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Two Pastels by Vigée Le Brun Pre-empted by the Louvre

History

23/3/14 - Acquisitions - Paris, Muse du Louvre - The Dpartement des Arts Graphiques at the Muse du Louvre this afternoon pre-empted two pastel portraits by Elisabeth Vige Le Brun representing respectively Louis-Philippe dOrlans and Madame de Montesson for 52,000 (before charges) at Versailles-Enchres[ 1 ]

1. lisabeth Vige Le Brun (1755-1842)

Portrait of Louis-Philippe dOrlans , 1779
Pastel - 80 x 63 cm
Paris, Muse du Louvre
Photo: Versailles Enchres

2. lisabeth Vige Le Brun (1755-1842)
Portrait of Mmede Montesson , 1779
Pastel - 80 x 63 cm
Paris, Muse du Louvre
Photo: Versailles Enchres

As explained by the remarkable Dictionary of pastellists before 1800 posted online by Neil Jeffares and obviously updated scrupulously (todays auction is mentioned there), these works were almost sold as anonymous by the same auctioneers with an estimate of 2 to 3,000 on 24 November 2013, before being withdrawn[ 2 ]. They are, however, signed and dated in pencil on the right, Mde Lebrun 1779 . These pastels were therefore unpublished before today. The information provided here was taken from the catalogue entry for the auction (written with the help of Neil Jeffares).

Louis-Philippe dOrlans, known as "le Gros" [the fat one], the father of Philippe-Egalit and the grandfather of Louis-Philippe, married his mistress Madame de Montesson in 1773 after he lost his wife. But this marriage, finally authorized by Louis XV, remained morganatic and secret since his new wife could not assume the title of Duchess of Orleans. These two portraits are mentioned in 1779 in the " Liste des tableaux que javais faits avant de quitter la France in 1789 " [the list of paintings I produced before leaving France in 1789] established by Elisabeth Vige Le Brun in her mmoires[ 3 ] ( Monseigneur le duc dOrlans, Madame la marquise de Montesson ).

A smaller version of the portrait of the Duke dOrlans (without its companion piece), from a private collection, was exhibited at the Kimbell Museum of Fort Worth in 1982. Since the same type of frame can be found on other paintings by the artist, it seems quite likely that these are originals.

The Louvres new acquisitions will no doubt be put on display in the retrospective highlighting Elisabeth Vige Le Brun in late 2015 at the Grand Palais in Paris. (emphasis added)

Didier Rykner , dimanche 23 mars 2014

updated by @leopoldina: 06 Oct 2016 06:28:46AM

~Chateau d'Esprit~ New Releases - 13/04/2014 -

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You're getting better each time Sophie, I love those bonnets, and the hat is so cute!

British experts say they have found London's lost Black Death graves

History

Archaeologists work on unearthed skeletons in the Farringdon area of London in this undated handout photograph released March 15, 2013.

CREDIT: REUTERS/CROSSRAIL/HANDOUT

(Reuters) - Archaeologists in Britain said on Sunday they had solved a 660-year-old mystery, citing DNA tests which they said proved they had found a lost burial site for tens of thousands of people killed in medieval London by the "Black Death" plague.

The breakthrough follows the discovery last year of 13 skeletons wrapped in shrouds laid out in neat rows during excavations for London's new Crossrail rail line, Europe's biggest infrastructure project.

Archaeologists, who say the find sheds new light on medieval England and its inhabitants, later found 12 more skeletons taking the total to 25. They will further excavate the site in July to see if more bodies are buried nearby.

Last year, they said the remains probably belonged to victims of the plague, which killed about a third of England's population following its outbreak in 1348. Limited records suggest up to 50,000 victims were buried in the cemetery in London's Farringdon district, one of two emergency burial sites.

On Sunday, they said DNA testing of some of the skeletons' teeth had uncovered traces of the Yersinia pestis bacterium, which was responsible for the Black Death plague, confirming that theory.

"Analysis of the Crossrail find has revealed an extraordinary amount of information allowing us to solve a 660 year mystery," said Jay Carver, Crossrail's lead archaeologist.

"This discovery is a hugely important step forward in documenting and understanding Europe's most devastating pandemic," he added. "Until Crossrail's discovery, archaeologists had been unable to confirm the story."

Some of the victims had been buried in 1348-50, and others in the early to mid 1400s, carbon dating showed.

Testing of the remains showed that 13 of the skeletons were male, three female, and two children. The gender was undetermined in the other seven skeletons.

It also revealed information about their lives. Many had serious spinal damage, suggesting they had carried out heavy manual labour. Some had injuries to their upper bodies consistent with being involved in violent altercations.

One of the victims had also been a vegetarian; many had suffered from malnutrition. Experts said 40 percent of them had grown up outside London, possibly as far north as Scotland, showing that 14th century London attracted people from across the country, just like the British capital today.

Crossrail's Carver said the find had relevance for modern disease research.

"What's really exciting is the bringing together of many different lines of evidence to create a picture of such a devastating world event as the Black Death," he said.

"Historians, archaeologists, micro-biologists, and physicists are all working together to chart the origins and development of one of the world's worst endemic diseases and help today's researchers in ancient and modern diseases better understand the evolution of these bacteria."

Crossrail is a 15 billion pound ($24.96 billion) railway link connecting east and west London.

(Editing by Alison Williams )

Source

updated by @leopoldina: 06 Oct 2016 06:28:17AM

New Renaissance Gown "Sinann" from Trefusis Designs

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Beautiful dresses and freebie outfit!

Assassin’s Creed: Unity To Be Set In 18th century Paris

General Discussion

It is a open world stealth game, so maybe you will like it! I would recommend to watch some game-play videos from the past games. I personally love the game-play.

Assassin’s Creed: Unity To Be Set In 18th century Paris

General Discussion

I thought AC III was very disappointing, one of the things were how bland the maps looked. From what I've looked though, AC Black Flag is gorgeous.

Assassin’s Creed: Unity To Be Set In 18th century Paris

General Discussion

You get to play as a woman in the PSvita game :p

Assassin’s Creed: Unity To Be Set In 18th century Paris

General Discussion

Take the chance! I remember playing II nonstop when I first got it :p

You're welcome!

Assassin’s Creed: Unity To Be Set In 18th century Paris

General Discussion

It is a series of historical-fiction games:

TheAssassin's Creedgames primarily revolves around the rivalry between two ancient secret societies: the Assassins and theKnights Templar, and their indirect relation to an ancientspecies pre-dating humanity, whose society, along with much of Earth's biosphere, was destroyed by a massivesolar storm. The games' real-world chronological setting is the year 2012, and featureDesmond Miles, a bartender who is a descendant of several lines of prominentAssassins; though raised as an Assassin, he fled his nomadic family to seek out a more common lifestyle. He is initially kidnapped by themegacorporationAbstergo Industries, the modern-day face of the Knights Templar, who are aware of Desmond's lineage. Desmond is forced to use the "Animus", a device that allows him to experience hisancestral memories. Abstergo is seeking to discover the location of several artifacts, or "Pieces of Eden", that hold great power, to control mankind and alter its fate, bringing humanity into a single unified group. Desmond also encounters a small team of modern-day Assassins; agreeing to work with them, Desmond uses their version of the Animus (the Animus 2.0) to continue to experience the memories of his ancestors to discover the locations of additional Pieces of Eden so they can be recovered before Abstergo can do so. While experiencing these memories, some of their abilities are genetically leaked into Desmond, known as the Bleeding Effect, giving him some of the Assassin skills of his predecessors at the cost of living with multiple sets of memories and personalities in his mind.

Assassin’s Creed: Unity To Be Set In 18th century Paris

General Discussion

I started with AC II and loved it! I played Brotherhood but didn't liked. I also was not very happy with III, but I played dutifully until the end :p

My copy of Black Flag is not working so I'l have to trade it for a new one, can't wait to play it!