Tea at Trianon: The Turkish Style

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Sunday, December 12, 2010

The Turkish Style

Artist Andrew Hopkins explores the style inspired by the Ottoman Empire.To quote:

The French Turkish style is not a accurate copy of Real Turkish Style but a Romanticized, whimsical version of Turkish objects often inspired by story's like A Thousand and One Nights. Most of the Turkish styled objects often featured whimsical turbaned figures of sultans or Nubian slaves or , camels, palm trees, cornucopias, arabesques, crossed crescents, pearls and jewel-like ornaments, Moorish arches , elaborate fringed draperies , and heavy garlands of rich fruits and flowers, their form and function remained essentially French and often mixed with French styles like the Louis XVI style. Having been made for the royal family or wealthy aristocrats, the objects were usually of the highest quality, and can be attributed to the best interior decorators artists and craftsmen of the 18th century. Other areas of the decorative arts reflected this vogue for 'turqueries'. Turkish figures were painted onto Sèvres porcelain and the Manufacture des Gobelins produced a tapestry known as "The Turkish Costume"based on a cartoon by Amédée Van Loo.

laughingsalmon said...: The Style a la Turk and a la Chinoise created some of the most charming designs for fashion in clothing,architecture, and decorative objects...Pure fantasy...; April 12, 2011 at 1:24:00 PM EDT