Tag: 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.

Architecture Art Books Cultural Explorations Garden Design Historical Design Mythology

An Invitation to Vaux-le-Vicomte

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…

The reading room of the Bibliothèque Mazarine

Architecture Creative Writing Travel

Libraries Are My Temples

Saxon Henry February 19, 2020 architectural storytelling Baroque Era Emotionality of Architecture France libraries Louis XIV Paris royal palaces

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…

Architecture Historical Design Mythology Travel

The Tapestry of History

Saxon Henry May 18, 2018 actors and actresses Baroque Era England fine antiques France French aristocracy grand residences Greek deities Hampton Court Palace Henry VIII historic castles House of Bourbon Louis XIV Louis XV Marie Antoinette Medieval Times monarchs Paris Rococo Style royal palaces

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…

Architecture Garden Design Mythology Travel

Far from Oblivious in Bologna

Saxon Henry March 2, 2018 architectural storytelling Baroque Era Dante Alighieri famous writers Greek deities historic castles Italy Medieval Times Napoleon Petrarch Rome

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…

Art Literature Travel

A Backward Glance on rue de Varenne

Saxon Henry February 6, 2017 American poets Baroque Era Beinecke Library Dante Alighieri dead poets society Edith Wharton Ernest Hemingway Ezra Pound famous writers fine antiques Ford Madox Ford France French aristocracy Gertrude Stein Henry James House of Bourbon keeping diaries libraries literary design encounters Lost Generation Marquise de Rambouillet memoirs nonfiction writers novelists Paris philosophers Royal Courtiers royal palaces salonniere The Literary Adventurer writing desks Yale University

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…

The gardens at the Château Vaux-le-Vicomte

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Heaven Shall Be Here

Saxon Henry May 9, 2016 actors and actresses American furniture manufacturers architectural storytelling Atlanta Baroque Era decorating history design industry leaders England France grand residences Great Britain High Point Market House of Bourbon libraries lighting Louis XIV monarchs nobility Paris popular movies Royal Courtiers royal palaces salonniere Tudor Era Versailles

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…

Stephen Paul Johnson as a beset King Lear in HVSF

Cultural Explorations Literature Travel

Celebrating Shakespeare

Saxon Henry April 6, 2016 actors and actresses Baroque Era British poets dead poets society decorating history documentaries England famous writers Great Britain libraries New York City poetry Shakespeare The Literary Adventurer

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…

Bernardaud produces the Marie-Antoinette pattern of porcelain

Historical Design Literature Travel

Dining with History

Saxon Henry December 16, 2015 Baroque Era classical antiquity decorating history demi-monde design narratives fine antiques fine porcelain France French aristocracy grand residences historic castles House of Bourbon Louis XIV Louis XV Louis XVI Marie Antoinette Marquise de Rambouillet monarchs nobility novelists painters Paris popular movies Rococo Style Royal Courtiers royal palaces salonniere Versailles Washington DC writing desks

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…

Jean Leon Gerome's painting Louis XIV and Moliere

Cultural Explorations Historical Design Literature

We’ll Never Be Royals

Saxon Henry September 3, 2015 Baroque Era Chinoiserie decorating history design narratives fine porcelain France French aristocracy historic castles House of Bourbon Louis XIV Louis XV Louis XVI Marie Antoinette Marquise de Rambouillet memoirs monarchs nobility nonfiction writers painters Paris Regency Era Rococo Style Royal Courtiers royal palaces salonniere Versailles

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…

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:…