Tea at Trianon: Medieval Effigy Found

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, January 6, 2021

Medieval Effigy Found

From Smithsonian:

Dated to around 1350, the effigy—which features angels framing its subject’s head and a dog resting at his feet—likely depicts John de Belton, a local priest who died of the Black Death. Though these kinds of ornate memorials became more common during the late 14th century, just six or seven were created during de Belton’s lifetime—a fact that makes his effigy “something of a trendsetter,” as conservation expert David Carrington tells BBC News.

“He would have been a very bright, blingy type of statue when he was first made—so far, the conservators have found dark red, bright blue, black and green paint as well as gold,” says Heathcote to the Observer. “He is wearing priest’s robes, which have been very finely sculpted by someone who was obviously a master sculptor.” (Read more.)