Nicolae Grigorescu Memorial House

The Nicolae Grigorescu Memorial Museum stands on Carol I Boulevard in the city of Câmpina, Prahova County. Nicolae Grigorescu (1838-1907), one of the founders of modern Romanian painting, settled in Câmpina in 1890. The house was built between 1901 and 1904 to the painter's own design in the local style: eight rooms on two floors, balconies on three sides and a shingle roof. Grigorescu lived here with his wife and son until his death on 21 July 1907; his last work, „Întoarcerea de la bâlci” (Returning from the Fair), was left unfinished on the easel in the studio. The family lived in the house until 1918, when it burned down and the studio was destroyed. The ruins stood untouched until 1951-1952, when the local authorities decided to rebuild it with the help of the painter's son and his former assistant. The interior was recreated from photographs taken in 1904 and 1908 and slides from 1910, and the exhibits were bought from the family or from the people to whom the heirs had sold them. The museum was assembled between 1955 and 1957 and is recorded as founded in 1957. The display includes furniture, personal belongings, photographs, letters and about 102 paintings and drawings by Grigorescu. The reconstructed studio is hung with the painter's works, and the house also holds Oriental objects he collected and an eighteenth-century French tapestry. The library brings together books he bought throughout his life (art, literature, geography, history), including rare volumes from as early as 1673, and autographs of writers of his time. The house is a class A historic monument (LMI code PH-II-m-A-16393), as is the bust of the painter in the courtyard, made in 1957 (PH-III-m-B-16873). The museum is a branch of the „Ion Ionescu-Quintus” Prahova County Art Museum, run by the Prahova County Council. The painter's grave is in the town cemetery on Bobâlna Street and is also a listed monument (PH-IV-m-A-16889).