The $3.4M Painting Abandoned for over 70 Years in a Paris Apartment
An infamous actress, a Nazi raid, and a priceless discovery
Ms. de Florian paced the floors of her Paris apartment. She knew time was running out. In 1940, London residents slept under blackened windows to the sounds of air raids shaking their homes’ foundation. But France had yet to see much of Hitler’s devastation. All of that was about to change.
She had two choices. She could flee the city and abandon her opulent lifestyle, or wait for German forces to invade and hope to be one of the lucky homes left standing.
She looked up at the painting of her grandmother bathed in swirls of pale pink mousseline with her devil-may-care smile and wondered….What would grandmother do?
In the nineteenth century, her grandmother, Marthe de Florian (shown above), had been an actress and reigning demimondaine. As a popular courtesan, she accumulated a treasure trove of opulence and an impressive list of lovers, including the prime minister of France, George Clemenceau. Now, her grandmother’s flushed profile gazed out at the door that held her granddaughter’s escape.
Ms. de Florian decided then and there that she had enough of her grandmother’s moxie to not end up in a government-issued cardboard coffin…
