Tea at Trianon: Ariana Rockefeller's New York Apartment

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, April 19, 2023

Ariana Rockefeller's New York Apartment

From Town and Country:

When the Collection of David and Peggy Rockefeller hit the auction block at Christie’s in 2018, it quickly shattered records as the highest-selling personal collection ever, grossing over $835 million. Notable in many respects, the sale also pulled back a velvet curtain of sorts, offering a rare glimpse into the home life of one of America’s most storied—and famously private—families. From David and Peggy’s Upper East Side townhouse in New York City to the family’s distinguished Riding Point in Seal Harbor, Maine, suddenly we could see for ourselves what it looked like to live as a Rockefeller.
Be it a narrow city dwelling or 75-acre Pocantico Hills estate, perhaps the most distinguishing characteristic of the Rockefeller homes was a certain rustic yet rarified aesthetic—a particularly Northeastern style of American understatement that happened to be trimmed not just with fine art and objects but the finest. It should come as no surprise, then, that aspects of this philosophy are on display in the Manhattan pied-à-terre of David and Peggy’s granddaughter Ariana Rockefeller, who enlisted the help of designer CeCe Barfield Thompson to fashion a comfortably luxurious abode in a pre-war co-op in New York City's Upper East Side.
For the younger Rockefeller, a model and lifelong equestrian who now lives in Holland, the guiding vision was a home away from home. One of the references on her mood board was the Palace of Versailles, where she spent time in 2019 when her father, David Rockefeller, Jr., was presented with the inaugural Versailles Award for American Philanthropy in memory of his grandfather, John D. Rockefeller, Jr. (Read more.)