Exhibition curated by Flavie Durand-Ruel
APRIL 24 – MAY 4, 2024
2 – 6 pm

Anne Derasse & Flavie Durand-Ruel are pleased to invite you to the Exhibition by Frédérick Mouraux Gallery in association with The Ancienne Nonciature, Place du Grand Sablon, in Brussels/

This private mansion, once the "Vatican Embassy" in Brussels, opposite the Notre-Dame du Sablon church, has been given a new identity as the "Arts Embassy".

Anne Derasse, owner, interior designer and art historian, restored the building over many years with perseverance and sensitivity. This new lease of life for the architecture is reinforced by the artistic vision of her partner, artist Jörg Bräuer. Together, they are breathing new life into this emblematic place by staging selected exhibitions in situ, to become a popular stop on the art scene.

This year, thanks to a beautiful and enriching meeting with Frédérick Mouraux, founder of the eponymous gallery, and his wife Flavie Durand-Ruel, art historian and guardian of the archives of her ancestor, the famous Impressionist dealer Paul Durand-Ruel, the idea of an exhibition outside the walls during "Art Brussels" is taking shape at the Ancienne Nonciature. The Rivoli space in Uccle, home to Frédérick Mouraux's gallery, will take over the Sablon, reinforcing the vitality of these two districts with their renowned artistic emulation.

And from these exchanges, under the watchful eye of exhibition curator Flavie Durand-Ruel, will emerge an invitation to new discoveries, contrasting the history of the site with the contemporary nature of the chosen works of art.

In the mid-19th century, Cardinal Pecci, the future Pope Leo XIII, was the Apostolic Nuncio here, and the house enjoyed a golden era as the Vatican Embassy in Brussels. Around 1860, the De Mot family moved in; the father, a banker and founder of Galeries Royales Saint-Hubert, bequeathed the house to his son Emile, a lawyer, member of parliament, senator and mayor of Brussels, who lived here for the rest of his life. Before it became this elegant townhouse, a manifesto of the neo-classical style, it had other happy hours. The 16th-century vaulted cellars still hint at the grandeur of the former Renaissance palace, which belonged to a high-ranking dignitary of Charles V.

Having belonged to the De Mot family for over a century, the property was sold in the 1980s and fell into disrepair, with the spaces divided up and becoming illegible. When Anne Derasse set about restoring the mansion, it was in a sorry state. But the spirit of the place still exudes its presence; Anne is particularly sensitive to the primary emotion that a house reveals, beyond the ravages of time, and seeks to preserve it in all her projects: the memoria loci must survive, shine through and be reborn.

Following historical research and verified intuition, the original spaces have been rehabilitated, the perspectives between salons restored, the grand staircase enhanced and the gallery's scenography, freed from the wall that closed it off, rediscovered. Cardinal Pecci's former chapel, of which few decorative fragments remain, has been reincarnated in the architectural sense of the word. In each room, craftsmen deploy their dexterity in accordance with the rules of the art, sometimes linked to moldings, parquet floors, hardware, sublimated by the twisted threads of trimmings, fabrics from illustrious manufactures, 18th-century Liège chandeliers.

In the course of the exhibitions, as the centuries come together, know-how meets the works of today's artists; an alchemy has been created. Faith may have shifted registers, but it's still very much present; it joins the quest for an absolute sublimated by art.

For more information, please contact the gallery : info@frederickmourauxgallery.com / www.frederickmourauxgallery.com