La fabrique du luxe: The Parisian Marchands Merciers of Eighteenth-Century
Discover the origins of Parisian luxury with the exhibition “La fabrique du luxe” – The Parisian Marchands Merciers of Eighteenth-Century. From September 29th, 2018 to January 27th, 2019, the Cognacq-Jay Museum is organizing the very first exhibition dedicated to the origins of Parisian art and luxury.
Agenda![]()
From September 29, 2018 to January 27, 2019, the Cognacq-Jay museum will organize the very first exhibition dedicated to the origins of Parisian art and luxury. The museum will present a hundred works of art, documents and archives illustrating the origins of Parisian luxury through the destinies of merchants such as Gersaint or Duvaux.
“Merchants of everything and doers of nothing“, following the famous statement made by Diderot in his Encyclopedia, constituted one of the most important Parisian companies in the eighteenth century. As a merchant, importer, collector, designer and decorator, mercer was a major player in the rise of the luxury industry at that time.
“One should not be surprised that the Mercerie Corps is regarded with such distinction, since it is he who has always supported the trade of foreign countries, having few regions in the world, for remote that they can be, where he has not penetrated to bring the trade of France“, explains Jacques Savary Des Brûlons, the French Inspector General of the Manufactures for the King Louis XIV in his book, Dictionnaire Universel De Commerce.
The Parisian Marchands Merciers are at the heart of a network with three poles: the sponsor, the craftsman or artist and “fashion“. Thus, to become known and expand their networks, they developed the mechanisms of advertising promotion, with the assistance of anonymous artists or artists like Boucher or Watteau. The Cognacq-Jay museum will present this atypical character, who maintained links in the high aristocracy and relied on an international network of artists.
PRACTICAL INFORMATION
Date : From September 29, 2018 to January 27, 2019
Place : Cognacq-Jay museum, Paris
Lear more: http://www.museecognacqjay.paris.fr/
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