Musée Cognacq-Jay

The Hôtel de Donon houses a collection of eighteenth-century art and furniture inside a building marked by a steep slate roof and a hidden courtyard. Ernest Cognacq and Marie-Louise Jay, the founders of La Samaritaine department store, spent years buying paintings by Fragonard and Boucher to fill this space. They intended for the collection to remain intact as a gift to the city of Paris. The couple lived above their store, and they filled this townhome with the objects they loved.