This essay about the decorating exploits of Leigh Hunt is included in my most recent book The Modern Salonnière. The 34 other essays in the…
View More Leigh Hunt Avid DecoratorTag: salonniere
I take my self-described title as a modern salonnière very seriously, mining history for details of other salonieres for fodder for my explorations.
One of my favorite salonnieres is Catherine de Vivonne, or Marquise Rambouillet, who turned The Chambre Bleue into one of the most famous salons in history. I read about notorious figures like her in order to understand what it is they were trying to achieve so I can integrate their values into the literary adventures I create here on The Diary of an Improvateur. One such evening was a fictive salon during which she held court with her salonieres in Ally Coulter’s space at the Holiday House NYC.
After she had settled herself near the fire, Madame Rambouillet listened “intently as poet François de Malherbe, a central figure within her inner circle, read from his poem ‘To Cardinal Richelieu.’ The coterie of intellectuals gathered around her would be quietly engrossed in the verses honoring the powerful clergyman as the poet’s words wafted toward the ornate ceiling, a spate of lively applause echoing after them in the statuesque space.
Her smug expression would signal she had yet again pulled off a sublime evening of titillation, the mix of jealousy and awe on the faces of the shrewdest women surrounding her—Madame de Sévigné, Madame de La Fayette, the Duchesse de Longueville and Comtesse de La Suze, among them—the only sign her trendsetting heart required as confirmation.” All of the details of this evening are make-believe, of course—straight from my imagination—so please treat it as such.
The Fashionable Grecian Supper
This essay about a fashionable Grecian supper held by Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun is included in my book The Modern Salonnière. The 34 other essays in…
View More The Fashionable Grecian SupperThe Emperor’s Displeasure
This essay about Napoléon’s displeasure with Germaine de Staël is included in my new book The Modern Salonnière. The 34 other essays in the book…
View More The Emperor’s DispleasureThe Personality of Place
So, this is how it feels to experience a medieval Tuscan village that has existed on a hillside in some form for almost 1000 years!…
View More The Personality of PlaceMadame Récamier and the Art of Reclining
Jeanne-Françoise Julie Adélaïde Bernard, known after her marriage as Juliette Récamier, was born on December 4, 1777—240 years ago yesterday. Had she lived during modern…
View More Madame Récamier and the Art of RecliningMy Porcelain Bucket List
When I am planning literary design adventures, I look for experiences that give me the feeling of transcendence—encounters during which I am conscious of having…
View More My Porcelain Bucket ListA Conversation on Trends in Textiles
I’m thrilled to announce that I am producing the first in my Modern Salonnière series of events during High Point Market next month. With this…
View More A Conversation on Trends in TextilesThe Sensuous Delight of Place
Like Katherine Mansfield’s enigmatic stories, the book Place by Tara Bernerd feels like “a thread with a subtly woven texture embracing ecstatic feeling, sensuous delight.” The…
View More The Sensuous Delight of PlaceA 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 VarenneHenry VIII’s Cult of Cloth
A trip to Frankfurt to attend Heimtextil a week from today has inspired me to share one of my favorite anecdotes about Henry VIII and…
View More Henry VIII’s Cult of Cloth