Dangerous liaisons trailer

 The STARZ TV network has released a trailer for its new adaptation of Les Liaisons dangereuses, available in the UK from 7th November. 

Hilary Mantel

Today we mourn the passing of Hilary Mantel, remembered by 18th-century enthusiasts above all as author of A Place of Greater Safety.  In memory, let us find our copies, and revisit her wonderfully vivid portraits of Robespierre et al.!

The Maison Bonchamps

The website Vendéens & Chouans reports concern over the future of the "Maison Bonchamps", 61 Rue de la Basse Meilleraie, Varade, the house where the Vendéan general Bonchamps died of his wounds, on 18th October 1793.  

An appreciation of David's "Brutus"

Mark Ledbury, Professor of Art History at the University of Sydney, introduces  one of his favourite paintings, Jacques-Louis David's 'The Lictors Bringing to Brutus the Bodies of his Dead Sons'.  Published in The Conversation on 30th August. 

18th-century pastels at the Getty

The J.Paul Getty Museums presents an exhibition of Eighteenth-Century Pastels.  At the Getty Center in Los Angeles from 30th August 2022 to 26th February 2023.

New Madame Tussaud biopic

Andy Serkis announces plans for a new series on the life and career of Madame Tussaud

The house where David died

The Brussels Times has a short article about the house in Brussels, 7 rue Léopold, where Jacques-Louis David died in exile. 

Thoughts for Thermidor

On the anniversary of 9 Thermidor, three deputies of La France Insoumise have caused controversy by staging a tribute outside the Maison Robespierre in Arras.

Expo Louis XV at Versailles

The exhibition "Louis XV: Passions of a King" takes place at the Palace of  Versailles this Winter (18th October 2022 to 19th February 2023).

The martyrs of Compiègne

 On 17th July the Catholic Church commemorates the death of the "martyrs of Compiègne", sixteen courageous Carmelite nuns who were executed by the Revolutionary Government in 1794.

Claude-Léger Sorbet, art collector

Neil Jeffares has added a new essay to his Pastels & Pastellists website:

 http://www.pastellists.com/Essays/Sorbet.pdf

Lafayette's bedchamber at Mount Vernon

The newly restored guest room at Mount Vernon, once stayed in by Lafayette, was unveiled on Bastille Day in the presence of the French Ambassador.