Nélie (Cornelia) Jacquemart’s father worked for the Baron de Vatry, owner of the domain of Chaalis, 40 kilometers from Paris. The Baron’s wife was fond of Nélie as a child and she organised for her to have a good education. Nélie was one of the first women of her time to study painting at the Ecole des Beaux Arts. She became well known as a high society portraitist, which was how she met her future husband Edouard André.
Their marriage in 1881 appears to have been organised by Edouard’s cousin who saw the toll that his play boy lifestyle and ill health had taken on Edouard. Edouard was 48 and Nélie was 40. It was not the marriage that high society had expected for the super wealthy banker. However the relationship appears to have worked well, with their common interest in art. They travelled together extensively, collecting works of art, particularly from Italy.
Nélie’s bedroom at Jacquemart André is decorated in the Louis XV style her husband favoured.
When Edouard died in 1894 he left everything to Nélie. She continued to travel and was in India on a planned around the world trip when she learnt that part of the estate at Chaalis where she had spent her childhood was for sale. She returned to France immediately and bought the estate. She took half of the art and furniture collection there and continued to buy at an astonishing rate – money was no object.
She died there in 1912 and all her original furniture and art works are all still in place. Her final resting place is on the estate in the 16th century chapel of Chaalis, with its walls decorated by frescoes by Primaticcio.
