The restoration of this neo-Classical villa and garden bring to life the extraordinary vision of Ferdinand Bac, an artist, writer and garden designer. Tim Richardson reports
SET high above Menton, the last town on the French Riviera before the Italian border, is a spectacular house that enjoyed an international reputation for a brief period after its completion in 1927. this is Les Colombières, the extraordinary vision of the Franco-German designer, artist and writer Ferdinand Bac. It has recently been restored as a private house and deserves to be celebrated again.
Bac had a curious pedigree. He was born in 1859 in Stuttgart as Ferdinand- Sigismond Bach, the son of a geologist, cartographer and landscape architect who was himself the illegitimate son of Jérôme Bonaparte, one of Napoleon’s brothers and latterly King of Westphalia.
His mother was a scion of a Bohemian aristocratic family who was born out of wedlock, but moved in elevated circles thanks to her diplomat father. All her life, she retained close ties with what remained of the French Court. As a result, her son was brought up in Germany, but with powerful links to France’s regimes, both aristocratic and Napoleonic.
Overtones of nostalgia for ‘old europe’, perhaps exacerbated by a sense of personal exile, can be detected throughout his work, notably in his voluminous travel writings. As Les Colombières attests, however, he was well aware of the dangers of pastiche and sentimentality.
As a very young man, aged only 16, Ferdinand travelled to Paris to train as an artist. He was to live mainly in France for the rest of his life, although he also spent long periods travelling around europe.
It was in about 1880 that he dropped the final ‘h’ of his surname to make it sound more French than German. During that decade, he made a name for himself as a caricaturist satirising the mores of Parisian society, specialising in mildly salacious depictions of ‘modern Frenchwomen’.
Esta historia es de la edición June 26, 2019 de Country Life UK.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor ? Conectar
Esta historia es de la edición June 26, 2019 de Country Life UK.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor? Conectar
Kitchen garden cook - Apples
'Sweet and crisp, apples are the epitome of autumn flavour'
The original Mr Rochester
Three classic houses in North Yorkshire have come to the market; the owner of one inspired Charlotte Brontë to write Jane Eyre
Get it write
Desks, once akin to instruments of torture for scribes, have become cherished repositories of memories and secrets. Matthew Dennison charts their evolution
'Sloes hath ben my food'
A possible paint for the Picts and a definite culprit in tea fraud, the cheek-suckingly sour sloe's spiritual home is indisputably in gin, says John Wright
Souvenirs of greatness
FOR many years, some large boxes have been stored and forgotten in the dark recesses of the garage. Unpacked last week, the contents turned out to be pots: some, perhaps, nearing a century old—dense terracotta, of interesting provenance.
Plants for plants' sake
The garden at Hergest Croft, Herefordshire The home of Edward Banks The Banks family is synonymous with an extraordinary collection of trees and shrubs, many of which are presents from distinguished friends, garnered over two centuries. Be prepared to be amazed, says Charles Quest-Ritson
Capturing the castle
Seventy years after Christian Dior’s last fashion show in Scotland, the brand returned under creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri for a celebratory event honouring local craftsmanship, the beauty of the land and the Auld Alliance, explains Kim Parker
Nature's own cathedral
Our tallest native tree 'most lovely of all', the stately beech creates a shaded environment that few plants can survive. John Lewis-Stempel ventures into the enchanted woods
All that money could buy
A new book explores the lost riches of London's grand houses. Its author, Steven Brindle, looks at the residences of plutocrats built by the nouveaux riches of the late-Victorian and Edwardian ages
In with the old
Diamonds are meant to sparkle in candlelight, but many now gather dust in jewellery boxes. To wear them today, we may need to reimagine them, as Hetty Lintell discovers with her grandmother's jewellery
