Architecture · Observations · Society · Paris · Humour
I would like to send a retching emoji, but I am genuinely impressed by the creative potential of Anne Hidalgo, tireless disfigurer of the French capital. Open-air urinals have been installed on the Place de la République, which prompts the thought that it might be renamed La Répu de
Monarchies · Paris · People
at the time of his victory in the election of France's first president on 10 December 1848 // at the time of the coup d'état of 2 December 1851
Observations · Society · Paris · Humour
Anne Hidalgo, Mayor of Paris, has hinted at her participation in the 2022 presidential election with a rather theatrical declaration:. "I am a woman, I am the daughter of an immigrant, I am French, I am a mother of three children, I have three grandchildren, I am a Parisian,
Faith · Art · Paris · Humour
The Lord Asks Adam and Eve to Observe Social Distancing. A fresco by the celebrated French painter Hippolyte Flandrin (1809-1864) in Saint-Germain-des-Prés, the oldest church in Paris
Art · Society · Paris · People
Ugliness, a shapeless mass, a monster: this is how the patrons described Auguste Rodin's monument to Balzac. The statue at the intersection of the boulevards Raspail and Montparnasse still provokes controversy today. After a scandal that all France followed, Rodin kept the sculpture for himself and returned the
Archaeology · The East · Museums · Heritage · Paris · Humour
The sarcophagus discovered in a Franco-Lebanese house is a cast of the original kept in the National Museum of Beirut, incidentally one of its chief treasures. The magnificent sarcophagus of Ahiram, found by the French archaeologist Pierre Montet in 1923, is considered a symbol of Franco-Lebanese friendship: that,
Monarchies · Museums · Observations · Science · Paris
An ominous sign? At Versailles, the Passemant perpetual clock has stopped. This famous astronomical clock, acquired by Louis XV on the recommendation of the French Academy of Sciences, is supposed to display dates up to the last day of the year 9999, but something has gone wrong.. The clockmakers of
Coming Up · Art · Observations · Paris · Society Pages
Ladies, Put Your Names Down for Tiaras! In the historic Maison Chaumet on the Place Vendôme in Paris, an unprecedented exhibition of jewels from the jewellery house of Chaumet, entitled “Napoleon and Joséphine”, is running until the middle of July. I was fortunate enough to visit the colossal exhibition of
NB! · Archive · Art · Mores · Paris
The centaur's kiss on the cover of La Vie Parisienne. 1924, drawing by Georges Léonnec
Art · Museums · Paris · Humour
Charon crossing to the kingdom of shadows. Second quarter of the eighteenth century. A masterpiece by the French artist Pierre Subleyras. From the collection of the Duke of Penthièvre, now in the Louvre. An interesting choice: to show the glints from the heat of the burning Phlegethon on the buttocks
Architecture · Faith · Monarchies · Heritage · Paris
Model of the Basilica of Saint-Denis, built in 1144 on the site of an older building dating back to the mid-fifth century. The construction of this church marks the birth of Gothic architecture. The model shows Saint-Denis with its reconstructed north tower, which was taken down for
Interviews · Art · Heritage · Paris · People
The youngest daughter of the artist Zinaida Serebriakova, Ekaterina (1913-2014), speaks of her childhood, her mother, her family, the flight from Bolshevik Russia, and how she too became an artist and resolved to devote her life to her mother. It is curious that Ekaterina Borisovna recalls the years when