Tag: antiques shopping in Europe

When I go antiques shopping in Europe, I always plan enough time that I can go on literary adventures regardless of the country I’m visiting. When I return, I write about those excursions here on The Diary of an Improvateur.

I have a number of posts about such trips here on the blog so please stop in if you are a fan of antiques; I’m not featuring all of them here—just a sampling to hopefully whet your appetite for more.

During a trip to Parma to attend Mercanteinfiera, I took the time to skulk around town with the goal of visiting all of the sites I knew Petrarch would have gone during his lifetime there as a member of the clergy. The antiques at the Italian fair were of some of the best quality I’ve ever seen. In my post Cinderella in the South of France, I am fictively outfitting a home in the French countryside for my modern-day Cinderella (Catherine Deneuve) from garden antiques I saw at The Decorative Antiques & Textiles Fair during a trip to London. I am a big fan of this antique show, which is held quarterly at Battersea Park.

I return to The Decorative Fair for a fictive diary entry that has Horace Walpole shopping for his home Strawberry Hill. I had made the trek from London to Twickenham to see the gothic style masterpiece he had created there during my trip to cover the fair so the architecture and antiques that would have filled it during his lifetime were fresh in my mind. It was such a fun piece to write!

An antique gilded French chair in the atelier of Feau & Cie in Paris.

Art Books Historical Design

Ateliers of Europe

Marble muscles ripple—the stone carver’s feat charismatic in its unselfconsciousness. Crystals dangle, their effervescence gleaming for centuries as blown baubles from the past. Mother-of-pearl inlay…

Historical Design Interior Design Mythology

Rewriting the Myth of Pandora

Saxon Henry June 29, 2016 antiques shopping in Europe classical antiquity design industry leaders design narratives fine antiques Greek deities High Point Market literary design encounters New York City Rome

I’ve always been fascinated by the myth of Pandora because the most widely accepted explanation of this parable—that feminine curiosity “is responsible for all the…

Three children painted in the Elizabethan style.

Books Garden Design Interior Design

Narratives That Illuminate Design

Saxon Henry December 9, 2015 antiques shopping in Europe authenticity Beinecke Library British poets Chinoiserie decorating history design industry leaders Edith Wharton Empire Style fashion influences interiors France French aristocracy grand residences historic castles House of Tudor Italy libraries lighting London monarchs Napoleon New York City nonfiction writers novelists Paris Parma Regency Era Renaissance Royal Courtiers royal palaces Tudor Era Venice Washington DC Yale University

Narratives That Illuminate Design If you believe that design-centric coffee table books contain nothing more than visual surveys of portfolios, I am out to change…

Adventurer Collection living room setting by Timothy Oulton

Cultural Explorations Furniture Design Literature

Timothy Oulton Design Adventurer

Saxon Henry September 7, 2015 antiques shopping in Europe authenticity design industry leaders design narratives England Great Britain literary design encounters New York City novelists The Literary Adventurer writing desks

“As the momentous words ‘England is now, therefore, in a state of war with Germany’ came somberly over the radio, Major James Bigglesworth, D.S.O., better…

The Queen's Drawing Room at Hampton Court Palace

Cultural Explorations Furniture Design Historical Design

Furnishing Pastimes of Henry VIII

Saxon Henry August 18, 2015 Anne Boleyn antiques shopping in Europe British poets Cardinal Wolsey Chinoiserie dead poets society decorating history design narratives documentaries England famous writers fine antiques grand residences Great Britain Hampton Court Palace Hans Holbein the Younger Henry VIII historic castles House of Tudor libraries London Medieval Times monarchs nobility nonfiction writers poetry Royal Courtiers royal palaces salonniere summer reading list The Literary Adventurer Tudor Era

As I mentioned in my last Improvateur article presenting a brief history of Hampton Court Palace, I launched into a furnishings fantasy when I heard…

One of Hampton Court Palace's Eavesdroppers

Cultural Explorations Garden Design Interior Design

Decorating Hampton Court Palace

Saxon Henry August 12, 2015 antiques shopping in Europe Baroque Era Cardinal Wolsey decorating history demi-monde design narratives documentaries England grand residences Great Britain Hampton Court Palace Hans Holbein the Younger Henry VIII historic castles House of Tudor Medieval Times monarchs nobility nonfiction writers Renaissance Royal Courtiers royal palaces summer reading list The Literary Adventurer Tudor Era

The premise of this article and the next one I’ll post here on The Diary of an Improvateur (next week) began with a rather capricious question:…

The Harvey's bring a fountain to The Decorative Fair

Garden Design Historical Design Travel

Cinderella in the South of France

Saxon Henry July 5, 2015 actors and actresses antiques shopping in Europe design narratives England fine antiques France Great Britain London Louis XIV Louis XV set decoration The Literary Adventurer

Cinderella in the South of France “From morning until night, Cinderella worked very hard. She carried water, got the fire going, cooked, cleaned, and washed.…