Art History
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Unique pets in the Eighteenth-Century
I recently stumbled across this beautiful portrait in the Minneapolis Institute of Art. Once I got past the beautiful fabrics and luxurious pearls (they always pull me in) – there was something else that struck me… The squirrel. I wondered if it was a symbol of something, but it turns out that actually, it wasn’t. read more
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New Podcast | HistoryExtra, “Everything you wanted to know about the Grand Tour”
Giovanni Paolo Panini, Modern Rome, 1757. Met Museum. I am so excited to share that the latest BBC HistoryExtra podcast had me answering lots of different questions about, and sharing highly entertaining stories from, the Grand Tour. It’s a topic I’m fascinated by, so I am so grateful to have been a part of the read more
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The first major British artist outside of London: Joseph Wright of Derby
Self-Portrait, c.1780. Yale Center for British Art. I think we often think that, with the growth of culture and leisure in the eighteenth and nineteenth century, that the be-all and end-all is London (or, perhaps Bath). But, of course, this was not true. For starters, I want to share with you the first major British read more
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Marie-Antoinette’s biggest fan: Empress Eugénie
Fewer women have captured cultural imagination like Marie-Antoinette. Her fascination endures today, and it did so almost immediately after her death in the French revolution. And one of her biggest fans, who sat at the helm of cult-like adoration for who they saw as a martyr queen, was Empress Eugénie. Empress Eugénie was born in read more
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Mini-Post | Charles-Antoine Coypel
I am obsessed with the luxury of the fabrics, bows, ruffles and utter GLOW of this piece in the Met’s collection: to me, it is so romantic, enhanced by the use of pastels. This is a Coypel portrait of Marie Elisabeth de Séré de Rieux and her husband François de Jullienne. Julienne was a collector read more
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What is a Cabinet of Curiosity?
One of my favourite things that I spotted in the second half of the third season of Bridgerton was the presence of cabinets of curiosity in Penelope and Colin’s sitting room. It seems the perfect set addition for our intrepid and intellectually engaged couple (I tried to find a still of the set, but couldn’t!): read more
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Mini-Post | Flora (1894)
This weekend, I had the absolute joy of seeing this Evelyn de Morgan painting of “Flora”, which you can find at Delaware Art Museum. It was pretty magical as I’ve had a postcard of it above my desk for so long! Combining influences from Botticelli’s “Primavera” and “The Birth of Venus”, de Morgan (whose first read more
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Sir Joshua Reynolds, Celebrity Portrait Painter
If you ever look at British portraits during the eighteenth century, you will be hard-pressed not to come across one by the illustrious Sir Joshua Reynolds. He was one of the artists to be painted by if you were at the level of society that you wanted your portrait taken, and has gone down in read more
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Getting up close with the waterlilies: Some thoughts on Monet, the Immersive Experience
Title Image: Water Lilies, 1917/19, Honolulu Museum of Art. You may have realised, if you’ve followed this blog for a while, or my Instagram account, that there are a couple of things that I really love and, not to put too fine a point on it, won’t shut up about. One is Jane Austen, another read more
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Mini-Post | Waddesdon Manor
Forever one of the country houses I’m most interested in, welcome to Waddesdon Manor, a French château in Buckinghamshire. Waddesdon was built by Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild and completed in 1883 – he wanted somewhere to escape from London to. (Very nice if you can!) As you may guess from the style, the architect was read more
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Dr. Lizzie Rogers 