the curator who brings French historic monuments to life thanks to period furniture

I don’t have a favorite room, I love them all! Exclaims Clotilde Roy, surveying the salons and rooms of the Hôtel de la Marine, in Paris, recently restored in all its 18th century aid. The conservative dynamic, head of the pole of scientific and technical coordination at the CMN, is proud of the work accomplished. With her small team of four, she organizes the revenue of this palace – in collaboration with decorators and restaurateurs. In parallel, she takes care of the Villa Cavrois, near Lille (North), a true manifesto of Art Deco and returns the decor of the Château de Rambouillet.

First a student in philosophy, Clotilde Roy branched off towards the history of art, interested in the painting of the 17th century. “But in the conservation professions, we gradually expand our palette of skills to other periods, other types of objects,” she explains. For fifteen years, it has been responsible, at the CMN, to breathe life into some of the hundred monuments managed by the institution. She summarizes with passion her role: “By reinstalling relevant furniture, we want to immerse visitors in an era, an atmosphere. It is also a way to tell them an interesting story and thus make the places more intelligible. »»

Track, find, negotiate

Above all, the curator gets detective, tracing the archives to find out in every detail the original decoration: “At the Hôtel de la Marine, all furniture, trinkets, drapes … were listed in the registers of ancient regime which are kept. But at the Villa Cavrois the documentation disappeared. So you have to look at old photos, consult the suppliers’ registers… ”Then it assesses the possibility of finding these objects. Some are stored with national furniture, in the Louvre collections or loaned to ministries … She must then locate them, then negotiate to bring them together. “But very often, they were dispersed in old sales,” explains Clotilde Roy.

A choice then took place: “For the Cavrois villa, for example, the operation only makes sense if we find the furnishings of 1932, imagined in harmony with the walls, by the modernist architect Robert Mallet-Stevens. A permanent watch is led to the art market. Purchases, started in 2012, continue. Thus, last November, a table pre -empted by the state with the help of a patron resumed its place in the living room; gradually recreating the unity of this total work.

For other monuments, Clotilde Roy will replace the missing furniture of equivalents, found in public collections, or even loaned or offered by collectors. Thus, at the Château de Carrouges, in the Orne, she had a cabinet of curiosities received in donation installed. “It is a little later era, but as the inventories are imprecise, we are especially trying to restore” the spirit of the place “which reigned here in the 17th century, the period that we chose as the most relevant to reconstruct. Sometimes, it even uses 19th century copies of Renaissance paintings collected by the Count of Carrouges, or some sconces for the Marine Hotel. “On the other hand, in France, unlike the British, we hesitate to have contemporary facsimiles manufactured”, she specifies before adding with jubilation: “We discover objects every day … A Remeuble-Ment is never finished! »»

Restore “the spirit of the place”

Sometimes it even uses 19th century copies of Renaissance paintings collected by the Count of Carrouges, or certain sconces for the Hotel de la Marine. “On the other hand, in France, unlike the British, we hesitate to have contemporary facsimiles manufactured”, she specifies before adding with jubilation: “We discover objects every day … Remeulement is never finished!” »»