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…
View More Ateliers of EuropeTag: 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!
Rewriting the Myth of Pandora
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…
View More Rewriting the Myth of PandoraNarratives That Illuminate Design
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…
View More Narratives That Illuminate DesignTimothy Oulton Design Adventurer
“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…
View More Timothy Oulton Design AdventurerFurnishing Pastimes of Henry VIII
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…
View More Furnishing Pastimes of Henry VIIIDecorating Hampton Court Palace
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:…
View More Decorating Hampton Court PalaceCinderella in the South of France
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.…
View More Cinderella in the South of FranceHorace Walpole Shops The Decorative Fair
The books I’ve been reading about Horace Walpole since I returned from my trip to London to attend The Decorative Antiques & Textiles Fair in…
View More Horace Walpole Shops The Decorative FairJane Austen Era Silver
If you are a fan of movies inspired by the novels of Jane Austen but you haven’t read her books, you may be surprised to know…
View More Jane Austen Era SilverRococo Style in Italy
If I told you the most surprising thing I found in Parma, Italy, was France, would you think I’d lost my mind? I’m not speaking…
View More Rococo Style in Italy