After the Jeff Koons exhibition in 2008, it seems that the Grands Appartements at Versailles are destined to showcase contemporary art. This fall, starting September 14, it will be the turn of Japanese artist Takashi Murakami to exhibit there. Mr. Murakami’s art, with which I was not heretofore familiar, is strongly influenced by manga and [...]
I enjoy following Louise-Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun, one the most famous and successful portraitists of her time, to the private apartments of Queen Marie-Antoinette at Versailles, to Regency England, or to the salons of Napoléon’s sisters. Today we will accompany Madame Vigée-Lebrun to Italy, where she emigrated as early as 1789, at the onset of the French [...]
One thing I have missed since leaving the United States is the fireworks on my birthday. My son used to think it was a appropriate way for the entire country to celebrate my achievements. Now he knows better… Don’t cry for me, though. I celebrated with a wonderful lunch on the Ile Saint-Germain, one of [...]
Frequent visitors to Versailles and more have become familiar with Louise-Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun, one of the most successful painters of her time and Marie-Antoinette’s favorite portraitist. Madame Lebrun left France as early as October 1789, after the royal family relocated, much against their wishes, to the Tuileries. She traveled extensively in search of new patrons, in [...]
It is always a pleasure to look for illustrations for Mother’s Day. This year I hesitated between Rubens, with his portraits of his young wife, Helene Fourment, and their children, and Renoir. But it is this Boy blowing bubbles, by the Dutch painter Frans van Mieris, that caught my attention.
When Jane Austen’s parents were married in 1764, the bride, Cassandra Leigh, wore a red riding habit to the ceremony. Cassandra was not being eccentric or making a fashion statement. Such dress was perfectly appropriate for a young woman from a genteel but not particularly wealthy family marrying a country parson. Under such circumstances, the [...]
Yes, readers of Versailles and more get their May Day greetings from royalty… See how fortunate you are? Until last week, I did not know the custom of exchanging sprigs of lily-of-the-valley, a French tradition, was also popular in England, but here it is!
As promised, Stephanie Cowell‘s guest post! —————————————————- The grave was overgrown, the headstone worn and tumbled when you used to walk through the graveyard of the old church of Vétheuil in search of Monet’s muse and first wife Camille. For a hundred and twenty years, the remains of the beautiful woman who died young had [...]
Without Louise-Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun’s many portraits of Marie-Antoinette, our mental image of the Queen would be different, so iconic have these paintings become. All the more reason to look into the relationship between the two ladies. And what better way to do so than return to Madame Lebrun’s Memoirs? It was in the year 1779, she [...]
There are so many striking images of the Passion of Christ that it is very difficult to choose. Last year I selected the Tenebrae from the Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry. This year, I invite you to gaze at the Lamentation for Christ, by that master of the German Renaissance, Albrecht Dürer. Also, [...]
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