The Count of Monte Cristo

Upper Floor and Atelier Layout

The floor above contained similar rooms—a salon, boudoir, and bedroom—with an additional room created from the antechamber space. The boudoir communicated with the bedchamber through an invisible door on the staircase. Above this floor, a large atelier had been expanded by removing partitions, creating a space where “the artist and the dandy strove for pre-eminence.”

Details of Albert’s Atelier

Albert’s atelier contained the accumulated evidence of his successive caprices: musical instruments (hunting-horns, bass-viols, flutes)—a whole orchestra representing his fancy for music; easels, palettes, and brushes for painting; and fencing, boxing, and single-stick equipment, reflecting his more persevering pursuit of the arts completing a dandy’s education. He received masters Grisier, Cooks, and Charles Leboucher here. The room held old cabinets of Chinese porcelain and Japanese vases, Lucca della Robbia faïences, and Palissy platters. Antique armchairs—possibly sat by Henry IV, Sully, Louis XIII, or Richelieu—bore the fleur-de-lys of France on azure fields. Splendid stuffs from Persia, Calcutta, and Chandernagor adorned these dark chairs. A Roller and Blanchet “baby grand” piano in rosewood held the works of Beethoven, Weber, Mozart, Haydn, Grétry, and Porpora. On the walls hung swords, daggers, Malay creeses, maces, battle-axes, and gilded suits of armor, alongside dried plants, minerals, and stuffed birds with flame-colored wings outspread in flight.

Morning Breakfast Preparations

At quarter to ten, the valet Germain—Albert’s most trusted servant—entered with papers and letters. Albert’s household consisted only of Germain and an English-speaking groom named John, though the hotel cook and occasionally the Count’s chasseur assisted on special occasions. Albert instructed Germain to arrange breakfast at half past ten, anticipating the Count’s arrival, and to inquire whether his mother was awake.