This volume recounts the centuries-long history of Villa Balbiano, a magnificent architectural masterpiece meticulously restored by Jacques Garcia.

From its prominent position on Lake Como, Villa Balbiano radiates a majestic charm emblematic of the most splendid chapter in the history of great villas in the idyllic Italian region. Each successive owner brought new splendor to the villa through additions, new frescoes and statues, and increasingly extensive and sumptuous gardens. The villa’s history reached an acme at the end of the eighteenth century, when the enlightened Cardinal Angelo Maria Durini, as master of the house, transformed Villa Balbiano into a crucible of philosophy and art, framed within the villa’s archetypical Roman lines.

Today, esteemed interior architect Jacques Garcia has undertaken painstaking restoration work that combines a stunning array of precious materials and a world-class collection of paintings and antique furnishings set against the backdrop of the original design that had been obscured over the centuries. The glorious new restoration inaugurates a new season in the life of the villa in one of the world’s most glamorous locations.

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Nestled in the shadow of the Alps in Italy’s Lakes District, Villa Balbiano has always represented an absolute ideal of fine living.

This romantic sixteenth-century architectural masterpiece is located on Lake Como, one of the world’s most glamorous locations and a place of culture and delight for more than two thousand years. After an exceptional restoration project led by the internationally renowned decorator Jacques Garcia, Villa Balbiano and its gardens are more vibrant than ever.

About the Authors:

Ruben Modigliani, is chief editorial writer for AD Italia. An authority on the history of architecture and taste, he has served on the editorial staff of Elle Decor<, Grazia Casa, and Italia D la Repubblica delle Donne.

Bruno Ehrs is one of Sweden’s leading photographers. Flammarion has published his work in Château de Villette: The Restoration of a French Masterpiece (2018), Chaumet: Parisian Jeweler since 1780 (2017), A Day at Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte (2015), Vacheron Constantin: Artists of Time ( 2015), and One Saville Row, Gieves & Hawkes: The Invention of the English Gentleman (2014).

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Пролистать книгу Villa Balbiano: Italian Opulence on Lake Como

In southeast Sicily, near the town of Noto, Villa Elena — a former monastery restored by Jacques Garcia — is a tranquil oasis among fragrant orchards. Reflecting the interior designer’s passion for ancient civilizations, the domain blends classical, Arabian, and Norman influences with elements borrowed from the Renaissance and the baroque, mirroring Sicilian history. With views stretching to the sea and to Syracuse, the villa is surrounded by shady terraces and lush gardens. This home — evocative of Lampedusa’s The Leopard — has been restored to its former glory through magnificent salons decked with marble, stucco work, majolica tiles, silk, and velvet, revealed here for the first time. Bruno Ehrs’s photographs, taken throughout each season of the year, masterfully capture the decadent splendor and aristocratic lifestyle of this particularly sumptuous locale in Sicily.

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Celebrated interior designer Jacques Garcia invites readers for the first time inside his private residence in Sicily. The former monastery, rebuilt in Noto's characteristic golden limestone, boasts spectacular salons that have been restored with a profusion of noble materials and techniques: colored marbles, flamboyant stucco work, majolica tiles, damask silks, and velvets. Time stops in the elegant music room decorated with embroidered silks and rococo-style mirrors that reflect the decor to infinity; the gilded dining room is hung with silk damask wall coverings, an eighteenth-century Murano chandelier, and furnished with Chantilly porcelain and antique Italian rococo chairs. The grand marble salon features baroque paintings and a stunning collection of sculpture and Sicilian furniture.

The exquisite villa — surrounded by shaded terraces planted with towering cacti, succulents, and colorful birds of paradise — attests to Garcia's love of ancient civilizations, and his masterful blending of Arab, Norman, Renaissance, and Baroque influences that converge in Sicily's colorful history. The domain, dotted with ancient sculptures and reflecting pools, is graced with splendid panoramic views revealing the sea near Syracuse, a distant folly, a restored villa nestled in an ancient olive grove, and the decaying grandeur of a classical temple reconstructed with ancient fragments.

This intimate tour provides a lesson from Jacques Garcia in the art and technique of historic house and garden restoration.

The Château de Villette, situated in a lush woodland near Paris, has been an oasis of art and beauty since its construction (1663–69), according to François Mansart’s plans, among its prestigious ownerswas Sophie de Grouchy, wife of the Marquis de Condorcet. As leading political actors of their era, she and her husband hosted some of the most intellectually influential salons of the prerevolutionary period for an international elite that included Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Paine. The Marquis de Lafayette was a witness at the couple’swedding at Villette in 1786.

New owners have commissioned Jacques Garcia to restore the house and gardens to their idyllic former glory. Presented here for the first time, the result is a veritable museum of French craftsmanship, with interiors featuring fabulous silks and passementeries, as well as eighteenth-century paintings, decorative arts, and furniture. The original stone features and elegant trumeaux and boiseries of the château’s historic dining room have been restored to their initial splendour. Villette’s austerely elegant facade houses an octagonal grand salon that gives way to magical vistas of formal gardens inspired by Le Nôtre, cascading fountains, reflecting pools, and eighteenth-century sculptures, sphinxes, and an obelisk, alluding to classical artistic traditions and eighteenth-century aesthetics. All-new photography, along with drawings by architectural historians Bernd Dams and Andrew Zega, illustrate this lavish volume.

About the Author:

Historian Guillaume Picon wrote several books, including Versailles: A Private Invitation. Bruno Ehrs’s photographs have appeared in many books, including A Day at Château de Vaux le Vicomte. Bernd H. Dams and Andrew Zega create watercolors of historic buildings and garden ornaments.

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Пролистать книгу Château de Villette: The Splendor of French Décor на сайте издательства.

An unprecedented look into the history, art, and gardens of Château de Bagatelle, the Parisian getaway villa of kings and royal family members.

In 1775, the Comte d’Artois, brother of Louis XVI and future King Charles X, purchased the Bagatelle estate in the Bois de Boulogne on the outskirts of Paris. The sumptuous château he constructed there―designed by François-Joseph Bélanger and modeled on a neo-Palladian villa ― along with its picturesque gardens were lauded by prestigious European and American visitors, including Thomas Jefferson.

Spared by the Revolution, Bagatelle became the setting for many important moments in European history and was acquired by the city of Paris in 1905. While the park with its magnificent rose garden remained open, the Mansart Foundation, with a team of experts, oversaw an extensive renovation of the château to restore the architectural jewel to its former glory.

This beautifully illustrated volume recounts the fabulous history of Château de Bagatelle and its various owners, with spectacular new photography, unpublished archival documents, and insightful text.

About the Authors:

Nicolas Cattelain is a collector, writer, and philanthropist. After a career in capital development in London, he now dedicates his time to his passion for the arts, particularly the decorative arts of the eighteenth century. He regularly supports publications in this field and is involved with several museums in Europe and the United States. He is President of the Fondation du Château de Bagatelle, which, under the aegis of the Fondation Mansart, is carrying out the renovation and reopening of the estate to the public.

Bruno Ehrs is an award-winning Swedish photographer whose work has been published in Jacques Garcia: A Sicilian Dream, Villa Elena; Vaux-le-Vicomte: A Private Invitation; Château de Villette; Villa Balbiano; A Day at Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte; and Chaumet: Parisian Jeweler since 1780, all published by Flammarion.

Charlotte Vignon is a specialist in European decorative arts. After holding positions at The Cleveland Museum of Art and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, she was curator of decorative arts at The Frick Collection in New York for more than ten years, and then director of the Cité de la céramique (the French national museum of ceramics) in Sèvres. Vignon has organized numerous exhibitions and is the author of many publications, including Pierre Gouthière: Virtuoso Gilder at the French Court (2016), and Duveen Brothers and the Market for Decorative Arts, 1880-1940 (2019).

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Пролистать книгу Bagatelle: A Princely Residence in Paris на сайте издательства.