Now in the collection of the Musée des Beaux-Arts Jules Chéret in Nice - itself the former mansion built by the Russian Princess Elizaveta Vasilievna Kochubey in 1878 - it seems reasonable to assume that this portrait of madame von Derviz was originally installed in the von Derviz' Villa des Mimosas; its frame even looks as though it could be a surviving fragment of paneling which the painting had been let into, rather than a stand alone picture frame.
By the second half of the nineteenth century, wealthy and/or aristocratic Russians - even members of the imperial family - who couldn't bear the cold of the winter months in their native land, frequently decamped to the perpetually warm south of France. Greatly appreciated by the locals for their extravagant lifestyles and profligate spending, they built well-appointed villas in Cannes, Nice, Menton, and gambled recklessly at Monte Carlo.
Pavel Grigorievitch von Derviz' elder surviving son, Sergei Pavlovich (1863 - 7 November 1943), and his second wife, Marina Sergeevna, née Schoenig (1875 - 1947), had a home in the Californie neighborhood of Cannes. The Villa des Mimosas was designed by Louis Hourlier and constructed in 1878. Of irregular plan with a steeply sloping roof and tall chimney stacks, the exterior surfaces were of a mixed design incorporating stone, brick, tile, half-timbering, and smooth plaster. I've been unable to discover when the von Derviz' residency ended, but the villa was sold to the Norwegian engineer and industrial entrepreneur Sam Eyde in the late 1920s.
Though the exterior décor has been much simplified, and the wooden balconies, oriel window, and the neo-Gothic porch to the north have disappeared, the building survives as a private residence at 10-12 Avenue de la Californie, the von Derviz coat of arms still prominently decorating the garden façade.
Not too far away, in the cimetière du Grand Jas, is the funeral chapel and tomb of Sergei and Marina von Derviz, its stylized Russian design the work of Dmitri Semenovich Stelletsky.
* Although addressed as baron and baronne in France, they may or may not have actually rated that title in their native Russia.
*
Such opulent living, and this is JUST their vacation home !
ReplyDeleteWhy wonder the Russian peasants and working stiffs rebelled !
A warning for todays ruling classes, but their too arrogant for their own good as usual.
Now the Russian oligarchs flock and winter in Dubai as they follow their lapdog Putin
(or are they Putins lapdogs?) Some have died under suspect circumstances, but they put Putin in power
and went along with his abuses just like the oligarchs of the past with their Czar and and now as in the past victims of their own collusions and delusions as usual. And history just keeps on repeating itself, they never learn, just like all countries.
-Rj in the IE