Tea at Trianon: Lost Glories of the Paris Ritz

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

Saturday, February 17, 2018

Lost Glories of the Paris Ritz

From The Daily Mail:

Opened in 1898 by Swiss hotelier César Ritz, it was bought in 1979 by Egyptian billionaire Mohamid Al Fayad and underwent four years of renovation before re-opening in 2016. The objects going on sale no longer fit the new set-up of the hotel, favoured by A-list stars and royalty from around the world.

Among the items is the first bathtub installed at the hotel, estimated to fetch between 800 and 1,200 euros (£700-£1,057). A gold sofa set from a salon named after the writer Marcel Proust is expected to fetch more than £1,200, while a pair of black lacquered decorative Chinese junk sailboats from the Coco Chanel suite will be on offer at 2,000 euros (£2,202).

In it's 118-year history, the legendary hotel was called 'the most romantic hotel in the world,' by Sophia Loren and during the Second World War, the Nazis took over several floors when they occupied Paris during World War II. Auction house Artcurial, who are organizing the sale said the 10,000 pieces in the catalogue have been separated into 3,500 lots ranging from €100 to €5,000. (Read more.)