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. 

Vaincre et mourir - the dossier

 The film Vaincre et mourir is accompanied by "dossier pédagogique" intended as a guide for teachers. Jean-Clément Martin offers his criticisms in a blog post of 23/01.

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,  is 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. 

Sale of Revolutionary items

A major sale of Revolutionary items from the collection of Doctor André Bernheim (1877-1961) is to be held by the auction house Giquello at the Hôtel Drouot on 21st January.

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.