In 1641, the 26-year old parliamentarian Nicolas Fouquet, who was then the Master of Requests at the Parlement of Paris, acquired the viscounty of Vaux…
View More An Invitation to Vaux-le-VicomteTag: Baroque Era
The raucously ornate furnishings of the Baroque Era are a sight to behold. Some of my favorite museum exhibitions are vignettes featuring furniture from this time.
When I come across products that resonate with me, even ones by manufactures today that reflect the style, I like to highlight them. I’ll share two of my favorite diary entries featuring them. First up is Dining with History that includes products by Raynaud Limoges, Fromental and Bernardaud—each of these companies well versed in historic design on par with the quality that would have been produced during the Baroque Era. This post includes Bernardaud’s The Historic Table” collection that springs from the Ancienne Manufacture Royale (AMR) program founded by Louis XVI in 1774.
In We’ll Never be Royals, I dish about having a fictive dinner with Louis XV on his porcelain pattern from Bernardaud’s AMR collection. When I see products that have such profound echoes of history behind them, I just can’t help but go on an exploration with them. Also included in this post is Elysee, the pattern Louise Philippe, the last king of France, ordered for his personal use in the Tuileries.
Libraries Are My Temples
This essay about the legacy of Cardinal Mazarin, which includes several libraries, is included in my book The Modern Salonnière. The 34 other essays in…
View More Libraries Are My TemplesThe Tapestry of History
In just a few hours, the modern ideal of a fairy tale wedding will take place at Windsor Castle. A trip I took to the…
View More The Tapestry of HistoryFar from Oblivious in Bologna
If you find yourself strolling along the streets of Bologna near the city’s center, don’t be surprised if you turn a corner and come upon…
View More Far from Oblivious in BolognaA Backward Glance on rue de Varenne
The narrow sidewalks push their black iron batons up out of the ground to protect the buildings hemming them; the rain turns the cobblestones to…
View More A Backward Glance on rue de VarenneHeaven Shall Be Here
In the film A Little Chaos, Alan Rickman, who plays an unlikely Louis XIV, declares, “Heaven shall be here.” He’s speaking of a ballroom he…
View More Heaven Shall Be HereCelebrating Shakespeare
Celebrating Shakespeare The 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare’s death is April 23rd, the date he passed in 1616 at the age of 52 believed to…
View More Celebrating ShakespeareDining with History
A month from Sunday, I’ll be winging my way to Paris to attend Maison & Objet, and I’m thrilled to say I’ve been invited to…
View More Dining with HistoryWe’ll Never Be Royals
Nest Nest Nest features the Alliage pattern.As I write this, I can feel the design energy draining from the Americas as the movers-and-shakers in our…
View More We’ll Never Be RoyalsDecorating 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 Palace