Wargemont Castle

Property Description

Normandy - Near Dieppe - An exceptional place linked to Impressionism


In Normandy, in the Seine-Maritime department (76), near the chalk cliffs of the Pays de Caux, John Taylor is delighted to present for sale an exceptional property: the « Château de Wargemont », an estate considered the last of the great Impressionist sites still in private hands.

The 25 acres property, described by the American Mary Cassatt as “a pretty place, an English park, rather isolated”, is strongly associated with the life and work of Pierre-Auguste Renoir, for whom it served as a vacation spot, studio, and meeting place with the most important collectors of his time. It has come down to us in its original 18th- and 19th-century condition.

The manor house, listed and classified as a historic monument, houses the only Impressionist decor, by any master, remaining in its original location: the Two Hunts, painted by Renoir directly on the woodwork of the dining room (listed as a historic monument in 1993).

A remarkable and human-scale ensemble, typical of the residences of the peers of France in the early 19th century, strongly influenced by exile in England during the post-Revolutionary period. The main 18th-century building, made of brick and flint, was completed with two wings in the early 19th century. One was intended to house the rare books from the library of Philippe-Antoine Merlin de Douai.

Most of the rooms are associated with important paintings by Renoir, now exhibited worldwide.

Upstairs are several suites and bedrooms.

The attic is insulated and partly converted with staff rooms, linen room, and attics.

A chapel, a walled vegetable garden with an orangery, a pond and greenhouses, as well as an orchard, form part of the romantic route offered by the 25 acres park with its original layout.

It features a large number of rare and centuries-old species: purple beeches, sequoias, oriental plane trees, cedars, etc. Rose bushes known to Renoir during his stays still grow in the estate's vegetable garden and are currently being studied.

Renoir spent long summers here, mainly in the 1880s and 1890s, which led to important commissions and some of the artist's most significant works. Scholars consider this period to be the happiest in his career.

Mary Cassatt, Monet, Jacques-Émile Blanche, and Caillebotte, among others, were also visitors during the heyday of Impressionism.

Patrons and collectors Charles Deudon, Victor Chocquet, and Charles Ephrussi were regulars.