This will be the second post in a probably long series dedicated to Louis-Léopold Boilly. After specializing in interior genre scenes such as The Sorrows of Love, Boilly felt the need to switch to depictions of urban life. Apart from the artistic merit of his compositions, he offers us a direct, candid view of Paris […]
Here is what Benjamin Franklin writes his daughter, Sarah Blache, on the topic of the Society of the Cincinnati. He opposes, of course, the very notion of establishing hereditary honors in the United States, and also discusses the insignia of this organization, which include a bald eagle: Others object, writes Franklin, to the bald eagle as […]
Well, my post on 18th century court costume was one of my most successful, and I could not help noticing that it attracted comments from gentlemen readers. Yet it only featured one set of male clothes, the astonishing wedding suit of the Crown Prince of Sweden, future King Gustaf III. So the idea came naturally […]
I saw the Court Pomp and Royal Ceremony exhibition at Versailles on its closing day last June and would have hated to miss it. My expectations were very high, and yet I could not help being somewhat disappointed, not by the quality of the objects on display, which were magnificent, but by their scarcity. I […]
Potatoes, native to the Andes in South America, were introduced in Europe in the mid-17th century. To say that they did not take the Old Continent by storm would be an understatement. When they were cultivated at all, they served as hog feed. Yet in the course of the 18th century they slowly made their […]
I am referring to the Grande Singerie, the Great Monkey Room of the Chateau de Chantilly, one of the residences of the Bourbon-Condé family. This room began with a white and gold rococo paneling, characteristic of the first half of 18th century. But in the 1730s the Duc de Bourbon decided to use this particular […]
I have been working remarkably hard lately, both at my law practice and on the edits of For The King, so I allowed myself an afternoon off. All the more appropriate that this was the first fine weather day of this harsh English summer. The Queen’s Gallery, with its exhibition on Sèvres porcelain in the […]
Nowadays the name Tuileries evokes the formal gardens that follow the Seine River from the Louvre to the Place de la Concorde. A spot beloved of Parisians and tourists alike, offering one of the most beautiful vistas in Paris, and in my opinion in the world. But there used to be something more there: a […]
A question that crops up once in a while. As often on this blog we will refer to the Memoirs of the Marquise de La Tour du Pin, who was married in the 1780s and thus recalls her wedding day: Let us not forget the bride’s attire. It was very simple. I had a dress […]
Another great post by Judith at Paris Atelier. A place I never had chance to visit, but really want to see is the Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto. Some day…
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