How to frame a painting by François Boucher

How to frame a painting by François Boucher [The Interrupted Sleep, 1750] 🍃 💐 🌿 #metmuseum #museumlove #fineart #simplicity #arte #summer #france #cloudwatching 

A photo posted by Lauren (@mariegossip) on May 29, 2016 at 9:26am PDT

Boucher's The Interrupted Sleep caught my eye while passing through the museum...

How Tall Was Marie Antoinette?

Joseph Ducreux After French, 1735-1802, Marie Antoinette as a Young Girl. Dates not recorded, oil on canvas. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

How tall was Marie Antoinette?

Jean-Honoré Fragonard's Mythological Figures

Fragonard, The Goddess Minerva. c. 1772. The Detroit Institute of Arts.

Here is a selection of mythological and fictional figures that Fragonard painted.  Working throughout the 18th century, Fragonard studied with François Boucher, Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin, Charles-André van Loo and Charles-Joseph Natoire. He was and is known for his genre paintings. 

Before he studied art, Fragonard was an apprentice to a notary in Paris. One account suggests his parents noticed his artistic inclinations and prompted him to seek a different apprenticeship while another says he was fired from his desk job because he doodled too often!

The secret history of Marie Antoinette's perfumer

 Louis XVI, de trois quarts à gauche, Marie-Antoinette, le second Dauphin et Madame Elisabeth, de profil à gauche, bustes conjugués, émergeant de nuages : [estampe]

"You who so love flowers, I offer you this bouquet." 

Marie Antoinette's Shoes

I have found four pairs of shoes that Marie Antoinette owned and one fabulous pair she didn't own!

Which style gown do you prefer? [POLL]

The poll is now open! Which style gown do you prefer? 

The Robe à l'Anglaise or the Robe à la Française?   

The destruction of Poitiers Cathedral

Poitiers Cathedral, 1840s.

Not even a Cathedral is safe to time...