Jacques Garcia: Twenty Years of Passion

Book excerpt: This visually sensational book takes readers into the private domain of Jacques Garcia, providing unprecedented access into the magnificent interiors of the chateau that the great decorator calls home. Antiquities aficionado and much-lauded interior designer Jacques Garcia purchased the imposing Chateau du Champ de Bataille twenty years ago in a state of virtual ruin and lovingly restored it to its former splendor. The chateau is now a treasure trove of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century architecture, furniture, and garden design, to which Garcia brought his considerable expertise gleaned from numerous restoration projects, including rooms at Versailles and the Louvre. Every detail-from the library, with its collection of priceless books, to the grand dining room, with its rare collection of Sevres porcelain, to the hall of taxidermy-has been carefully reconstituted and interpreted through the prism of Jacques Garcia's extraordinary eye and inimitable style. This superbly illustrated volume documents the meticulous research and epic restoration undertaken by the designer. Informed by history and imbued with the exquisite beauty of the chateau and its priceless collection of paintings, sculptures, porcelain, silver, and furniture, Garcia and his masterpiece will be a revelation to specialists on French art and a delight and inspiration to anyone interested in interior decoration and restoration.