When people think about Van Gogh, they might think about the Netherlands, his birthplace and locus of his earliest artworks, or they might think about Provence, where his most famous paintings were created. But Paris, key to Van Gogh’s artistic development, should not be ignored. As a fledging art dealer in his youth — yes, […]
Louise-Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun is best remembered today for being Marie-Antoinette’s favorite portraitist. In fact her career went on for decades, with unabated success, after she left France in October 1789, at the very beginning of the French Revolution. For years Madame Lebrun traveled to Italy, Germany, England and Russia, where she enjoyed the patronage of the […]
I saw this exhibition yesterday. It is a superb retrospective of 19th century French landscape. Don’t expect much in terms of Impressionism, but what a delight to browse rooms full of the works of Corot, Diaz de la Peña, Boudin, the “master of the sky” (below, Beach at Trouville) and many lesser known artists. Hurry, […]
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 […]
Today we celebrate her Feast, in commemoration of her death at the stake on May 30, 1431, at the age of 19. For a brief and necessarily inadequate account of Jehanne’s extraordinary life, I refer you to this prior post. This year I was wondering how to honor a woman whose memory has remained so […]
Better hurry, because today is already the 26th! This month went by fast, with an alternance of bitter cold, sweltering heat and thunderstorms here in Paris. Such is le joli mois de mai, the pretty month of May. Here we meet again with the courtly Limbourg brother. He chose to show us a group of […]
After visiting, and immensely enjoying the Van Dyck exhibition at the Jacquemart-Andre last fall in Paris, I was anxious to see this new one in London. There was very little overlap, apart from the self-portrait of the artist reproduced at the beginning of the prior post, and the portrait of Lady Killigrew at the bottom […]
Lilacs, wisterias, tulips, apple trees, everything is blooming in Paris. People are already flocking to the terraces of the cafes to enjoy this beautiful spring day. A reminder that the month will be over before we know it. I could not let it pass without posting this miniature from the Tres Riches Heures du Duc […]
There are many wonderful pictural representations of spring. An embarrassment of riches. After much hesitation, I chose Le Printemps, by the great Normand painter Jean-François Millet. The uncertain skies, the apple trees in bloom, the nature in all of the splendor of its rebirth… To be admired at the Musée dOrsay. Happy spring to all!
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