Artist Michel Canetti is selling his Camberwell Victorian “Chesney”, calling it a home where “the house and the art speak the same language”.
Chanel and Louis Vuitton illustrator Michel Canetti has listed his Camberwell home as he prepares to return to Europe after 20 years in Melbourne.
Canetti, whose 45-year career spans Argentina, France and Germany, has illustrated for global luxury houses including Chanel, Armani, Louis Vuitton and Guerlain, and has been listed four times among the “200 Best Illustrators Worldwide”.
The circa 1886 Victorian carries a $4m-$4.4m price hopes and has functioned as both residence and studio, with artworks displayed throughout.
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The Camberwell property has anchored his Australian chapter, doubling as a working studio and private gallery across two decades.
“Yes, many of my works have lived in this house,” Canetti said.
While much of his international career focused on illustration for advertising and magazines, his Melbourne years also produced larger canvas works exhibited in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne.
“For 45 years I worked internationally as an illustrator on paper, mainly for advertising and magazines,” he said.
Inside Michel Canetti’s studio at his Camberwell home, the one room where he says “everything happens”.
Michel Canetti Camberwell dining space reflects his “classical” taste, filled with antiques and traditional European pieces.
Herald Sun first visited Michel Canetti’s Camberwell home in 2015, returning now as the artist prepares to move back to France. Picture: Janine Eastgate
“Those were smaller works, then I also painted on canvas during my time in Australia, and those larger works are represented here as well.”
Soaring four metre plus ceilings in the lounge create what he describes as a classical atmosphere, reinforced by French antiques he shipped over when he relocated 20 years ago.
“When I arrived 20 years ago, I brought much of my furniture from France,” he said.
“Some pieces I bought in Australia, but most are French.”
The Camberwell home’s lounge room pairs a fireplace with soaring ceilings, one of Michel Canetti’s favourite spaces for its “classical atmosphere”.
The circa 1886 Victorian “Chesney” in Camberwell is hitting the market with $4m-$4.4m price hopes.
Despite rotating artworks as new pieces were completed, he said the aesthetic has remained largely unchanged.
“I placed my furniture and my paintings and, honestly, I have not changed very much since,” he said.
He confirmed he will take almost everything with him when he returns to France.
A rare 1200sq m approx corner holding in Camberwell, with Marshall White Boorondara’s Anthony Smith calling land of this scale “certainly rare” in the Prospect Hill pocket.
Michel Canetti says he brought much of his furniture from France, giving the Camberwell home a distinctly European, classical sensibility.
Marshall White Boroondara agent Anthony Smith said the commercial backbone of the campaign was the rare 1200sq m approx. corner holding, a scale increasingly scarce in Camberwell’s tightly held prestige streets and blue-chip school zone.
“That size landholding is rare … and this is a big block,” Mr Smith said.
“In and around Prospect Hill … you do get larger allotments, but this block size is certainly rare.”
Works displayed throughout Michel Canetti’s Camberwell Victorian turn the home into a private gallery shaped by decades of international career highlights.
The online listing notes highlights options to renovate and extend, rebuild or boutique develop subject to council approval.
The property is scheduled for auction on March 14.
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