History

You know it’s May in France when sprigs of fragrant ‘muguet’ (lily of the valley) are sold by vendors from pop-up stands on seemingly every street corner. The flowers are said to bring good...

Street lights in French are called réverbères, for reflectors. I always wondered why, as the beautiful lamp posts that adorn the Paris city center look very stylish but not reflective at all. With more time...

In his April 5, 1912 article in Le Petit Bleu on women artists, celebrated poet and art critique extraordinare, Guillaume Apollinaire, wrote: “Just as our age has allowed some female talents to blossom in...

The Leonardo da Vinci exhibition at the Louvre might've closed last month, but that doesn't mean your journey in his footsteps needs to end. A visit to his former home, Château du Clos Lucé...

To be the muse of a famous artist has proved often to be a double-edged sword. To be talented in your own right and female, that sword could possess the unkindest of blades. In Beth...

Collecting precious stones seems to have always been part of the job description for any self-respecting king. In France, it started with François 1er and carried on with all French monarchs and, later, emperors. Louis...

As a self-confessed, unabashed lover of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, dare I even say addict, walking once more on her streets again, after a reluctant absence, lifts my heart and I really know I'm back in Paris...

https://youtu.be/U4s4sS40G9s One hundred and twenty-five years ago, the Brothers Lumière, Auguste and Louis, displayed their new invention to the general public at the Grand Café on the Boulevard Capucines in Paris. To put things into...

Tucked away in a narrow street in Paris’s sleepy 7th arrondissement, a bright yellow storefront announces a shop unlike any other I’ve seen: Duvelleroy. Feathers, sequins, ribbons of all colors and shapes adorn the...

On a hot and humid July evening in 1944, Gestapo officers knocked on the door of Germaine Pezet, a Parisian housewife then living in Aix-en-Provence. They were on a mission to find whatever information...

The trial of Gabrielle Bompard in December 1890 caused a sensation in Paris. Despite being accused of the most heinous and brutal of crimes, the waif like, 4'8" Bombard captured the imagination of the crowds...

In 1962 the Mona Lisa was valued at $100 million. In 2019, she was estimated to be worth a cool $2.67 billion. The highest selling picture to date is another painting by Leonardo da...