Paul Marmottan (1856-1932) could have had a brilliant career in industry, administration or politics, but on the death of his father he chose otherwise. He became an historian, collector and patron of the arts and devoted himself and his entire fortune to one end, his passion for the first Empire.
He travelled frequently to Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Poland and Russia but above all to Italy, in the footsteps of Napoleon and his campaigns, also visiting the houses of Napoleon's descendants. On all his travels, as well as studying in different libraries, he acquired books, documents and works of art, and he used this material in the writing of his numerous works – the catalogue of his writings lists a total of 297, including a biography of Elisa Bonaparte and books on the Empire style and on the arts in Tuscany in the Napoleonic period. The Marmottan Library is the fruit of this life of research.
In 1932 Paul Marmottan bequeathed his collections to the Académie des Beaux-Arts with the instructions that the academy should make it open to the public. His wishes were respected and in 1934 both the Marmottan Museum near the Parc du Ranelagh and the Marmottan Library in the Parisian suburb Boulogne opened their doors. Since 1966, the local council of Boulogne-Billancourt has been in charge of running the library.
As for the library buildings themselves, they were built or reconstructed over the period 1900-1930. Marmottan worked closely with his architects in recreating the Empire setting to match his passion for the period. The result was that the Marmottan Library is place of great character, where the books and the decor work together in producing an atmosphere of sumptuous calm. And even though the best items of furniture are now to be found in the Marmottan Museum, nevertheless the furniture, the statues and the paintings all provide a fine complement to some exceedingly rare books.
On the first floor is Paul Marmottan's office. This has been restored and is an excellent example of late-nineteenth century appreciation of the Empire style – on the interior, the yellow marble columns and green walls picked out with delicate white friezes contrast harmoniously with mahogany furniture.
Marmottan considered his house in Boulogne as a sort of holiday residence and, by introducing Mediterranean elements such as buildings painted white, the Italian pine in front of the gallery of engravings and the lions that stand sentry, he managed to introduce an almost Italian feel. This air of 'palazzino' can be also found in the blue salon with its hangings originating from the Palazzo di Caserta. The Marmottan library is in fact also a museum, housing as it does sculptures by Bartolini, Chinard, David d'Angers and paintings by Fabre, Franque, Kinson, Meynier or Lafitte.
The library's collection includes more than 16,000 titles essentially on the history of Napoleonic administration in France. Rare collections of German, Dutch, Italian, Spanish newspapers, collections of administrative laws and acts, directories of the departments, almanacs, maps and above all an exceptional archive of documents on Italy bear witness to the European character of these collections. Paul Marmottan liked to say, “I came to Napoleonic history by way of art”: his library is particularly rich in works on the history of neo-classical art and on the diffusion of the Empire style in Europe.
Finally, the Marmottan library maintains a collection of some 6,000 prints, drawings, and engravings of which the most remarkable are the landscapes and views on the large cities of Europe. On the walls of the gallery of prints are exhibited the works of some lesser masters of the early 19th-century, artists for whom Marmottan had a particular fondness, notably Bertin, Bidault, and Turpin de Crissé.