Built between 1652 and 1681 by Etienne Lantin, Councillor to the Chambre des Comptes, the mansion is situated close to Place de la Libération, previously called Place Royale, and the Palace of the Dukes. It became the property of the Magnin family in the 19^th century. It was refurbished during the 1930s, without altering its historical character, to house the collections that Maurice Magnin bequeathed to the State in 1937 at the same time as the mansion. In accordance with the donors’ wishes, the museum was to keep its character as a private collection and a home.

The collection is composed of some 1300 paintings, 700 drawings and a series of furniture and objets d’art. It is the work of Maurice Magnin, a high-ranking Parisian magistrate, and his sister Jeanne, herself an amateur painter and art critic.

The will of Magnin to recall the various artistic trends in France and abroad, from the 14^th to the 19^th century, often determined their choice.  

Italian art is well represented, especially with the Venetian schools of the 16th and 18th centuries (Cariani, G.B. Crosato) and the Lombardian (Francesco del Cairo) and Neapolitan schools of the 17^th century (Luca Giordano).
The Nordic schools are particularly well illustrated with works by Pieter Lastman, Jan van Bijlert, Bartholomeus van der Helst or Gérard de Lairesse.

Nevertheless, a predilection for the French school is evident: a judicious choice enabled the Magnins to build an exceptional group of 17th century works with Eustache Le Sueur, Laurent de La Hyre, Sébastien Bourdon and Jean-Baptiste de Champaigne. They were also interested in sketches from the 18th and 19th centuries, as they were in the intimist paintings that today fascinate "connoisseurs" (Granet, Bouhot, Bertin, Devéria). Due to their independent taste, they have contributed towards the discovery of lesser-known masters of the 19^th century, to whom they have paid homage.  

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