Paris: The Apartment that Time Forgot

Buried treasure.  Buried in the middle of Paris. In the 9th arrondissement, not far from Pigalle to be precise.  This is the apartment that was shut down and forgotten for 70 years "with the rent faithfully paid".  I wish I were the one who discovered it!

 This place is brimming with antique treasures.  Anyone the least bit interested would snap these up!  Corey taught me that unlike IKEA, antiques hold their value.  If you find something you love and you can afford, it's a good idea to buy it because your children will get something for it...

Just look at the bergère chair on the right, and the paintings and ooohhh!  The pretty dishes.  That coffered ceiling isn't too bad either...  I could live with that chandelier too!

Now the ostrich doesn't do anything for me but I would love the shawl that he is wearing and Mickey must be worth a fortune!   The faux panelling behind the ostrich, I have in my bedroom already... Check!  But I don't have a vanity table and mirror like this... The damask paper and gold curtains are not a bit dated don't you think?  What about those ivory vanity pieces eh?

 

And the mystery woman who owned all of this loveliness and decided to stay safe in Provence is: The granddaughter of Marthe de Florian painted above by Boldoni in 1898 when she was 24.  The starting price for the painting was 300,000 euros and it sold for over 2,000,000.  This article says that Miss de Florian lived in the apartment all of her life and that beribboned letters from fervent admirers were found...

Now, who was the granddaughter and why oh why was she so neglectful? Did she not know about it, or did the decades of dust in the apartment hide some sordid details?

Woudn't this make a great novel or movie? If I were a gifted writer, I would fly to Paris right now and research the story.  Then I would leisurely write it in Provence as a retirement project.

What do you think of that?

Bon weekend!

Stella