A new exhibition, on the role of horses in history opens at Versailles to coincide with the Olympic Equestrian events. Horse in Majesty: At the Heart of a Civilisation will run from 2nd July to 3rd November and features some 300 works displayed in various different areas of the Palace.
An exhibition on Revolutionary dress will run at the Musée de la la Révolution française at Vizille, from 28th June to 10th November.
A new book on Maurice Quentin de La Tour was published on 6th June. The volume by Xavier Salmon, Director of works on paper at the Louvre, is the first monograph on the artist since 1928.
In the The Burlington Magazine for May: Yuriko Jackall, former curator of French paintings at the Wallace Collection outlines new findings on Fragonard's The swing. The article has been made freely available on the Web:
A rare autograph letter from Thomas Jefferson to Tench Coxe, written from Monticello to be sold by Siegel Auctions on 27th June 2024.
"In this letter, written in 1795, Jefferson espouses the momentum of the "ball of liberty" and denounces the "atrocities of Robespierre" and the French Reign of Terror".
The death on 6th June has been announced of the veteran Left-wing historian and publisher Éric Hazan, who is known particularly for his works on the history of Paris.
This summer Waddesdon Manor showcases the work of Louis-Denis Armand (1723-1796), an artist at the Sèvres Manufactory who specialised in birds; the exhibition, "Flights of Fancy: Birds at Waddesdon", runs from 22nd May - 27th October.
An English-language versions of the 2020 French TV documentary Marie-Antoinette, les derniers secrets d'une reine has recently been posted on YouTube.
Rare Book Monthly for June publishes a short online article by Thibault Ehrengardt on François Hue's account of the last years of Louis XVI.
The exhibition "The Forbidden City and the Palace of Versailles: Exchanges between China and France in the 17th and 18th centuries" is running at the Palace Museum in Beijing until 30th June.
A new production of Umberto Giordano’s 1896 opera Andrea Chénier runs at the Royal Opera House from 30th May to 11th June. I'm not an opera enthusiast, but the sets certainly look terrific....
The open-access journal Age of Revolutions publishes an interview in which Revolutionary historian Colin Jones reflects on his career and work. (27.05.2024)