history
The de Saisset Museum exists in its current state thanks to the bequest of Isabel de Saisset, the last member of a pioneer San Jose/French family who died April 22, 1950. She had no children, so the Museum has served as a continuation of those ideas that she held dear. Before her death she had advised the President and Board of Trustees of Santa Clara College of her intention to donate a parcel of real estate, located at the northwest corner of Market and Post Streets, and the northeast corner of San Pedro and Post Streets, in the city of San Jose. De Saisset donated the property for the purpose of enabling the President and Board of Trustees to raise funds to defray the cost of erecting a building on the Santa Clara College campus to be known as the "de Saisset Art Gallery and Museum." The architectural style of the building was to be designed to conform to the other buildings on the campus, and was to have the family coat of arms displayed over the main entrance.
Isabel de Saisset bequeathed her household and personal items, including jewels, silver and tapestries, as well as her entire collection of paintings. These were formerly located in her home on Market Street in San Jose and were painted by her deceased brother Ernest de Saisset between 1884 and 1899. The paintings were to be cleaned, varnished, and retouched, and thereafter exhibited and permanently housed in the gallery and museum building under the name of "de Saisset."
Isabel de Saisset was the youngest of four children born to Pedro de Saisset, a French immigrant, and Maria J. Palomares, whose family was originally from Mexico. Isabel's grandfather, also named Pedro de Saisset, was born into a prominent French family, and received his education in the Military Academy. He became a lieutenant in Napoleon Bonaparte's army before he reached his 17th birthday, then he married and settled in Paris. In 1829 his wife gave birth to a son named Pedro.
Pedro's son attended the University of Paris, earning the equivalent to a Bachelor's degree, and followed this up by studying law for a year. In 1848 he sailed for America, stopping for four months in Rio de Janeiro. He then came to America by way of Cape Horn. He finally arrived in San Francisco in 1849, a year before California was admitted into the Union. Before emigrating to the United States, Pedro had resigned his position as officer in the National Guard, however he still maintained allegiance to his native country by serving the French government as consular agent in San Jose. The consulate was located in the family residence on South Market street. Although Pedro's arrival in California coincided with the Gold Rush, he was not necessarily seeking gold. He was, however, certainly intending to capitalize in some way upon the wealth that was quickly accumulating in California. He indeed did exactly this when he founded the Brush Electric Light company in San Jose, serving as its President. Pedro soon married Maria J. Palomares who had previously been married to Antonio Sunol. Pedro and Maria Palomares de Saisset began their life together with considerable advantages, and became more prosperous with time. They possessed real estate holdings in the San Jose area, as well as a 3,313 acre ranch in Alameda County.
The couple had four children: Henrietta, Ernest, Pierre and Isabel. We know that the two daughters attended the State Normal School. Henrietta eventually married Dr. Eugene Filipello, and was the only de Saisset child to marry. The four siblings never produced offspring. Ernest de Saisset, the oldest of the four children, was born in 1864 while Abraham Lincoln was President and the United States was in the midst of the Civil War. Unfortunately we do not know a great deal about what his childhood interests and talents may have been. We do know that at age 16 he enrolled at Santa Clara College and stayed for three academic years until 1883. His first year at the College was undistinguished by high marks in any area, but fortunately by the second year he had managed to win four prizes: first prize in both his French class and penmanship, and distinguished marks in elocution and figure drawing. In his third and final year, Ernest studied oil painting with Father Tortone, who rated his work "premium" in quality. Nevertheless, Ernest did not graduate from Santa Clara College, but terminated his studies at that point.
By this time Ernest must have decided that he wanted to pursue the life of a painter, as it appeared that this is where his talents lay. However, finding an experienced professional art teacher in San Jose in the mid-1880s, with whom to continue his study of art was an impossible task. The de Saisset family still had roots in France, inspiring Ernest to travel to Paris to pursue further art study. He departed for Paris in early 1886, finally returning to San Jose in 1895. Tragically, on December 4, 1899 at the age of 35, Ernest de Saisset died. The cause of death given by his doctor is rheumatism. Ernest's parents outlived him -- his father died in 1902, and his mother in 1907 -- as did his sister Henrietta, who died in 1947. We have no record of when Pierre died, as he remained an expatriate for many years. Isabel, our founder, died in 1950.
