Up for auction is the history of France, the Bourbons and the Restoration, of the great haute couture, of that mansion that was once the sumptuous setting for the Rothschild family’s lunches and dances. A universe of unprecedented wealth, the Lambert hotel on Ile Saint-Louis, with a breathtaking view of the Seine, very glamorous and above all sophisticated, will go to auction at Sotheby’s next October. Over one thousand and 300 objects including furniture, paintings, furnishings, silverware and jewelery services that belonged to Marie-Antoniette, Madame du Barry and Madame de Pampadour alongside real works of art that once lived in the residences of the industrialist, businessman and collector of Bolivian origin Antenor Patino.
Up for auction is the history of France, the Bourbons and the Restoration, of the great haute couture signed by Karl Lagerfeld and Hubert de Givenchy, of that mansion that was once the sumptuous setting for the Rothschild family’s lunches and dances. A universe of unprecedented wealth, the Lambert hotel on Ile Saint-Louis, with a breathtaking view of the Seine, very glamorous and above all sophisticated, will go to auction at Sotheby’s next October. Over one thousand and 300 objects including furniture, paintings, furnishings, silverware and jewelry services that belonged to Marie-Antoniette, Madame du Barry and Madame de Pampadour alongside real works of art that once lived in the residences of the industrialist and businessman and collector of Bolivian origin Antenor Patino.
It is the third time, in the last 50 years, that the treasure of the Lambert hotel, once owned by Baron Guy de Rotschild and his wife Marie Hélène, a lady of absolute appeal and elegance, for over 20 years the queen of one of the most loved and sought after by the French capital, it is auctioning its treasures. Now the Hotel Lambert, which hosted Voltaire and Jean-Jacques Rousseau in its salons, has been bought by the last owner, Prince Abdullah bin Khalifa, brother of the former Emir of Qatar, a very wealthy businessman, Xavier Niel, founder of the Iliad group, for over 200 million euros.
A spacious residence, almost a castle by Louis Le Vau, the ‘director’ of the Palace of Versailles, about 4 thousand square meters that the telecommunications magnate would like to transform to accommodate a cultural foundation.
Curious history, that of the Hotel Lambert, which has always remained in private hands since its construction, strongly desired by the financier Jean-Baptiste Lambert de Thorigny and then passed into the hands of Claude Dupin, former owner of Chenonceau Castle and later of the Polish princess Anna Czartoryska. Chopin also frequented the Ile Saint-Louis hotel and wrote some of his famous ‘polonaise’ at the Lambert hotel alongside famous names of the aristocracy and great cinema such as the Orléans-Bragance family, the Duchess of Sutherland, the actress Michèle Morgan, the unforgettable and eccentric Baron de Redé.
According to what the French weekly announces, shows and exhibitions will be organized in some European capitals before the Sotheby’s auction. The fairytale universe of what it once was, the Lambert hotel will relive for a few days. They will be the last. ”Then the curtain will finally fall.