antechamber: Decorated in a Neoclassic mode, the Louis XV style is evident in the wooden panels: polished oak with frames and carvings, the ceiling – with central lighting – is decorated with plaster frames. This is a room that connects with four other rooms and the area of the stairs and the lift.
The Great Hall (Renaissance): It is the biggest apartment of the residence and the only one with double height and an axis around which all the activities of the house took place. The ceiling is decorated with caissons and patterned glass; above: a hidden structure of big iron entablature to support five big chandeliers. The floor consists of parquetry with a design of stars combining maple and walnut wood. High windows with colored glass, the decoration of the ceiling, the imposing fireplace and the walls covered with tapestry and wood evoke the great English halls of the 16th century Tudor style.
The Dining-room: This luxurious room was planned bearing in mind the frequent dinners and social events offered by Mr. Matías Errázuriz and Mrs. Josefina de Alvear. It was inspired by the Palace of Versailles and especially its Hercules Room was the chosen model. The baroque atmosphere was accomplished by the combination of marble from Carrara in Italy and from the French Central Massif.
The Winter Garden: creates a beautiful connection between the dining-room and the ball room. As far as design is concerned, the selection of sober Louis XVI style has proved fundamental. The color of the walls is in harmony with the golden and pale tones of the walls of the Regency Room. The texture and shades of the marble works replicated in this room by stucco decorations create a total harmony with the panels in the dining-room.
The Ball-room: evokes the period of the Regency and the transition from the solemn luxury of the Baroque to the subtle grace of the Rococo. The curves are the outstanding feature of the design. All the frames, the wooden plates joining the ceiling by means of a decidedly curved carving, the angles of the room and the union of the walls with the ceiling are based upon curved lines. The pale colors, the use of the light and its reflections, the abundance of the gilding and of mirror-panels hide the limits of the actual space.
The Room of Madame: Comfortable chairs, armchairs, tables and boudoirs of Louis XVIII design were favored by Mrs. Josefina de Alvear's when receiving visitors. The panels of painted wood, the frame woods and ornamental molding remind the visitor of the influence of Marie Antoinette in all the decoration. All the chandeliers, crystal, and bronze were inspired in the decoration of the Versailles' Grand Trianon.
The Study of Mr. Matías de Errázuriz: is entirely the accomplishment of the French decorator André Carlhian (1887-1963). Here we can admire the combination of panels of carved, polished oak and some sections in red velvet tapestry. In this Neoclassic room, Don Matías enjoyed his moments of solitary meditation, surrounded by paintings from the 19th century, Japanese lacquer decorations, and the Chinese hard stones.
The first floor was reserved to the private rooms of the family. Each member had an apartment with a private living room, bedroom, dressing room, bathroom and toilette.
The Gallery of Tapestries surrounds the Great Hall on three sides. Here we can admire French and Flemish tapestries of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries along with furniture and paintings from the same periods.
The "Sert" room: was the boudoir of Matías Errázuriz Alvear and its name honors the Catalan painter, Josep Maria Sert (1876-1945), who created this decoration in the Art Déco style. The stucco paneled walls, the enormous entablature, the gilded doors, and the four paintings are part of the project of the Spanish artist.
The antechambers and the bedroom of Matías Errázuriz Alvear complete the apartments of the son. These rooms do not have the original furniture, which was taken when the house was sold, but they are presented with an exceptional assembly of furniture and objects of neo-classic style of the period comprised between the era of Louis XVI and Napoleon I.
Room Zubov: The room was once a family room. Today it is the site of a collection of miniatures belonging to the Countess Rosario S. de Zubov, dedicated in memory of her daughter Tatiana. In 2000, the Asinari Di Bernezzo collection was added. The whole exhibition shows extraordinary samples of European portraits in miniature from the 16th to 19th centuries. It can be paralleled with the important French and English collections.
The museum maintains twelve exhibit halls and nine permanent collections containing over 4,000 objects including:
The collection is also complemented by temporary exhibits, and the museum hosts regular choral concerts as well as classes and seminars. Visitors can also enjoy Café Croque Madame, whose tables are set in the gardens in good weather. Since 1944, the Argentine Academy of Letters has also been housed in this location.
Rococo, less commonly Roccoco, also known as Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and dramatic style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpted moulding, and trompe-l'œil frescoes to create surprise and the illusion of motion and drama. It is often described as the final expression of the Baroque movement.
Palace of Fontainebleau, located 55 kilometers southeast of the center of Paris, in the commune of Fontainebleau, is one of the largest French royal châteaux. It served as a hunting lodge and summer residence for many of the French monarchs, beginning with Louis VII. Francis I and Napoleon were the monarchs who had the most influence on the palace as it stands today. It became a national museum in 1927 and was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1981 for its unique architecture and historical importance.
The Catherine Palace is a Rococo palace in Tsarskoye Selo (Pushkin), located 30 kilometres (19 mi) south of St. Petersburg, Russia. It was the summer residence of the Russian tsars. The palace is part of the World Heritage Site Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments.
The Würzburg Residence is a palace in Würzburg, Germany. Johann Lukas von Hildebrandt and Maximilian von Welsch, representatives of the Austrian/Southern German Baroque style, were involved in the construction, as well as Robert de Cotte and Germain Boffrand, who were followers of the French style. Balthasar Neumann, court architect of the Bishop of Würzburg, was the principal architect of the Residence, which was commissioned by the Prince-Bishop of Würzburg Johann Philipp Franz von Schönborn and his brother Friedrich Carl von Schönborn in 1720, and completed in 1744. The Venetian painter Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, assisted by his son, Domenico, painted frescoes in the building.
The Royal Palace of Aranjuez is one of the official residences of the Spanish royal family. It is located in the town of Aranjuez (Madrid), Spain. Established in the 16th century as a royal hunting lodge, the palace was built by order of Philip II. Under his reign it became one of four seasonal seats of the court along Rascafría, El Escorial and the Royal Alcázar of Madrid. The royal estate comprises a set of landscaped and ornate gardens and woodlands that house an extensive botanical collection.
Marble House, a Gilded Age mansion located at 596 Bellevue Avenue in Newport, Rhode Island, was built from 1888 to 1892 as a summer cottage for Alva and William Kissam Vanderbilt and was designed by Richard Morris Hunt in the Beaux Arts style. It was unparalleled in opulence for an American house when it was completed in 1892. Its temple-front portico resembles that of the White House.
A festoon is a wreath or garland hanging from two points, and in architecture typically a carved ornament depicting conventional arrangement of flowers, foliage or fruit bound together and suspended by ribbons. The motif is sometimes known as a swag when depicting fabric or linen.
The Palace of Ajuda is a neoclassical monument in the civil parish of Ajuda in the city of Lisbon, central Portugal. Built on the site of a temporary wooden building constructed to house the royal family after the 1755 earthquake and tsunami, it was originally begun by architect Manuel Caetano de Sousa, who planned a late Baroque-Rococo building. Later, it was entrusted to José da Costa e Silva and Francisco Xavier Fabri, who planned a magnificent building in the modern neoclassical style.
Pavlovsk Palace is an 18th-century Russian Imperial residence built by the order of Catherine the Great for her son Grand Duke Paul, in Pavlovsk, within Saint Petersburg. After his death, it became the home of his widow, Maria Feodorovna. The palace and the large English garden surrounding it are now a Russian state museum and public park.
The New Palace is a palace situated on the western side of the Sanssouci park in Potsdam, Germany. The building was begun in 1763, after the end of the Seven Years' War, under King Friedrich II and was completed in 1769. It is considered to be the last great Prussian Baroque palace.
The Museu Imperial de Petrópolis is a museum in the historic center of Petrópolis, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is housed in the Petrópolis Imperial Palace, the former summer residence of Emperor Pedro II, which was built starting in 1845.
The Château d'Écouen is an historic château in the commune of Écouen, some 20 km north of Paris, France, and a notable example of French Renaissance architecture. Since 1975, it has housed the collections of the Musée national de la Renaissance.
René Sergent was a French architect.
The art collection of Holkham Hall in Norfolk, England, remains very largely that which the original owner intended the house to display; the house was designed around the art collection acquired by Thomas Coke, 1st Earl of Leicester, during his Grand Tour of Italy during 1712–18. To complete the scheme it was necessary to send Matthew Brettingham the younger to Rome between 1747 and 1754 to purchase further works of art.
Louis XVI style, also called Louis Seize, is a style of architecture, furniture, decoration and art which developed in France during the 19-year reign of Louis XVI (1774–1793), just before the French Revolution. It saw the final phase of the Baroque style as well as the birth of French Neoclassicism. The style was a reaction against the elaborate ornament of the preceding Baroque period. It was inspired in part by the discoveries of Ancient Roman paintings, sculpture and architecture in Herculaneum and Pompeii. Its features included the straight column, the simplicity of the post-and-lintel, the architrave of the Greek temple. It also expressed the Rousseau-inspired values of returning to nature and the view of nature as an idealized and wild but still orderly and inherently worthy model for the arts to follow.
The hôtel de la Marine is an historic building located on place de la Concorde in Paris, to the east of rue Royale. It was designed and built between 1757 and 1774 by the architect Ange-Jacques Gabriel, on the newly created square first called Place Louis XV. The identical building to its west, constructed at the same time, now houses the hôtel de Crillon and the Automobile Club of France.
The Palazzo Grimani of Santa Maria Formosa is a State museum, located in Venice in the Castello district, near Campo Santa Maria Formosa.
Hotel Alfonso XIII is a historic hotel in Seville, Spain, located on Calle San Fernando, next to the University of Seville. Designed by the architect José Espiau y Muñoz, it was built between 1916 and 1928 especially for the Ibero-American Exposition of 1929. It officially opened on April 28, 1929, with a sumptuous banquet attended by King Alfonso XIII and Queen Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg. The hotel is owned by the City of Seville and managed by The Luxury Collection division of Marriott International.
The National Museum of Ceramics and Decorative Arts "González Martí", located in Valencia, Spain, is a museum dedicated to ceramics, porcelains and other decorative arts such as textile art, traditional costumes and furniture.
The Medici Villa of Poggio a Caiano, also called Ambra, is one of the most famous Medici villas and is located in Poggio a Caiano (Prato). Today it is state owned and it houses two museums: one of the historic apartments and the Museum of Still Life.
34°34′57.5″S58°24′3.8″W / 34.582639°S 58.401056°W
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
