Cognacq-Jay Museum

Discover the Musée Cognacq-Jay’s collection of eighteenth century art.

The Musée Cognacq-Jay invites you to discover its wonderful eighteenth century collection. Painting, sculpture, decorative arts and even furniture –the works you will find here at this location in the very heart of Paris are truly eclectic. The collection was built up by the Cognacqs, whose fame today is still associated with La Samaritaine, the department store founded on the Seine embankment in 1870. Since 1988 it has been located at 8 Rue Elzévir, in the Hôtel de Donon.

Tiepolo, Chardin and Rembrandt himself are some of the master painters you will encounter when wandering through the rooms of the building. As for sulptors, Houdon and Clodion among others, contribute to this brief overview.
The thirty or so commentaries in this app will provide not only a biography of the Cognacqs and a full history of Hôtel Donon, but also information about the eighteenth century way of life. Each work or object is taken as an opportunity to describe the context in which the creative arts were produced and received during the reigns of Louis XV and Louis XVI, the Enlightenment and finally the French Revolution. Portraiture, genre painting, porcelain, exoticism, furniture and even romanticism – these subjects will no longer be a mystery to you!