About antique

Alexandre-Evariste Fragonard, trained at David’s workshop, became one of the most esteemed painters under the Empire. At the instigation of Napoleon I, who appreciated these narrative bas-reliefs of antique spirit, he began a collaboration with the Manufacture of Sèvres in 1812.
Thanks to the restoration of the paintings of the vestibule in 2007, the Fragonard E signature was discovered at the foot of the painted pattern above the left door accessing the large living room. These grey paints mounted on chassis, seven panels, installed during the construction of the villa in 1899-1901, come from the castle of the Faulotte in Nogent-sur-Marne destroyed in 1898 after major deterioration due to the war of 1870.
It is certainly at that time, corresponding to the construction of the villa in Nicaragua, that Victor Masséna acquired the paintings of Fragonard and installed them in the gallery where they are currently.