Tea at Trianon: The Colors of Morocco and Mexico

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

Friday, September 11, 2015

The Colors of Morocco and Mexico

From InsideChic:

In Morocco, the rugs are created from cactus fibers and they feel like silk. I use them sometimes as upholstery or hang them on a wall. The antique rugs have the most beautiful worn red that feels like an aged leather book. The tiles in Morocco, especially in Fez, are unmistakably beautiful. They are called “azulejo.” The word means tile in Spanish and and the root actually means blue, which is the color of the tile. The craft of tile making traveled from Morocco to Spain, and then from Spain to Mexico. The blue works so well and looks good with everything. People respond well to blue – it’s the color of the ocean and the sky and people are drawn to it. You can have blue in every room. Blue is a neutral to me. (Read more.)