Tea at Trianon: 17th-Century Frescoes in a Modern Kitchen

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, April 24, 2023

17th-Century Frescoes in a Modern Kitchen

From ArtNet:

A young couple in the English city of York got more than they bargained for when they had their kitchen fitted for new cabinets: Workers discovered hidden paintings, more than 300 years old, during the renovations. The historic artworks grace the walls of the one-bedroom apartment that Luke Budworth, a 29-year-old medical researcher at the University of Leeds, shares with his partner, 26-year-old Hazel Mooney, and their dog Leonard. The couple temporarily moved out as the renovations got underway in December—only to get a fateful call from the contractors mentioning that they had found a painting.

When the two came home, the new cabinets had already been installed, once again obscuring the works from view. But Budworth suspected there might be something hiding behind the paneling in the living room, on the other side of the chimney, as well.

“I got my tools out and started chipping away at the board. As soon as I lifted the panel off, there it was, beautiful colors,” Budworth told the BBC, noting that he initially thought he was looking at Victorian wallpaper. (Read more.)