Tea at Trianon: Paris Green

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

Monday, January 31, 2022

Paris Green

From Esquire:

It was said that at the Paris Opera one evening in 1864, Empress Eugenie wore a gown so breathtaking it made newspaper headlines the very next morning. The dress was a spectacular deep-set green, its colors vivid enough to remain unchanged by gaslight.

Soon after, “Paris green” became the color of the social elite, not only on their garments but adorning their walls as well. The trend would eventually reach Victorian England, and people would die as a result.

Paris green, also known as emerald green, was one of many hues—including Scheele’s green, the first of its kind—that would end the lives of people in the Victorian Era. The resplendent pigment was the creation of chemists who found that mixing copper with arsenic resulted in a dye that was brighter and longer-lasting than other greens in the market.

As we now know, arsenic is a highly toxic substance that causes skin lesions, vomiting, diarrhea, and in some cases, cancer. In the 19th century, however, it was as ubiquitous as plastic, finding its way into candy, paper, toys, and medicine; for it to be used as a dye for clothing and accessories was all too normal. (Read more.)