Jacques Garcia - upcoming sale

Sotheby's in Paris gives advance notice of what promises to be one of the sales of the year...On 16th May, the designer and collector Jacques Garcia intends to offer for auction 75 works of art, many of which once belonged to royalty and nobility...

New Tom Paine museum in Thetford

The Tom Paine hotel in Thetford unveils ambitious plans for a new £70,000 museum dedicated to the town's most famous son. 

Charette movie - thumbs down!

Vaincre ou Mourir!, the film from Puy de Fou on the life of Charette,  is now on general release in France. Predictably it has been caned for its Right-wing bias.  Equally predictably,  "most cinema critics agree that the movie is … bad."  Shame!

A new drawing of Robespierre

 Among the most noteworthy lots items from the collection of  Doctor André Bernheim, auctioned by Giquello et associés on 21st January,  was this remarkable drawing of Robespierre, signed by the pupil of David, Claude Gautherot (Paris, 1769-1825).

Louis XVI remembered

This Sunday the 230th anniversary of the execution of Louis XVI  was commemorated by Royalists in France.  The Duke of Anjou, "Louis XX", put in a personal appearance for Mass at the Chapelle Expiatoire. 

Last statues of Louis XVI

 The Gal Times [published in Abkhazia] marks the anniversary of the execution of Louis XVI with an article on  surviving statues of the King.  Today, only two statues remain in public spaces: in Nantes and in Loroux-Bottereau.

French drawings at the Clark

The exhibition Promenades on Paper: Eighteenth-Century French Drawings from the Bibliothèque nationale de France runs at the Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts until 12th March. 

Long live French fries!

Here is a nice accessible article in English on French resistance to the cultivation of potatoes and on  Antoine-Augustin Parmentier's tireless campaign on behalf of the spud.  Editorial on the Slurrp website, 16.01.2023.

M.-A. biopic - thumbs down?

Initial reactions to the new Marie-Antoinette biopic, airing over the festive season on BBC2.   Reviews are mostly negative, though the Guardian reviewer enjoyed it....I think I might just give this one a miss.

The French Revolution and the Islamic World

The Collector publishes an article, by Batuhan Asku, on perceptions of the French Revolution in the Islamic World. 

Pastel portraits at Sotheby's

Neil Jeffares has written an essay for Sotheby's, on collecting 18th Century pastels.  

Voltaire in wax

 The Voltaire Foundation blog has a post this month on waxwork images of Voltaire.