Tea at Trianon: "In Society"

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

Wednesday, July 11, 2018

"In Society"

From Blouin Art Info:

The Louvre in Paris is showcasing its glorious collection of European pastels from the 17th and 18th centuries in its exhibition titled “In Society.” The works on display illuminate the genius of celebrated artists Rosalba Carriera, Maurice Quentin de La Tour, Jean-Baptiste Simeon Chardin, Jean-Baptiste Perronneau, Jean-Etienne Liotard, Jean-Marc Nattier and Elisabeth Louise Vigee Le Brun. The exhibition also shows works by some of the lesser known artists of the time. Mostly featuring artists of the Enlightenment society, the exhibits at “In Society” dates from the time of Louis XV and Louis XVI. The works can be displayed for only short periods because of its extreme fragility.

“These pastels illustrate the genius of the artists who produced them as artworks in their own right rather than preparatory studies enhanced with color. Many of them still have their original frame, and sometimes their original glass,” writes the Louvre. “The exhibition takes a new look at masterpieces such as Maurice Quentin de La Tour’s Portrait of the Marquise de Pompadour, and features new acquisitions such as Simon Bernard Lenoir’s portrait of the actor Lekain. It is also an opportunity to compare these works by French artists with others by eminent international pastel artists such as Rosalba Carriera in Venice, Jean-Etienne Liotard in Geneva and John Russell in London.”

The exhibition presents over 120 pastels from the Louvre’s collection, mostly dating from the 18th century ― the golden age of pastel ― together with works that may have been looted during WWII and was entrusted to the Louvre in 1949. The show is organized to celebrate the publication of curator Xavier Salmon’s inventory of the museum’s extraordinary collection of pastels that amount to a staggering number of 160 works. (Read more.)