Stage Jewels of the Comédie-Française

All imitations! L’École des Arts Joailliers inaugurated its new Parisian address with a rich collection of stage jewellery from the Comédie-Française, despite long months of delay and a veil of modesty worthy of the greatest tragediennes. Scheduled to run from October 2023 to February 2024, the exhibition finally waited until late spring to open its doors, the pieces waiting patiently under the gleaming decor of the Hôtel de Mercy-Argenteau. In the end, it’s no big deal, even if enthusiasts were impatient. Let’s hope they won’t be disappointed, as the presentation is so seductive and perfectly staged, revealing to the uninitiated some fascinating and little-known objects that the display skilfully links to the most famous figures of the French, from Talma to Sarah Bernhardt, via the mythical Rachel (ill. 1 and 2). As Agathe Sanjuan, who has long looked after this heritage and is now curating this exhibition, points out, no objects from before the 19th century have been preserved, and they have to be imagined with the help of archives or paintings, such as the three superb portraits of actresses that welcome visitors: Mlle Dumesnil and Mlle Raucourt as Agrippina and Adrienne Lecouvreur as Monime, painted by Donat Nonnotte, Adèle Romany and François de Troy.

1. View of the "Stage Jewels of the Comédie-Française" exhibition at the Hôtel de Mercy-Argenteau
Photo: Benjamin Chelly

See the image in its page

2. View of the "Stage Jewels of the Comédie-Française" exhibition at the Hôtel de Mercy-Argenteau
Photo: Benjamin Chelly

See the image in its page

The Comédie-Française’s "fine arts" collections are undoubtedly much better known, although they are often invisible to the general public. Willingly on loan, they also provided the material for a rich exhibition at the Petit Palais at the end of 2011 (see article), but in which these precious relics remained absent, their status oscillating between the utilitarian - the notice of…