18th Century Fashion Rules: Colors and Cuts

Elisabeth Louise Vigée-LeBrun, Comtesse Marie Dubarry. 1789,  oil on canvas. Musée St.-Didie.

A Letter from Marie Antoinette to her mother, Maria Theresa dated June 13, 1776....

Marie Antoinette visits the Louvre

 Anonymous, Portrait of Marie Antoinette. Miniature, cloth. Musée du Louvre.

How do you browse an art gallery? Here is a little account of Marie Antoinette visiting the Louvre....

A Description of Paris in the 18th Century

A description of Paris between the years 1787-1789. An Englishman visits Paris and this is what he had to say...

How to frame a painting by François Boucher

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."