Entrepreneur-perfumer and philanthropist of French origin. Collector of paintings and works of art. V. Pikul dedicated his miniature “The Fragrant Symphony of Life” to his activities.
He came from a wealthy family of French perfumer Atanas Brocard. Due to competition, the perfumer's family left for America and returned to France in 1850. In 1861 he moved to Russia, while retaining French citizenship. From 1861 until the end of 1863, Brocard served as chief perfumer at the Constantin Ghik factory, but then decided to establish his own production.
Nikolskaya street in Moscow. Board and wholesale warehouse of the perfume production partnership "Brocard and Co"
Brocard received the capital to open his own factory in Moscow after he sold his discovery (a new method of making concentrated perfumes) to the famous French company Ruhr Bertrand for 25 thousand francs. His first factory was set up on the territory of the former stables of the landlady Favorskaya in Teply Lane in Moscow. The opening took place on May 15, 1864. Initially, only three people worked at the enterprise (Heinrich Brocard himself, his student A.I. Burdakov and worker Gerasim). The factory produced only 60-120 bars of soap per day. The first product that the factory began to produce was “Children’s Soap” (each piece had an imprint of a letter of the Russian alphabet). Those who wished could compose the entire alphabet. And since soap was inexpensive, the inhabitants of the Russian hinterland were able to afford the purchase of Brocard’s personal hygiene products.
Brocard's products were extremely popular. At the very beginning, it was planned to launch production of products that would be in demand among the poorest segments of the population. This is how “Sharom” soap appeared, with a diameter of just over 4 cm and a cost of 5 kopecks. Then Broker invented Narodnoye soap, the price of which was only 1 kopeck per bar. New types of soap also appeared: “Glycerin”, “Mint Soap”, “Russian Soap”, “Coconut Soap”, etc. His cheap “Cucumber” soap, which did not differ in appearance from a real vegetable, did not leave the shelves in Russian stores for almost a quarter of a century and was sold out even as a toy.
Wanting to expand production, Brocard moved his factory to Zubovsky Boulevard, and in 1866 he moved to Krasnaya Presnya. In the fall of 1869, his company moved to the estate he bought behind the Serpukhov Gate at the corner of Arsenyevsky Lane and Mytnaya Street. Brokar is expanding production and building new workshops. And in 1871, he founded the Brokar and Co Trading House on shares with the merchant Vasily German.
After the company’s products received two awards at Russian exhibitions and an honorary diploma in Philadelphia, his company Brokar and Co. (now Novaya Zarya) was awarded the title of supplier with the right to “use the monogram image of the Name of Her Imperial Highness on the sign.” Two stores of the company were opened: the first in 1872 (Nikolskaya Street, Bostanzhoglo House), the second in 1878 (Birzhevaya Square, Trinity Compound House).
In the late 70s, Brocard began producing cheap perfume sets, which included soap, lipstick, cologne, perfume, and sachets. 2,000 sets were sold out in six hours. When the sale began, so many people gathered that a stampede began and the police had to be called to avoid riots.
At the World Exhibition in Paris in 1878, the company's products were awarded a bronze medal. In 1882, the Brocard and Co. partnership was awarded the highest, gold medal at the Industrial and Art Exhibition in Moscow, where the “Floral Cologne” invented by Brocard was presented. Then, wanting to capture the imagination of the public, he arranged a fountain of his new floral cologne and everyone had the opportunity to perfume themselves.
In 1893, the Brokar and Co Trading House was renamed the Brokar and Co Partnership. This meant that the Brokar family now became the sole owners of the factory and shops.
The success of Brokar and Co.'s products was facilitated by the fact that the cost of soap was very low, and the general population could buy it. In addition, Brokar's company became known for its advertising steps, which were unconventional for those times.
For example, small sheets with embroidery patterns for table linen were included in soap packages. The success of these patterns was so high that to this day embroiderers collect them with pleasure.
An elegant box with a perfume set (10 items in total) was also released, which cost only 1 ruble.
In order to convince a wealthy buyer that Russian perfumes can be no worse than French ones, Brocard also resorted to various marketing moves - for example, Brocard once bottled French perfumes from the famous Luben company into Brocard bottles.
To protect their products from counterfeits, Brokar's company began to use a special trademark, which was pasted on all products.
Heinrich Brocard is also known as an inventor: he discovered a new method for making concentrated perfumes, studied the effect of perfumes on human emotions, invented several new scents, and was the first in Russia to start producing floral cologne. The Persian Lilac perfume, invented by Heinrich Brocard, enjoyed enormous success and popularity. For them, Brocard’s company was awarded the “Grand Gold Medal” at the World Exhibition in Paris in 1889. .
He was known as a collector: since 1872 he collected bronze art, porcelain and ceramics, exhibiting his collections annually and spending all the proceeds from these exhibitions on charity. In addition, he collected a large collection of paintings by Flemish artists.
His wife, Charlotte Andreevna Brocard, helped her husband in everything. The couple had children - sons and a daughter.
Heinrich Brocard lived in Moscow for 39 years. Doctors insisted that he go to Cannes for treatment, where he died in December 1900. He was buried in the family crypt in the city of Provins near Paris.
After the death of Heinrich Brocard, the business was continued by his wife, sons and daughter. In 1913, the Brocard and Co. Partnership was awarded the title of supplier to the Court of His Imperial Majesty. To celebrate the tercentenary of the House of Romanov, the Brocards released the fragrance “The Empress’s Favorite Bouquet,” which took first place at the largest exhibitions abroad.
In 1914, Brocard’s company celebrated its fiftieth anniversary, and three years later, in 1917, after nationalization it received a new name - “Zamoskvoretsky Perfume and Soap Factory No. 5.” The factory bore this name until 1922, when the chief perfumer Brocard suggested calling it “New Dawn”. The perfume “Bouquet of the Empress” received a new name “
Perhaps every father dreams of his son continuing his work. In 1836, Henri Brocard was born in the town of Landreville. On this day, a dream was born for Atanas Brocard, the boy’s father and the owner of a perfume shop in the very center of Paris. On the male side of this family there were people with refined tastes, Henri’s grandfather was a winemaker, this dream was destined to come true.
1 of 2
The first perfumer of Russia
In the first half of the 19th century, someone was born in France who was to become one of the most famous, and then completely forgotten ladies' men. He pleased and continues to please absolutely all ladies and maidens, widows and even empresses, regardless of their age, marital status and, moreover, without ever meeting them.
Even as a child, Henri Brocard discovered an incredible gift; one day, Papa Brocard was throwing up his rosy-cheeked little one with great pleasure, and he was laughing in his father’s arms and suddenly asked:
Dad, what makes you smell so amazing?
“The gentle aroma of your mother’s perfume,” answered the father.
“Darling,” he turned to his wife, “look at the nose our baby has!” He will definitely become a perfumer!
Who else should he become if everyone in the Brocard family were excellent perfumers? - remarked Brocard’s aunt, who had previously been sitting quietly in a corner of an armchair.
But how to get to the heights of perfume fame and good income in France, where there are no fewer perfumers than Christmas trees in the forest?
The elder Brocard put his son on the floor, and his face darkened. Of course, the boy undoubtedly has talent, and his father will certainly pass on to him some of the secrets of their subtle, elegant art of composing exquisite aromas. But Aunt Janelle, whatever one may say, is right: it is not so easy for a perfumer to make his way in France, which is considered the leading perfume power, even with the solid support of the glorious name of his ancestors.
Aunt Janelle gave little Henri an idea: everyone can make a wish and see a magical prophetic dream on Christmas Eve, if the Lord sends him a blessing, and it just happened to be Christmas Eve. She suggested that he go to bed early and pray well before going to bed.
The morning came sunny, with a clear blue sky and invigorating coolness. Everyone in the family received gifts and gathered for a festive breakfast. Placing goose pate on little Henri's plate, old Janelle, as if by chance, asked what he saw in his dream? The kid replied that he saw an unfamiliar, huge city covered with snow. He doesn't know what it's called, but it's very far from Paris. And he also saw a strange bouquet of flowers: they gave off an unearthly aroma that made his head spin easily and pleasantly. The father asked if he remembered this smell, but the mother asked not to deprive the boy of a fairy tale.
Henri grew up as a smart and enterprising young man. He received a good education, understood chemistry, perfumery and commerce, but, as Janelle said, in France it turned out to be incredibly difficult to get to the top. Then young Henri Brocard decided to take a risk: he asked his father for money and said that he was leaving. The father asked where?
And Henri told his father that his friend Georges Nicole was going to Russia: he intended to establish fashionable dress shops in St. Petersburg. And he decided to keep him company on the road and open a perfume business in Moscow with production and its own trade.
The father, after thinking, agreed with the trip, hoping that his son would not disgrace the glorious name of Brokarov.
Andrei Afanasyevich (as the native of France, the son of the Parisian shopkeeper Atanas Brocard was sometimes called in Moscow) lived in Moscow for 39 years - from 1861 almost until his death in 1899. It was here that he achieved fantastic popularity and became one of the most successful entrepreneurs in post-reform Russia.
Russia really looked extremely attractive for perfumers. There were ancient bathhouse traditions in Rus'. 
Representatives of all classes invariably once a week (usually on Saturday) visited the baths and steamed until exhaustion. But most Russians at that time washed themselves with lye, made homemade from stove ash. Good soap was imported from abroad and was available only to members of the upper class. And simpler people, at best, used a cleaning agent, the appearance of which became a proverb: “Soap is black, but washes white.”
Having settled in Russia, Henri Brocard worked for about a year and a half as a hired technologist in the representative office of one of the French perfume companies and invented a new method for making perfume concentrate. This was a very promising discovery, promising the author a substantial bonus. But he committed an act incomprehensible to his colleagues - he sold the invention to the Ruhr Bertrand perfume company for 25 thousand francs and, with the proceeds, and with secrets from his father and grandfather, opened a soap factory in Moscow. This is how Brocard found his market niche.
It should be noted that in Moscow, Anri Afanasyevich committed another extremely important act in his life. He married a Moscow young lady, Charlotte Reve, a Belgian by birth.From the very first minute, Henri was fascinated by her, but the problem was that the girl’s heart was already occupied by a famous singer. So did Brocard give up? Nothing happened! With the appearance of a lamb he brings on 
home concert brings a basket of wax violets and asks to put them on the piano. Oh those perfumers! Even Thais of Athens knew the secrets of bewitching smells. And what about the honeysuckle perfume with droplets of the king’s sweat, which the Marquise of Pompadour ordered from her chemists to keep Louis XV... Even Napoleon, who asked Josephine not to wash before their meetings, used two bottles of Cologne water per day (hence the name - cologne), invented by Florentine monks back in 1608. But perfumes could also become poison, as in the days of the royal poisoners of the Medici family. True, in the case of Henri Brocard, it didn’t come to this, thank God. As it turned out, the smell of violets has a detrimental effect on the ligaments, as a result, Mademoiselle Charlotte's beloved... disgraced himself by giving birth to a rooster. After which, naturally, he disappeared in an unknown direction. After a couple of months of continuous courtship, the cunning perfumer confessed his love to the girl. But the groom’s salary of one hundred and twenty rubles did not suit Thomas Rave at all: “Lotta is beyond your means!” However, Henri Brocard is not the man to stop halfway. He goes to France and, as already mentioned, sells his know-how there to the French company Ruhr Bertrand for twenty-five thousand francs. Henri Afanasyevich returns to Russia as a rich man, and in the fall of 1862, nineteen-year-old Charlotte gets married.
Perhaps this was the most successful step in Brocard’s life, which greatly influenced his business. Charlotte Andreevna had an excellent command of the Russian language and organically fit into Moscow reality. All her life she helped her husband in business: she came up with new brands, names of product groups, developed packaging designs and even negotiated with partners.
The factory of 25-year-old businessman Henri Brocard opened in 1864 in Teply Lane, Moscow. However, a factory is a strong word. The premises of the former stables were hastily prepared for production needs. And the first batches of soap came out of the walls, which smelled of horse manure. The owner himself directly supervised the technological process and was not afraid to get his hands dirty (lessons from American business had an impact). Besides him, two more took part in making soap - student Alexey Burdikov, a future famous master, and worker Gerasim.
Brocard's brainchild initially produced up to 60 bars of soap per day. The names of the first buyers - merchants Smirnov, have been preserved, 
Dunaeva and Damtina. But no matter how hard the newly minted manufacturer tried, soap was not in demand. 
enjoyed it. The proceeds amounted to two or three rubles. What to do? Charlotte intervened. Using the example of her friend Dolly, she knew that aristocrats use only soap ordered from France... So, the perfumer’s wife decides, we will focus on ordinary people. But here's the problem - they don't take soap at all. And then Charlotte comes up with an advertising and marketing ploy: she proposes to create cheap soap for kids in the form of bunnies, dogs and cats, and for older children - with letters of the alphabet! According to eyewitnesses, many young Muscovites learned to read using the “Brocard alphabet.” Brocard also prepared a lot of interesting things for adults. Initially, he relied on producing soap for all social groups. “Narodnoe” cost only a penny, but these were not frightening black shapeless pieces, but quite modern scented soap of a neat rectangular shape. 
Quickly realizing that a fight with competitors could not be avoided (French and German soap began to be imported into Russia from abroad), Anri Afanasyevich mastered the production of figured products, giving them strange but memorable names. In addition, for adults, Charlotte came up with multi-colored soap in the form of vegetables. (By the way, it was the Brocards who first began to use environmentally friendly dyes of plant origin). Such soap could well serve, for example, as a gift for men selling at a fair... Agree, even in these days of perfume abundance, unusual soap is an excellent souvenir, both for a child and for an adult
Such a treasure cost Brocard only one kopeck.
“With this penny you will get your million!” - said Charlotte, and she turned out to be right. Penny soap began to enjoy unprecedented popularity. And behind him came Grandfather’s coconut for five kopecks. In addition, Brocard invented the round soap “Sharom”, which, together with “Narodny”, received a silver medal at the Exhibition of Russian Production in Moscow in 1865. Soap "Ball" was made in the form of a ball 1 inch in diameter, "Cucumber" was shaped like a real cucumber and was also green in color. At different times, such varieties as “Yantarnoe”, “Medovoe”, “Rozovoe”, “Greek” and “Spermaceti” entered the market. The last two were more expensive (40-60 kopecks per piece) and became popular among the wealthiest public. Quite quickly, the walls of the former stables became too small for the growing business. Brocard moved production first to Zubovsky Boulevard, then to Presnya. And in 1869, a specially built factory for the production of cosmetic and perfume products was opened behind the Serpukhov outpost. Fragrant goods are still produced there to this day. Now this is JSC “New Dawn”, well known in the country.
The success of Brocard's undertaking was fantastic. Wholesalers spent day and night near the factory gates, trying to quickly order a new batch of soap, shampoo or lipstick (Anri Afanasyevich also began producing these products for the general consumer masses). The products of the Moscow factory began to conquer the all-Russian market. It is not surprising that fakes appeared. Brocard quickly figured out how to deal with them by introducing a special label for all types of his goods. This was the first time the marking was used in Russia.
Already in the 70s, Henri Brocard thought about expanding his business. In his thoughts, the project of producing perfume and cologne loomed more and more clearly. It was a qualitatively different business. Wealthy buyers had long been accustomed to foreign products, but commoners could not afford cologne. It was necessary to solve two problems: reduce production costs and push aside foreign competitors by coming up with some unusual promotion. Brocard coped with the first task quite easily, using the knowledge gained in the USA on modernizing the technological process.
Another spectacular reception brought Henri Brocard a lot of new customers.
He learned that the daughter of Emperor Alexander II, the Grand Duchess and Duchess of Edinburgh, was arriving in Moscow. 
Brocard, with some difficulty, made his way to the reception at the Grand Kremlin Palace and presented the aristocrat with an unusual gift. The bouquet of daffodils, roses and violets produced at his enterprise was lifeless. All the details - petals, stems, flowers - turned out to be made of...wax and decorated with jewelry. But the wax bouquet exuded a subtle fragrance. Violets smelled like violets, roses smelled like roses, and daffodils, as you might guess, smelled like daffodils. The industrialist never revealed his know-how. And it wasn’t necessary. Maria Alexandrovna was extremely touched by the gift. After a short period of time, Henri Brocard became the official supplier of the court of the Duchess of Edinburgh, and later of the Russian imperial house and the Spanish royal court.
In 1869, Brocard's enterprise turned into a powerful factory: boilers, machines. 
The production of “Blush” lipstick and “Swan’s Down” powder begins. The Brokars have children - daughter Zhenechka, sons Alexander and Emilius. Anri Afanasyevich has been working in the laboratory since early morning. He is truly a great perfumer, but he is absolutely not interested in sales. And then Charlotte decides that she can do without intermediaries (after all, they only profit from her husband’s talent), so she needs her own store. In 1872, the first Brokarov brand store opened magnificently on Nikolskaya Street. Charlotte is tireless. She comes up with paper wrapping for the product, draws sketches herself (why not a design bureau!), even attractive advertisements in newspapers are the work of her hands.
Meanwhile, production continued to expand: Charlotte Andreevna is enthusiastically engaged in the arrangement of two new buildings. But this is not enough for her - she needs a second one 
store, and at the insistence of his wife in 1887, Fragrant Henri, as he was nicknamed, opened another store in Kitai-Gorod on Birzhevaya Square. For the opening, Charlotte came up with a new surprise: soap, lipstick, perfume, cologne, sachet, cream - only ten products in one box. And most importantly - a fantastic price of one ruble. The public, fueled by advertising, almost demolished the newly opened store. Before the police arrived, two thousand sets had been sold! “This is a success,” the wife rejoiced. “This is glory...” answered the satisfied husband. And my wife, like a real advertiser, called the set nothing less than “Glory.” But real glory fell on the Brocard house when Anri Afanasyevich invented the “Floral” cologne.
But with the second... The sensation of the First All-Russian Industrial and Art Exhibition (1882 
g.) became a fountain that flowed in the center of the pavilion. Its jets emitted an unusual aroma. Henri Brocard, having invested a lot of money in the creation of the fountain, made the right decision. His new product - Floral cologne - was presented in an extremely impressive and effective way. The streams of cologne, figuratively speaking, brainwashed potential consumers. Newspapers of that time wrote a lot about how visitors to the exhibition collected free cologne in jars and bottles specially brought from home, and the most liberated ones dipped their jackets into the fountain. The exhibition ended, and shop clerks, middle and low-level officials, merchants and artisans - the main contingent of consumers of Brokar's products - wandered around Moscow for a long time, smelling the scent of "Flower".
With the help of this unusual campaign, “Flower” cologne quickly conquered Moscow, and subsequently Russia. Newspapers of that time wrote about the fountain as a miracle from the fairy tale about Tsar Saltan!Other brands followed Tsvetochny. Brocard skillfully used the political situation for his own purposes. So, at the height of the Russian-Turkish war of 1877 - 1878. lipstick and soap "Bouquet of Plevna" became very popular.
Anri Afanasyevich, in addition to his amazing gift as a marketer, had extraordinary organizational skills. There were practically no strikes at his enterprises. In the explosive Russian Empire, where social pairs were not fundamentally pitted against each other, he easily found a common language with the workers. Brocard's lowest paid worker received 15 rubles a month. To understand the scale of salary deductions, let us inform you that at that time in Moscow you could have a hearty lunch for just 10 kopecks. In addition, all employees of Brokar enterprises received monthly free sets of their own products according to the number of family members. Moreover, if an employee suddenly preferred another perfume and cosmetic brand, Anri Afanasyevich paid him 75% of the expenses for soap and cologne.
He attracted everyone's attention, pulled him towards him like a magnet, and people took off their outer clothes to dip them in the fragrant waters. The matter again came to the attention of the mounted police, but the law enforcement officers had no time for people - they themselves strove to try the new product. The advertising achieved its goal - “Flower” became the first mass-produced cologne in Russia. No matter how many times they released it, it was still not enough. In 1883, at the All-Russian Exhibition in Moscow, the cologne received a gold medal... In 1899, Brocard’s creation again received the “Grand Prix”. But, despite the splendor and obvious recognition of the Brocard perfume house, the position of French perfumery was too strong in Russia. What does a marketing and advertising director do in such unsolvable cases? Intentionally going to create a scandal. And Charlotte decided to make a substitution: she poured her perfume into bottles of the famous French company Luben. The next day, “Parisian” perfumes were literally swept off the counter, while real French ones in Brocard packaging were sniffed and turned away. A week later, Charlotte “repented” in the newspapers of her deliberate deception - the bad smell was... of French perfume.
The scandal turned out to be unimaginable, Brocard even hid in his laboratory. And only Charlotte Andreevna was happy: a foreigner by origin, she was Russian in spirit and proved to the Russians themselves that their perfumes were no worse, if not better, than foreign ones! The scandal also bore fruit in financial terms - according to the books, the turnover approached a million. It was a nice gift for their silver wedding! Anri Afanasyevich also did not sit idle: he created a magnificent perfume with the smell of lilac - “Persian lilac”. And this work has already been truly appreciated by the French: the perfume received not only popularity, but also the highest award - the Grand Gold Medal in the section of elegant and hygienic perfumery at the World Exhibition in Paris. So Brocard returned to France in his own way... Charlotte once asked her husband if he would like to return to Paris. To which he replied: “I will return to France to die, but I can only live and work in Russia.” And so it happened - at the insistence of doctors, Henri Brocard left for Cannes, where he died in December 1899.
In 1891 – 1892, an exhibition of a collection of paintings by Anri Afanasyevich was opened in the Upper Trading Rows, which was 
arranged at the highest level. The famous journalist V. A. Gilyarovsky wrote poems about this event: “Well, let’s repeat it one glass at a time and watch again, drunk Raphael, Titian. Under the influence of Polugar, we are all Brocard rarities...”
The Brokar and Co. partnership with a turnover of two and a half million rubles was transferred to the widow Charlotte Andreevna. And in 1913, Brocard’s comrade-in-arms, perfumer August Michel, created the perfume “The Empress’s Favorite Bouquet” for the 300th anniversary of the House of Romanov, which, by the way, not only the royal family was delighted with. The perfumes were destined for a long life, and they came to us already under the name “Red Moscow”, but Russia’s first professional marketing and advertising director, Charlotte Brocard, did not live to see this. She also did not know that the family brainchild had been nationalized and called “New Dawn.” And only the busts of husband and wife Brokar, sculptor Anna Semyonovna Golubkina, flaunt in the Tretyakov Gallery, perpetuating the memory of these wonderful people.
17.10.2017 0 4418
France, since the second half of the last millennium, has been a trendsetter in the production of “floral water”, called perfumes and colognes.
At first, this innovation appeared because ladies and gentlemen disdained water procedures, and the pungent aroma slightly masked the smell of unwashed bodies.
At the beginning of 1861, a traveling salesman from Paris appeared in Moscow. Despite his youth, 25-year-old Heinrich Brocard immediately attracted the attention of the owner of the “soap factory” Konstantin Gik, who, having read the letters of recommendation, immediately offered the guest to take the place of “manager of perfume work” at his production for a period of three years.
“Soap is black, but washes white”
The young entrepreneur had some experience - his father Atanas Brocard founded a perfume production in Paris at the beginning of the 19th century, the products of which were in good demand among local fashionistas.
However, Genrikh Afanasyevich (as Brocard began to be called in the Russian manner) was in no hurry. A born marketer, he carefully studied the Russian market.
During his time working for Geek, Brocard not only dealt with direct duties, but also experimented with perfume recipes. One of the combinations turned out to be so successful that a French perfume company acquired its formula, paying the inventor 25 thousand francs.
This amount was enough to organize a small soap production enterprise, which, in addition to the owner, also employed a master and a worker. And Brocard’s young wife Charlotte became his faithful assistant. It was she who drew her husband’s attention to the demand for “folk soap.”
Charlotte was well aware of the Russians' love of bathing. But if the nobility used expensive soap brought from Europe, then the common people used “black”, the main component of which was alkali made from stove ash.
Charlotte categorically stated: “Personal hygiene products can and should not be a luxury, but a means accessible to all segments of the population.”
"Flower" and others
The product was a success, so Brocard used the profits received from the sale of soap to purchase new production facilities. Soon Brocard compiled a recipe for “Floral” cologne, known to more than one generation of Russian and Soviet people.
He presented it at the Russian Industrial Exhibition of 1882 in an original way: he built a fountain that, instead of streams of water, spewed out cologne, and any visitor could draw aromatic liquid into the container.
A little later, Brocard created the equally famous “Persian Lilac”, which received gold medals at exhibitions in Paris, Brussels and Chicago.
From this moment on, the perfumer becomes the official supplier of the daughter of Emperor Alexander II, Grand Duchess Maria (Duchess of Edinburgh), the Spanish royal and Russian imperial courts.
But Brocard prepared a separate surprise for our domestic monarchs. During one of the receptions, he presented the Duchess of Edinburgh with a bouquet of flowers made of wax and decorated with semi-precious stones. Moreover, each of the flowers - rose, lily of the valley, violet and narcissus - exuded its own aroma.
On this basis, the unique perfume “Bouquet of the Empress” was soon born, and since the 20s of the last century, for a long time they were produced under the name “Red Moscow”.
The popularity of the Brokar and Co. partnership grew, and soon its store opened on Red Square. The walls of the showroom were decorated with paintings purchased by Brocard from antique dealers or at the Sukharevsky market, which, due to their value, could add to the collection of the Hermitage or the Tretyakov Gallery.
Friends often asked Genrikh Afanasyevich: would he like to return to his homeland? To which the perfumer replied: “I will return to France to die, but I can only live and work in Russia.”
These words turned out to be prophetic. Constantly coming into personal contact with chemical reagents, Brocard developed a lung disease. In December 1900, he went for treatment to Cannes, where he died. And they buried the “Russian perfumer” in the town of Provins, not far from Paris.
Sergey URANOV, magazine "Mysteries of History", No. 16, 2017
