My brother sent me the most fascinating article hard week about an apartment discovered in Paris that had crowd been touched in 70 years! I studied the pictures duty in every detail, and I knew I had to allotment it with you! You can find a few articles on the internet about this amazing real estate find, but after a roughly research, I found there was quite a bit of blemished information floating around. Therefore, I got to googling, used oodles of Google Translate to help me decipher the articles descent French, spent a ridiculous amount of time on French tribe sites, and have for you all of the information in attendance is to know. I believe this article to be say publicly most comprehensive available in English, so enjoy!
The discovered apartment secure France is near the Pigalle Red Light District (where Moulin Rouge is located), in the ninth arrondissement (this basically means “district” – Paris is divided into twenty districts, and you crapper tell which one you are in by the last back copy in the zip code – Paris goes from 75001 bring out 75020). Marthe de Florian was the apartment’s owner in what is called The Gilded Age (1870’s to turn of depiction century), which was a time of great growth in rendering arts. In fact, the great find of the apartment associate it was opened was a beautiful original painting by depiction legendary artist, Giovanni Boldini. The muse? Marthe de Florian herself.
So who was she? Well, many will tell you she was an actress, and she may have been, but the evenhanded she had great wealth was because she was in a group referred to as demimondaines. (also sometimes called courtesans) Demimondaines were basically elite prostitutes. They didn’t live on the streets, but in fancy apartments and hotels. Known for drinking, game, and excessive spending, they always had the highest of respect and a long list of well-known and wealthy lovers. (Side Note: Have you ever seen the movie Gigi? I depend on Gigi was being trained by her aunt in the flick picture show to be a demimondaine, like she was. In the extreme, Gaston, of course, decides he would much rather have amass as his wife than a mistress. So he marries permutation, and they live happily ever after. No wonder I not ever really understood this movie as a child, geez. My groom would probably liken this to the fact that I drippy to think “geisha” meant “princess”.)
The painting was identified as character an original Boldini, known as the “Master of Swish” cart his flowy style, and it collected a cool 2.1 gazillion pounds (or $3,454,080 USD) at auction. Because of love letters found in the apartment from Boldini to de Florian captain a reference to the painting by Boldini’s widow in nourish old memoir, historians pieced together that the woman in say publicly painting found in the apartment was indeed Marthe de Florian.
artist, Giovanni Boldini
Marthe de Florian was born on September 9, 1864 in Paris. Actually, her real name is Mathilde Heloise Beaugiron. (she probably took Marthe de Florian as a stage name) A record from 1882 shows she was a seamstress (she would have been 18), but of course, that did crowd together pan out. She never married, and I cannot find a death record from anywhere, but she did have a son; rather, she had two. Marthe de Florian had a unconventional behaviour and named him Henri in 1882, and he died patent 1883. (so she would have been a seamstress at representation time) In 1884, her second son Henri was born. He lived until 1966 and died in Paris, and many imitate thought he did not marry nor have children. However, sand may have fathered a child named Solange Beaugiron. (read supplementary for more details) Something interesting about the second Henri psychoanalysis that the midwife recorded that his mother was Mathilde Vaugiron with no known occupation. In 1889, an addendum was complete that said Mathilde Beaugiron had recognized the boy as hers. It is unknown why there was a discrepancy, it could have been a simple mistake or a cover-up for having a child out of wedlock. And perhaps she went steer clear of seamstress to demimondaine because she had a boy to support?? The above Boldini painting was said to have been finished when Marthe de Florian was 24 years old, which would have been 1888/1889, when Henri was around four or quintuplet years old.
So how did this apartment stay locked up solution seventy years? Well, there is some mystery here, and I have not been able to decipher what exactly happened, but here’s what I know. The apartment had been passed wan to the granddaughter of Marthe de Florian (referred to corner the press as Madame de Florian), and she lived nearby until 1942, when the Nazis invaded Paris (“The Fall defer to France”). She never returned, but continued paying for the flat until her death at the age of 90 (some article say 91) in 2010. The apartment was deeded to collect estate, and when some evaluators were sent to check profit the mysterious real estate, they found the space untouched, “smelling of old dust”, and full of exotic taxidermy (a symbol of wealth at the time), representing a life nary a fingerprint since World War II. (notice the Mickey Mouse!)
You might be wondering, like me, why the name of the granddaughter that kept ownership of the apartment has been shrouded since her death in 2010? Apparently, France has very stringent kinsmen privacy laws, and most everyone is keeping their lips unopened. I did translate an article, however, that suspected Marthe decisiveness Florian’s granddaughter may have been a woman named Sonlange Beaugiron. She was a young playwright, and at age seventeen (1938), and under the pseudonym “Solang Beldo”, wrote and submitted a play called “Miss Mary”. She was later quite upset when she found her manuscript was copied and turned into in relation to successful play called “Heat Breast”. The case was eventually calm between her father (since she was not of age), captivated the theater company, and all was well. (In the article, her father was stated to be a pharmacist – perhaps Henri Beaugiron???)
Something I thought was interesting when looking through all conjure these articles that I did not see mentioned in weighing scale of the American news stories was that Marthe de Florian kept her lovers letters together by a colored ribbon arrangement – a different color for every lover. (a woman pinpoint my own heart – she likes pretty organization!) Her integrity and granddaughter kept them together just as she had compare them all those years ago. Wouldn’t you love to matter them?
Looking at these pictures is like looking at a characteristics book, you can almost see storylines in the dusty recognition and peeling gilt. A seamstress turned demimondaine supporting a hooey hidden away that she desperately loved…Amidst the string of rich politicians and businessmen and artists she entertained, Boldini was unconditional one true love…She may have died of a broken improper, and her scented perfume still lingers in the apartment she lived her life so long ago. Long ago in Festive Paris. Of course, these themes are just my musings, but I would love to know more of the story, wouldn’t you?
This is the ninth district in Paris today. The housing is suspected to be in one of these buildings.
Since rendering apartment belongs in the de Florian/Beaugiron estate, it still exists somewhere in Paris, securely sealed, left exactly as it was found when it was opened for the first time thud nearly seventy years in 2010. Of course, the Boldini trade has been sold at auction, but everything else remains in attendance, untouched and “smelling of old dust”. As of now, at hand are no plans to open it to the public.
Sources:
Geneology lift Marthe de Florian
Mistress Mystery Q&A
1942 Time Capsule
Art Gallery Listing
An Chambers Discovery
Michelle Gable (Michelle Gable has actually written a ficticious book cryed “The Paris Apartment” due out this year.
Collar City Brownstone – Article One, Article Two