Reconstructing and Restoring an Eighteenth-Century Parisian Landmark

A Françoise and Georges Selz Lecture on Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century French Decorative Arts and Culture by Bénédicte de Montlaur and Cinzia Pasquali (World Monuments Fund) For over twenty years, World Monuments Fund undertook the remarkable task of restoring the historic Chancellerie d’Orléans. Built in Paris in the early eighteenth century, the Chancellerie displays a decorative program consisting of paintings, stucco, and wood carving by some of the leading artists of the time. In the early twentieth century, the interior was dismantled and put into storage. These treasures were forgotten for nearly a century, until World Monuments Fund began work to reconstruct and restore the spaces. In this presentation, World Monuments Fund president and CEO Bénédicte de Montlaur is joined by the project’s conservator, Cinzia Pasquali. Together, they will narrate the history of the Chancellerie and the conservation work that brought this important example of Rococo interiors back to public view. _Bard Graduate Center is grateful for the generous support of the Selz Foundation._ Bénédicte de Montlaur is the president and CEO of World Monuments Fund (WMF), leading its mission to safeguard irreplaceable heritage working with local communities worldwide. She is responsible for defining and implementing WMF’s strategic vision in more than thirty countries and leading an international team of seventy employees, as well as an additional four hundred cultural conservation professionals