Marie Antoinette's

If you have ever wanted to step back in time and visit 18th century France at its best, now is your chance.  The Getty is hosting an exhibition called Paris: Life & Luxury. Life & Luxury is all about the insane impact the French culture had on the rest of the world; the exhibition sets out to prove why that was.  The exhibition features pieces from 18th century France, and the timeline set up is what really transports the visitor.

As you pass through the exhibition, you walk through a day essentially, of an 18th century wealthy Parisian.  You are surrounded by all the little splendors and necessities needed for the day.  There will be furniture, art, architectural fittings, instruments and more.

"The exhibition will be a rich and deep sensory experience, engaging the viewer's initial attention with the compelling visual appeal of superlative and virtuoso works of art. From this breadth and diversity, visitors will learn generally about the contributions of the French, and in particular the Parisian, to the visual and performing arts, language, literature, history, science, and even culinary arts during this time period—in short, about their major contribution to the humanities at large."

The items come from collections around the world, and many from private collections.  This is your chance to see a really wonderful grouping of items together for the first time, and all from our favorite century!

The exhibition is travelling, and will only be on view for limited times.

• J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles: 26 April - 27 August 2011
• Museum of Fine Arts, Houston: 18 September - 10 December 2011

 Do you think you will go? We will want all the details from those who do!

If you cannot make it to the show, you can now pre-order the exhibitions accompanying book, Paris: Life & Luxury in the Eighteenth Century.  The book discusses aspects from the show and of course, life in 18th century France.  Some topics of interest are 18th century fashion, the latest in technology, ritual of the morning toilette, and my favorite: architecture for privacy! Did I mention it features many wonderful full color images of the artifacts from the show?

A lovely chest of drawers which stands low, on four ornamented feet.   It is elaborately decorated in the round and the drawers are almost masked by the gilt details.  The handles used to open the drawers are actually created from the dragons' bodies which seem (and do) lift right off the surface they fly around.  The top is smooth marble, and there is an emphasized detail of the late, great Sun King in the center.

What do you say? For your château?

Even the palaces and pleasure grounds of the ci-devant royalty are respected as national property, and , as such, are carefully preserved.

The greater part of the furniture has been removed from Versailles- some of the paintings remain. Those by the best Masters have been sent to the Gallery of the Louvre, which is now the National Museum, where the collection greatly exceeds any other exhibition of the fine arts in the world. It is under the care of a committee, appointed to protect the arts, and is maintained in the most superb style. Such is the war, which these Goths and Vandals wage against the arts!

The late Queen's favorite residence of St Cloud remains as when she occupied it . The paintings will be sent to the museum, and the furniture will be sold.

What 18th century furnishings do you want in your living room? When you see a piece like this one, it really stands out as the perfect conversation piece.

Guest come in, look around, see it, go through the usual chit chat, maybe mosey over to it and finally pop the question: This is amazing/so different/unique where did you get it! or what is this!?

Yes a conversation piece that leads to a conversation you would just love to have! You can unleash your inner love for the 18th century and their beautiful decorative arts, discuss styles and inspirations! Impress them with your exquisite taste. Not to mention when you are not entertaining it would be a lovely accent to your relaxing room.

The 18th century conversation piece. What would you have in your living room??

My 18th century conversation piece!

No matter how rich you may have been, you could never truly live like a queen. There was no doubt that the French court was built on etiquette and duty; responsibilities to the person whose rank was above you made your rank what it was. This hierarchy among the court also lent itself by way of ....furniture!

The furniture that was made for Louis & Antoinette was of the highest grade, we are talking top of the line, not overly gilt and gaudy but crafted by the best and most respected makers. As could be imagined the pieces built for the royal children were also ridiculously splendid! They were, however, not of the same quality reserved for mom and dad. Even if this difference was slight, it was a difference.

Now we are led to our favorite occupants of the court, the comtesses, dukes and madame de's! They all had different amounts in their bank accounts, but what they could afford was not the only factor keeping them from living like kings. They could not own pieces of the quality which was reserved for the king & queen nor their children. They could try but they would not get the same stuff. They were a step below and there was a glass roof above! The system was based on the persons station (a comtesse would have a nicer secretaire than a madame de) but it was also based on the château to which the ordered pieces were to be sent!

Basically, if you lived in Versailles, you had it made. You would receive very fine quality pieces, and put all your 'suburban friends'...rather - 'urban friends' to shame. If your sister lived at Versailles and you resided at Fontainebleau, you could count on the fact that her decor would be far superior, and more luxurious. But fear not, because your annoying cousin who married the comte you had a crush on, was residing in the château la Muette, and her items were even less quality than yours!

I stumbled on this lovely washroom set to update any room into a fabulous 18th century inspired escape! The design is so period, it is called Antoinette, and the simple colors would work in any room and you can spice it up with splashes of your favorite colors- whether they be insipid blue or pink! Even rich deep colors would look great!

My favorite thing about this set is that every piece has a different image on it! How rococo! The pastoral scenes are great, and the tissue box has a winter scene. The shower rings are all different and the bath towels are too fun! I also have to say that I will probably get that rug because its so classic. You only need a few pieces to set your room off!

There are only a few pieces left though :o/ and I think some are on sale. If you decorate your room with the set you have to send images! I should do a 'Readers Guide to 18th century Living' post! Let me know what you guys have done at home!

I remember my first visit to the Louvre, my travel mates and I all split up and went our different ways. I passed through the Napoleon apartments and other period rooms and hurried on to make sure I could see all my portraits and favorite artists. Around noon I decided that I would make my way back to the decorative art section. Like stepping into a good movie or well written book, (when you do not need to use your imagination) I found the atmosphere instantly overwhelming. There really is too much for the eyes, a total I-Max theatre experience. Maybe Only for a drooling historian of space. This is the reason I am delighted with museums a la Frick. In any case, most likely unbeknownst to my companions, unless I blurted it out, I - in that one day- I visited the apartments and decorative arts section 3 times. *looks away and holds up fan*

So a sucker for the mundane world of objects d'art here we have our first post on, Chairs. Please don't run away now! It gets interesting! Let me try anyway....

When I refer 18th century French furniture I will be discussing 6 main styles which do overlap each other and have funny dates. They are Régence, Louis XV, Transition, Louis XVI, Directoire and Empire.

When the 18th century began, fashionable homes and palaces were filled with chairs that were high backed and very throne-like. They were heavy, stocky and were usually lined up against walls, enhancing their appearance as a solid piece of the room.

Furniture styles changed in accordance to changes in fashion, believe it or not. Look at womens dress for exaple. A lady who has both wit and taste arrives to the party dressed in the latest court gown, complete with those sexy new paniers. Not only does she look great, super slim and very classy, she is wearing the cutest new little blue shoes to match. The walk from her sedan chair to the party has exhausted her and her little feet are not too happy either. So she goes to sit in the first chair available, convienctly near a particualrly handsome duke. But oh no! the decor of the room is outdated! The chairs have arms which extend forward above the front legs of the chairs! She can't sit and the duke gets up and leaves and our poor lady is left standing on moaning feet and without charming company. The old style just would not do! In fact a diarist had noted, "the act of sitting down pushes the whale bones out in such a manner that armchairs have had to be specially made to accommodate them." 1728

How were the chairs changed when fashion demanded? Well to start, the arms of the chair had to go! Well not totally... Typically they followed the frame of the chair and extended to above the front legs. But paniers ladies! That just would not do. Instead the arms were shortened so that they did not extend as far as the front legs. Another demand was comfort and so the legs of the chair were shortened as well as the backs. Much more low key, yet fashionable and classy. Curves were in. The short curving arms of the chair and low back made it very comfy for men and ladies to rest their shoulders on, and most importantly, they would not mess up their hair!!!!

If that is not proof of fashion altering furniture, then I do not know what is! Are you kinda, possibly, slightly interested in reading more? I am not going to overwhelm you with details just yet, but if you are willing to wait for them, I have done my job! More to come in the future. Til then please lounge in your favorite chair patiently!