Episode 193 - Part 4 - The Travels of the Mona Lisa

When she returned to the Louvre on January 4, 1914, she came back an icon. 

President John F. Kennedy and his wife Jackie visited Paris on May 31, 1961, for 3 days. The darling of American politics didn’t impress Charles de Gaulle but the French heritage of the beautiful first lady, Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy did. Speaking fluently in French to De Gaulle he was powerless under her influence as was Cultural Minister André Malraux. 

A lavish state dinner was held on June 1 in the Hall of Mirrors in Versailles on the 220-foot-long table set with Naploeons silver and Bleu Marli Sèvres china. André Malraux quickly fell under her charm and was invited the following May 1962 for a state dinner in Washington DC. 

It was at the May 11, 1962 dinner when sitting next to the minister Jackie & André talked over a plan to send the Mona Lisa to America. Back in France, the idea was not well received. As the date became closer citizens rioted in the streets and the daily conversations over a cafe were all about the Mona Lisa. 

On December 14, 1962, 49 years and a day that she was discovered after her two-year abduction she left France again, this time for the United States. Packed away in an especially designed airtight temperature-controlled case she boarded the SS France to New York under heavy security. The special case stored the painting and the frame separately and as she floated across the ocean, only a handful of people knew of the special cargo. 

Arriving five days later on December 19 federal and local police and military awaited the precious package and drove her to Washington DC to the National Gallery where she was tucked away for three weeks while her room was prepared. On January 8, 1963, to coincide with the opening of the 88th session of Congress the doors opened. For the first and only time in American history, the President of the United States opened an art exhibit with an official speech alongside the President of France. 

From January 9 to February 3 people lined up for hours for a glimpse of the famous Mona Lisa. Security was tight as officials were worried she would be stolen or destroyed. Surrounding her were two armed Marines and a slew of undercover agents within the crowd. Madeline Hours traveled from the Louvre every step of the way with Lisa. Constantly checking the conditions Lisa was exposed to. In the National Gallery, the swarm of people became so large the temperature of the room rose ten degrees. As Madeline moved towards the painting to check the temperature, she moved a bit too quickly and the Marine on guard punched her in the throat. 

In the end, 518,525 people saw her in DC and waited well over 2 hours on the coldest days of winter.  

On February 4, Lisa and Madeline escorted by heavy security made their way to the MET in New York. On February 7, the doors were opened in over four weeks, 1,077,521 people witnessed the mysterious smile. While in the MET the sprinkler system malfunctioned overnight and water flowed down her frame for hours. Thankfully she was protected. 

Madeline Hours was born on August 5, 1913, and would become the director of the C2RMF and advanced scientific studies of paintings and restoration to a place no other museum in the world could reach. 

In April 1974 Lisa left France for the last time, this time to Tokyo under the orders of President Pompidou in an act of diplomacy. Japanese Prime Minister Tanaka had put aside $300 million for France to promote the study of Japanese culture and language. In return Pompidou agreed to let the Mona Lisa leave the Louvre and travel to Tokyo, something Louvre officials were quite against. 

For her departure in  1974, she was placed in a state-of-the-art case that controlled not only the temperature and humidity but also protected her from fire, water, and any other disaster that could occur. In 1962 she traveled by sea but in 1974 she took her first flight and the change in air pressure had to be taken into account. Her traveling case was better than her permanent home in the Louvre and museum officials were a bit embarrassed by this fact. 

In Tokyo, from April 17 to June 11 the crowds were so large that they were only allowed to stop for 10 seconds to look at her and it was highly controlled. She was such a sensation a direct phone line to the Mona Lisa was created. “Hi my name is Lisa and I am known as La Giocondo” 

On her return to France, her flight traveled over Russia where it was ordered to land. Director of the Pushkin,  Irina Antonova heard that the famed painting would be flying over Moscow and pleaded with Ekaterina Furtseva, Russian Minister of Culture to see if Lisa could make a stop. 

Russian President Brezhnev had seen the Mona Lisa on a private visit to the Louvre in 1971 with President Pompidou and was keen to make it happen.  As the flight entered Russian airspace it was “forced” to land. The French agreed that she would be kept behind bulletproof glass and heavy security. It was the midst of the Cold War and only Lisa could thaw the tension if just for two weeks.   Murky figures after recall that 300,000 people waited 7 to 8 hours a day for a quick glimpse of Western art their government despised. 

After her vacation to Japan and Moscow, the French government created a law that would ban her from ever leaving France again. 

With her living conditions far better on a flight than in the Louvre, officials had to make a change. In 1974 she was placed behind bulletproof glass in the Salon Carré. 

From 2001 to  2005 the Salle des Etats was redone and funded by the Nippon television company for $6.2 million.  

Today she is behind two sheets of bulletproof triple-laminated glass in a climate-controlled and heavily monitored casing. Ultrasound equipment surrounds her and the smallest issue can be discovered within seconds. Humidity being the biggest issue, 25 pounds of silica gel keeps her at a perfect 55 degrees Fahrenheit and at 50% humidity at all times.  The wall that she is placed in that was added in 2005  is concrete in case anyone wants to try to drive a car into her. 

In 2018, French Cultural Minister Francoise Nyseen proposed a traveling exhibition of the highlights of the collection around France to fight against “cultural segregation”  She first mentioned it in March of 2018 on a radio program which was quickly denounced by then director of the Louvre Jean-Luc Martinez. Martinez mentioned that the fragile wood panel can’t even be moved between floors much less traveling around France.  

In 2019 the Salle des Etats was repainted a beautiful royal navy blue and was briefly moved to the Richelieu wing, exactly what the now disgraced former director Martinez stated they couldn’t do. 

Once a year in July she is removed from her coffin and inspected. Always on a Tuesday when the museum is closed the entire Denon wing is closed down to employees. National police are even brought in to guard the rooms around the Salle des Etats as she is lifted from her frame. 

A dozen lucky curators and da Vinci experts from around the world are chosen each year to view a once-in-a-lifetime event, the grand lady, naked and out of her casing and sitting on an easel just like she did for Leonardo over 500 years ago. 

Mona Lisa attacked 

In 1956, the Mona Lisa returned for a short time to the Musée Ingres in Montauban, a spot that hid her away from October 1940 to March 1943. While on display a woman tossed acid on the painting that was thankfully protected by glass. 

Back in the Louvre at the end of the year. Ugo Unzaga Villegas, a Bolivian homeless man had a rock in his pocket and decided to throw it at the Grand Dame. It shattered the glass around her elbow and even left a small mark that was restored. Later he admitted he had carried out the act in hopes of being arrested and sent to jail so he could have a warm place to sleep. 

On April 20, 1974, opening day of the Tokyo National Museum, Tomoko Yonezu a young disabled woman pushed through the crowd and sprayed Lisa with red paint. From the start, the museum refused to allow disabled people to attend the viewing. Her attack led her to a stint in prison and a large fine but the museum also added a day so disabled visitors would have their own time and space to see the famous lady. 

On her brief visit to Russia in 1974 a woman tossed a bouquet of flowers at her, nothing was damaged. 

In 2009 on August 2 a Russian woman entered the Louvre and bought a coffee cup with the face of the Mona Lisa on it and decided to enter the room and promptly walked up and lobbed the cup at the glass which only shattered the mug not the painting. She was upset to have been refused French nationality, I can understand this. 

On May 29, 2022, it was a 36-year-old man who pretended to be an elderly woman and used a wheelchair to get a bit closer to the Mona Lisa. Upon entry past the stanchions, he pulled a creme pastry from under his jacket tossed it at the painting, and climbed up to smear it on the glass before tossing red roses at her. It was a protest for climate change but somehow I think Lisa would be happy to have a bite of a French pastry and some red roses after more than 500 years behind glass. 

And just a week ago on January 28, 2024, at 10 am two women waltzed into the Salle des États and removed a coffee thermos of Pumpkin Soup, and tossed it at the Mona Lisa while hundreds stood and watched. “Our agricultural system is sick! What’s more important? Art or the right to a healthy and sustainable diet?” The Riposte Alimentaire group was behind the attack and immediately posted to social media their thoughts. The two women were arrested and will pay a fine. 

As for the Mona Lisa, she has seen it all now. The room was closed for an hour while the staff cleaned the soup off the wall and by 11:30 am the crowd was pushing and shoving their way to the front for yet another selfie. 

You will notice that none of these attacks happened before the theft. Each of these acts is meant to draw attention to a situation and they know that if it happens to the Mona Lisa, it will make the news around the world which it did once again last week. 

Episode 192 - Vincenzo and Lisa - Part Three in the Story of the Mona Lisa

Vincenzo Peruggia

Born October 8, 1881, in Dumenza in the north of Italy. The oldest of five children, he began working at twelve as a house painter in Milan.  In 1908 Vincenzo moved to Paris where he became very sick and hospitalized for lead poisoning, a nugget that will come into play later. Moving away from the painting business he got a job with the A Gobier company that had worked on the glass and windows of the Musée du Louvre since 1832.  

Unhinged people kept entering into the Louvre and tossing paint and slashing paintings so the Louvre decided the most important pieces needed to be protected with new frames and glass. Vincenzo’s time with the Gobier company wasn’t ideal. His French coworkers picked on him and called him Macaroni. Needless to say, he did become the best and when the Louvre needed the frames of the Italian masters replaced, Vincenzo was the only man for the job. 

Each day for a year Peruggia was up close and personal with each of the Italian paintings that had once belonged to the kings of France. After the Raphael’s were completed, Vincenzo tackled Leonardo da Vinci’s and of course the Mona Lisa. This gave him an in-depth knowledge of the future star of the Louvre although he hadn’t decided to steal her quite yet. 

One theory that has been floated around is that he chose the Mona Lisa because she resembles one of his girlfriends. When his tiny apartment was inspected after his arrest they found over 90 letters from a woman named “Mathilde”. The mystery woman is also tied to one of his few brushes with the law prior to the grand theft. 

Vincenzo saw Mathilde one night in a Parisian dance hall and saw another man talking with her. She brushed him off but the man stabbed her. Vincenzo zoomed in to take her to the home of an Italian woman in his neighborhood who cared for the young girl. 

He wasn’t a stranger to the police and was in the system including his fingerprints. However, in those days everything was on paper, and stacks of thousands of criminals would have to be searched through to find the one matching thumbprint. 

On June 23, 1908, he was arrested for an attempted robbery and a few months later again for a fight over a  prostitute and was sentenced to eight days in jail. 

The working theory was that Vincenzo believed Napoleon had stolen her from Italy. For decades his daughter and family believed he had taken her as an act of patriotism. However, that was dispelled when letters were found where he repeatedly said he had a large payday happening soon. 

Following his arrest he was held in the Italian prison and worshiped like a king. Strangers offered to pay for his lawyer, women sent him love letters and brought flowers each day and the Italian papers claimed he was a hero. 

The day after her triumphant return to the Louvre, Vincenzo was in front of an Italian judge. He claimed that all the Italian paintings in the Louvre had been stolen by Napoleon. They didn’t have plaques for each painting with the provenance back in 1911. He also blamed his lead poisoning for his actions. 

Already held in jail for seven months, his trial was delayed until June 4, 1914, and many of the former French officials involved in the case had retired or died. Lawyers Renzo Carline and Fernando Targetti argued that keeping the trial in Italy, not France worked in his favor. When his case was settled he was sentenced to 1 year and 15 days. On July 28 World War I was declared, the next day Peruggia’s case was reduced to 7 months and 9 days. He had been in jail since December 14, 1913, authorities declared he had served enough time, and was released the same day. 

The perfect crime of one of the greatest pieces of art resulted in nothing more than a hand slap. Viewed as a hero everywhere he went he returned to his small village of Dumenza and then joined the army fighting for the country he loved. 

In 1921 with his new wife, he returned to France and opened a paint shop. One day he decided to take her to Paris and visit the Louvre. On a Sunday morning in 1923, Vincenzo who was now known as Pietro Peruggia walked into the Grand Galerie and introduced his wife to the Mona Lisa. 

On his birthday, October 8, 1925, while holding a bottle of champagne he fell to his feet and died instantly of a massive heart attack. His daughter Celestina was just 19 months old, too young to remember her father but claimed until her death in 2011 that her father had stolen the Mona Lisa in an act of patriotism. 

Peruggia was buried in the Condé cemetery in the small town of Saint-Maur-des-Fossés at the eastern edge of Paris. When the family stopped paying for his plot his body was exhumed and placed in a communal grave. There is no grave or marker for the notorious thief but you can go to the Louvre and visit the Mona Lisa, his greatest claim to fame. 

Lisa del Giocondo 

Lisa di Antonio Gherardini was born in Florence on June 15, 1479, to a noble landowning Tuscan family. Not far from The Palazzo Pitti where the Medici family lived was the home of Antonmaria Gherardini and Lucrezia del Caccia. The family lived on the corner of the via Maggio and via Squazza when Lisa was born and then moved to the other side of the river in 1494. Near Santa Croce between via del Pepi and via Ghibellina they discovered their new neighbors, the Giocondo’s. 

On March 5, 1495, at 15 years old, Lisa married the son of her neighbor,  Francesco del Giocondo. Francesco was from a rich family that made their money in the silk business. A widow, a father, and nineteen years older than Lisa who also had a somewhat famous family as a neighbor. Living just a few doors down from Ser Piero da Vinci, the father of Leonardo. 

 A year later they welcomed their first child, Piero, quickly followed by Piera in 1497, Camilla in 1499, Marietta in 1500, Andrea in 1502, and finally Giocondo in 1507. Sadly only two survived past adolescence. 

Francesco became a civil servant and was elected to one esteemed post after another from 1499 to 1512. Once thought to be working for the exiled Medici family he was tossed into prison until the Medici’s returned and bailed him out.  

In 1502, Francesco commissioned Leonardo da Vinci to paint a portrait of his wife. Leonardo was at the height of his fame at the moment after just completing the Last Supper but was also in need of money so accepted the job. Having just given birth to her son Andrea she sat for the portrait, considered quite large at the time for its subject matter. 

Leonardo began painting her in February 1503 and for days on end the lovely Lisa sat in front of him while a band played music to keep her spirits up during the long sittings. Four or five years later Leonaro put it aside until she would leave for France. 

Lisa never saw the unfinished painting. Contracting the plague in 1539 Francesco died and Lisa left Florence to live with her daughter in the Sant’Orsola convent where she died July 15, 1542. 

Leonardo liked to “meditate” on his paintings, work a little on a painting then take a break to ponder what he would do next. So it wasn’t out of the norm that the painting of Lisa wasn’t finished. In 1508 he carried the painting with him to Milan, then to Rome in 1513 until she moved with the artist to France.

Watch the Mona Lisa is Missing documentary here

Episode 191 - The Recovery of the Mona Lisa

EPISODE 2  in the Sage of Mona Lisa

1913 

For 28 months the Mona Lisa returned to her earlier days of existence, stuffed into a closet without the adoration of thousands of people, although this time it was a tiny apartment near the Canal Saint Martin. 

For all of 1912 and into 1913, Vincenzo went on with his life although he did not return to his job and stayed quiet and close to home.  While the world wondered where the Mona Lisa was. Smart crooks all over the world use the theft for their benefit. Some even employed copyists who thought they could resell copies to rich individuals who could never admit they bought the most wanted woman in the world.

In the winter of 1912, Peruggia left Lisa in his apartment but now in a box that he slid under his stove. A quick trip to London to see art dealer Joseph Duveen who is hailed as the individual to broker more European art to wealthy Americans than anyone else.  When the short, 5 foot 3 inch Vincenzo walked in Duveen immediately laughed him out of his gallery. Peruggia returned to Paris and Lisa in her tomb under the stove and waited another year before his final act. 

On November 29, 1913, Vincenzo once again appeared.  This time in a letter sent to Alfredo Geri, an art dealer in Florence. It stated that the “Stolen work of Leonardo is in my possession. It seems to belong to Italy as the painter was an Italian. My dream is to give back this masterpiece to the land which it came.”  Signed Leonard 

Geri was skeptical at best but contacted Giovani Poggi curator and Corrado Ricci, director of fine arts of the Uffizi. 

Deciding they didn’t have anything to lose they responded and set up a meeting for December 22 in Milan. “Leonard” decided he didn’t want to wait any longer and arrived in Florence on Wednesday, December 10, 1913. Walking into Geri’s shop on the Via Borgo Ognissanti “Leonard Vincenzo” introduced himself and asked the owner if he was interested in seeing the painting.  

Two hours later Geri and Poggi were in the Peruggia’s tiny hotel room on the 3rd floor and looking at what was now the most famous painting in the world. The thief brought her back to Italy in a large custom-made crate with a false bottom topped with clothes, tools, and a mandolin The director was shocked to see what was lying on top of her. 

Vincenzo said he wanted 500,000 lira for her (today that is worth 2.14 million dollars). The two agreed and let him the thief know they wanted to have it checked at the Uffizi before they paid. As the three men walked out of the Hotel Albergo Tripoli a front desk staff stopped them. The clerk thought they were stealing a painting from the hotel room, much tighter security than at the Louvre. As soon as the painting was verified Geri and Poggi told Peruggia to go back to the hotel and they would bring the money over.  Vincenzo must have walked back to the hotel lighter than air thinking all his dreams were about to come true. Instead, the police were called and arrived as Vincenzo laid down to nap and was quickly arrested. 

Considering that the Mona Lisa had been stored under a table and a stove, in a closet, and then in a crate for over two years she was in fairly good shape. She had a small mark on her cheek and a scratch just over her left shoulder. In the 15th century when she was still in the hands of Leonardo a crack developed from the top to just past the part of her hair. Years of mishandling didn’t help and two butterfly joints and a small piece of wood were laminated onto the back to repair her. After her voyage away from the Louvre one of the butterfly joints disappeared. Fun fact, when it was replaced the wood had some tiny insects in the new joints and began to infect the painting. 

After the news quickly spread that she had finally been recovered the French officials and Louvre director and curator arrived in Florence. As a sign of appreciation, the Mona Lisa continued her short staycation in Italy. First, on display in the Uffizi gallery, she remained for five days and was placed in a gold gilded frame. 

During that brief period, the Mona Lisa was set up between Da Vinci’s Annunciation and the Adoration of the Magi both painted twenty years before the famous Lisa. Thousands of people lined up each day to catch a glimpse of her before she left for Rome for a private viewing with King Victor Emmanuel. For five days through Christmas, she resided in the Borghese Gallery then onto Milan and the Brera Museum, her last stop in Italy. 

It was rather fitting that she spent a few days at the Brera Museum as its creation was due to Napoleon and his looting of art. The collection was gathered as town officials tried to save things from churches before he arrived. In 1809, Eugéne de Beauharnais, son of Josephine and Viceroy to Italy under his step-dad was asked to create the museum and inaugurated it on the emperor’s birthday, August 15, 1809. 

Finally, on December 30 she left Italy to return home. At 3 am on the final day of the year, she crossed the border into France and 11 hours later arrived at the Gare du Lyon. Hundreds of people waited in the station to welcome her home.  Her final destination was delayed a bit when she first stopped at the École des Beaux-Arts for a private viewing for art students and officials. For three days, by special invitation only the elite of Paris were the first to see her.    Writer Colette was sent to report on the return of what was now the most famous woman in the world. She remarked it was a sea of cameras and the air smelled like a perfume shop. It was THE place to be in Paris the first few days of 1914. 

At 10 am on January 4, the doors of the Louvre opened once again, now with the icon that is the Mona Lisa. For hours more than 15,000 people lined up to see her monumental return. Placed once again in her secure frame Peruggia released her but she found her way back to the same spot from which she was stolen. However, she wouldn’t be staying long. 

44 years before in  1870 during the Seige of Prussia Louvre officials moved out many of the precious pieces of art. Mona Lisa was quietly moved out of Paris along with 360 other paintings to the Arsenal of Brest. On September 1, 1870 in case number 11 on the 2nd convoy left by train from Montparnasse station.  At the time the Mona Lisa wasn’t as famous and didn’t warrant the first convoy although the other Leonardo’s did. 

On August 11, 1914, France declared war on Austria and the entry into the Great War began. At the end of August as the Germans entered Paris the clock was ticking and workers quickly removed paintings from their frames and stretchers, the treasures of the Louvre would leave the protection of the Louvre. 
Once again Lisa was on the move, this time under tighter security. On September 1, 1914, placed in her very own red satin-lined crate, she was driven out of Paris towards Bordeaux and later Toulouse where she would remain until the end of 1918. 

Her biggest adventure was during WWII when she left  Paris not once but twice. The first time in September 1938 as Hitler invaded Sudetenland she ventured to Chambord for a few weeks before returning to the Louvre for 11 months. 

In the summer of 1939 when it was clear that Hitler intended to capture as much art as he could the Louvre acted quickly and she was once again placed in her satin-lined crate and tied to an ambulance gurney placed inside a special truck that was hermetically sealed. She was one of the first pieces to leave the Louvre on August 29, 1939. When she arrived in Chambord the guard placed inside to protect her was unconscious from the lack of oxygen, but Lisa was safe. 

Curator André Chamson and his wife archivist of the Louvre, Lucie Mazauric traveled to Chambord with their 12-year-old daughter Frédérique Hébrand to watch over the famous lady for the duration of the war.  Lucie remembers visiting the Mona Lisa in 1914 at 14 years old and had a hard time seeing her over the dense crowd. Now she had a view that any art lover would dream of. The young Frédérique grew to be an actress and writer and was seen on many documentaries telling the story of opening the wood case to pull back the red satin and glimpse the well-known smile of Lisa. 

Lisa and the Chamson family moved five times before her return on June 17, 1945, to the Louvre and into the Grand Galerie.

Episode 190 - The Theft of the Mona Lisa Part 1

It was August 21, 1911, the middle of a stretch of endless 90-degree days in Paris, and one of the greatest crimes of the 20th century was happening and nobody noticed.  

Brigadier Maximillien Alphonse Pauparin guard in the Salon Carré had served in the French military but had no idea what he was about to face on the morning of August 21, 1911. At the time only former military officers served as guides in the Louvre, not so much now. 

In 1911 two paintings were slashed and the Louvre knew the most important pieces needed to be protected behind glass in new security frames, Mona Lisa was the first.  The A. Gobier company had been replacing windows in the Louvre and was tasked with the protecting of the paintings. Made up of French workers and one Italian which we shall get to in a bit. 

The Louvre was closed on Monday, August 20 and only a handful of guards and staff had been in the Salon Carré after 10 am and nothing seemed off. 

Louis Béroud copyist and artist on August 21 arrived just after the Louvre opened at 10 am and took his easel to the Salon Carré ready to create a painting that involved a copy of the Mona Lisa. As he walked to the wall he noticed a large hole in the place where she normally hung. 

At the time the paintings in the smaller Salon Carré hung within inches of each other on the wall, much closer than they are now, so a large hole should have been pretty easy to spot.  Béroud walked over to Pauparin and asked where the Mona Lisa was. The brigadier scoffed and said it had to be in the photo studio as they removed paintings all the time without alerting anyone. He decided to venture down to ask when she would be back but stopped on the way for a long cigarette break before popping in. 

As he arrived at the studio and asked, “Ou est La Joconde”  he was met with shocked expressions and then the panic set in. It was noon on August 21 and the darling of Leonard da Vinci had been gone for two days they just hadn’t realized that yet. 

As we look back on the events of August 1911 it appears to be the perfect crime although it would never happen today. When a very upset Brigadier Maximillien Alphonse Pauparin was questioned about the woman he saw every day he said “Mon Dieu, she was there Sunday night when the museum closed.” 

In his years at his post, he saw many things. Lovelorn men brought her flowers and letters pledging their undying love to her and one man was even said to have killed himself in front of her, I haven’t found any info to back that up but does make for an interesting little addition. 

One young German man was so devoted to her that his story spread around the world. 

Director of the Louvre Théophile Homolle was on vacation in Mexico at the time and when contacted he joked that the theft of the Mona Lisa would be like someone stealing the towers of Notre Dame. He was fired from his job upon his return. 

Acting director and curator Léonce Bénédite contacted the Palais de Justice to alert them of the unimaginable. Just after 1 pm Prefect of the police Louis Lepine arrived at the now-closed Louvre to investigate. The theft was kept very quiet and the crowd and staff were told that a water main had broken but the rumors began to spread. 

Lepine brought Alphonse Bartillon who served as the chief of judicial identity and had been working on a new form of identifying people through fingerprints and profiling. The entire staff was called in and fingerprints on the right hand were taken. 

In searching the Louvre, the newly created security frame was discovered in a hidden stairwell that was only used for staff on Mondays. Lepine believed the thief had to have had knowledge of the Louvre and had worked there. An interrogation of the staff was launched and it was a plumber named Jules Sauve who gave the only clue they had to go on. 

At 9 am on Tuesday, he arrived to hear someone knocking on a door at the base of the staircase leading to the Cour du Sphinx. The doorknob had fallen off on the outside and the thief was trapped. Sauve graciously opened the door with some pliers and saw the man with a white Louvre coat on and with a quick bonjour et merci they were both on their way.  When Lepine had the plumber in for questioning his suspicions were correct, it had to be an inside job. The doorknob was then found tossed in the Jardin de L’Enfant. 

At the time of the theft, the Mona Lisa hung on the north wall of the Salon Carré below Veronese Wedding Feast of Cana and between Allegorie Conjugale by Titian and Correggio’s Mystic Mariage with its clear influence of Leonardo. 

August 22 Le Temps broke the story and by the next day, the theft was on the front page around the world. 

Back in the Louvre, they searched high and low for more evidence. A partial print of the left hand was found on the casing of the frame but at the time they had only been taking prints from the right hand. With little to go on the Louvre thought she may be gone forever. 

One week later on Monday, August 28, the search of the Louvre was finished and the museum would reopen the next day. 

On Tuesday, August 29, 1911, at 10 am the Musée du Louvre opened its doors to thousands waiting in a two-hour line to enter for a glimpse of the wall where the Lady of the Louvre once hung. Surrounding the now empty wall were four policemen and six museum guards as well as many undercover agents in the crowd hoping the thief may make a return.  Of the thousands of people that came many brought notes and flowers to leave on the distinctive parquet floor. Outside the doors, trinket sellers peddled anything they could with her image on it and even some entrepreneurial prostitutes hid in the shadows waiting for clients. 

Security at the Musée du Louvre had been pretty laughable for quite some time. Reporters hid in a sarcophagus overnight to test the security and even stole small pieces to see if they could get away with it, and they did. When the Louvre reopened on the 29th guests were also greeted by two very angry dogs, Jack and Milord, and a slew of security guards. 

Apollinaire & Picasso 

Poet and art critic Guillaume Apollinaire & Pablo Picasso read the headlines in the paper just like everyone else in the world.

The two friends were now in a panic to rid themselves of stolen objects from the Louvre.  At midnight on September 5, the two men packed the pieces into a suitcase and worried they would be captured riding in the metro or on a bus walking from his studio in Montmartre to the Seine River. Once there they were afraid they would be seen and decided to walk back up to Montmartre with the heavy suitcase in tow. 

Earlier that day, Apollinaire paid a visit to the Paris Journal to share that he may know who stole the Mona Lisa and turned in the objects. Confessing that a friend but the fictional name, of Baron Ignace d’Ormesan from time to time would steal small sculptures from the Louvre. Guillaume and Picasso benefited from his stolen loot and thought they would do the right thing and tell the authorities. 

On September 6 the front page of the Paris Journal broke “L’Affaire des Statuettes” which also alerted the police who paid a visit to Apollinaire and brought him in for questioning. The thief’s real name was Honoré Joseph Géry Pieret-Belgien who also worked as a secretary for the writer.  The same morning the police paid a visit to the Boulevard de Clichy and the apartment of Picasso. When questioned he said he never heard of Apollinaire and was released later that day. Apollinaire wasn’t as lucky and was held for a week. It would be the only lead and arrest the French police had in the theft of the Mona Lisa and it was a dead end.  The incident would ruin the friendship of the artist and writer and would be one of Picasso’s few regrets in his life. 

‘Groupe d’artistes by Marie Laurencin (1908) – Pablo Picasso, Marie Laurencin herself, Apollinaire and Fernande Olivier

At the advent of WWI, Apollinaire decided to become a French citizen and enlisted in the war, which would last until a piece of shrapnel tore through his helmet almost killing him. The injury would alter his mind forever and he would die on November 9, two short years later at 38 in 1918, and laid to rest in Père-Lachaise. 

At the end of the year, the trail for clues had long been cold. When stolen she hung on the north wall of the Salon Carré named for the annual Salon which was the only opportunity for artists to share their work with the public. In February 1912, the spot that had been left empty was a makeshift shrine until officials decided to move Raphael’s, Baldassare de Castiglione into her place.  In 1528, Castiglione published his “le Livre de Courtisan” filled with the stories of court life in Italy, a 16th-century Downtown Abbey. Close to the same size and more importantly the subject was posed in much of the same way as Lisa. Raphael had briefly seen the painting while Leonardo worked on her. 

In January 1913, the updated catalog of the Louvre was released and  Leonardo’s Mona Lisa as wasn’t a part of its collection. The trail had run cold and the case had been closed. They believed she would never return home again. 

Baldassare de Castiglione by Raphael 1514 located in the Grande Galerie of the Musée du Louvre

How did what appears to be close to the perfect crime happen? 

The Theft Itself 

On a hot Sunday, August 19, 1911, at around 4 pm. Vincenzo Peruggia entered the Musée du Louvre just like any other visitor. In the final moments as the museum closed and guards were ushering people out Peruggia slid into a storage closet just off the Salon Carré. Overnight with a chunk of cheese, a small bottle of wine, and some bread, he worked his way over to the north wall and wrestled the 90-pound painting in its new double frame off the wall. 

This was long before the days of cameras and alarm systems and one could easily hide in the Louvre overnight and wander around, how dreamy.   

At 6:30 am on Monday, August 20 the Louvre was closed to the public. Peruggia in his white Louvre coat walked through the Grande Galerie, Salle des Sept-Metres to a small staircase in the corner backing to the Grande Galerie only used on Mondays by employees. When he arrived at the ground floor the door was locked. Using the screwdriver he brought to remove Lisa from the wall he was able to remove the door knob but it only made matters worst. 

One report states that Peruggia was joined by two men who assisted in lifting her off the wall.  

Over time Peruggia’s version of the theft changed, including that he carried her off and by Winged Victory with a grand farewell before his escape. 

Employees of the Louvre just began to move around for the day and plumber Jules Sauve heard knocking as he walked by. With a wrench, Sauve opened the door and let who would be the most wanted man in the world in a matter of 24 hours out the door and away with the priceless painting. Walking out the Cour Visconti with Mona under his arm he tossed the doorknob and jumped onto a bus that would take him home to the 10th arrondissement.

Vincenzo stayed in his small apartment at 5 Rue de l’Hopital Saint Louis overnight and into the next day. On the morning of August 21 when it was discovered she was gone, Vincenzo stayed home with the grand lady in his closet. 

When the entire staff of the Louvre was called in to be interviewed and fingerprinted, Vincenzo did not show up. Detective Lepine arrived at his small apartment to question the thief who let him in and slowly answered his inquiry. Meanwhile, the Mona Lisa was turned around and propped up in his closet. Lepine never took a look around and left without a bit of suspicion. Worried he would return, Peruggia left his apartment and Lisa in a case and checked into the Hotel Rive Gauche on Rue Saint Peres in Saint Germain and requested a top-floor room in case he needed to make a quick escape to the rooftops. Hiding away in room 603 for three days he awaited any news of the theft to spread through Paris.  

Today it is the Hote Da Vinci and you can stay in the room where Vincenzo and his Florentine lady once stayed with your own copy of Lisa hanging on the wall. 

On Wednesday, August 23 the headline was International news but not even a whisper of a suspect.  Peruggia felt he was in the clear and returned to his tiny apartment at number 5 rue de l’Hopital Saint Louis where the Mona Lisa had stayed alone and would remain for the next 27 months. 

Stay tuned for part 2 out Monday, January 22

Episode 187 - replay Johanna van Gogh

Some of the women that we talk about on La Vie Creative - Paris History Avec A Hemingway podcast I get really attached to, Johanna Bonger van-Gogh is one of them that I adore so much, and her amazing story that everyone should know. 

Johanna Bonger was born on October 4, 1862, in Amsterdam to a musical family. The fifth of seven children, she showed a keen mind at a very early age. While her older sister stayed at home, Johanna’s parents let her pursue her studies focusing on English which would lead her to the British Museum in London working in the library. 

Returning to Utrecht she began teaching at a girl’s boarding school when one day her brother Andries asked her to meet some of his friends.. Andries had been living in Paris and met many artists including Vincent and Theo van Gogh. For Theo, it was love at first sight, but Johanna didn’t have the same feelings. Months later Theo paid her a visit in Utrecht and let Johanna know he was in love with her. Johanna was taken aback by such a pledge of love by a man that she didn’t even know. 

Theo must have worn her down and on April 17, 1889, the two were married. Johanna would move to Paris with Theo and nine months later on January 31, 1890, their son, Vincent Willem van Gogh was born, named after his uncle. 

Theo, the champion of his older brother Vincent and his art was also a great art dealer in Paris. He had started working in the Hague for Paris art dealer Goupil & Cie when they asked him in 1884 to work in the Paris gallery. With any money that Theo made he purchased paint and art supplies and sent them to his brother. In 1886, Vincent moved to Paris sharing Theo’s very tiny Parisian apartment and through Theo would meet many of the greatest artists of the time. Pissarro, Seurat, Cézanne, Rousseau, Toulouse-Lautrec and Gauguin. 

In 1888, Theo convinced Gauguin to visit Vincent in the south of France. Vincent wanted to set up an artist colony like the Japanese artists had,  but Gauguin wasn’t so sure of the idea. Theo paid for all of his travel expenses while Gauguin sent Theo letters letting him know how Vincent was doing. The two brothers would also write to each other every day. Vincent's letters also include sketches of paintings he was working on with details of the colors he would use and his daily thoughts. Theo would save every single letter. 

Johanna adored her brother-in-law and saw how close the two brothers were and was happy to support him in any way she could. On June 8, 1890, less than two months before he died, Theo, Johanna, and baby Vincent went to see him in Auvers-sur-Oise, it would be the only time Vincent met his nephew. Vincent was in very good spirits but a short time later on July 29, 1890 Vincent died. Theo was devastated and just four months later he was admitted to the Den Dolder asylum in the Netherlands. On January 25, 1891, Theo would die, just six months after his brother. The notes as his cause of death are heartbreaking, “Heredity, Chronic disease, overwork, and sadness”.

Johanna and Theo had been married for less than two years when it all ended. Left with a baby and an apartment filled with paintings she wasn’t sure where to start. Her brother told her she should just toss all the paintings out, but Johanna loved Theo and Vincent and couldn’t do it. Vincent only sold one painting while he was alive so the outlook at the time didn’t look good. 

Returning to the Netherlands she moved to the small town of Bussum to open a boarding school for girls, but Johanna was also a smart businesswoman and knew that the town also had a high concentration of art critics and dealers. She had worked very closely with Theo and knew what to do. Women in the art world,  just before the turn of the century were mostly unknown which worked in her favor. The men’s art club didn’t see her coming. Before he died Theo told her to never sell Vincent’s paintings in groups, bring them out one at a time to generate interest. 

In 1901, Johanna married Johan Cohen Gosschalk, a Dutch painter who was a great support. Later that year, with art dealer Paul Cassirer and his cousin Bruno, she helped create an exhibition of Vincent’s paintings in Berlin. Germany was an early market that discovered Vincent long before anyone else including the wealthy Helen Kroller-Muller. Muller over time would build the largest personal collection with 91 of Vincent’s paintings.

Controlling the circulation of paintings she created the narrative of Vincent’s story and was just getting started. Remember all those letters Vincent sent Theo? After Theo’s death in a box she found piles and piles of letters, Theo saved every single one. Johanna started to transcribe each of the letters with Vincent's thoughts, state of mind, and sketches. You have to remember at the time that nobody outside the artist community knew who Vincent was, he wasn’t famous when he was alive or after his death and many thought his paintings were horrible and his use of color shocking. However, that was about to change. 

Johanna began to release pieces of the letters and the Vincent we all know now with all the ups and downs came to life. Suddenly his paintings began to sell and his interest in his life was a topic at the local cafe. In 1915 she would lose her second husband and decided to go to New York with her son. Johanna spent all her time on the letters, for four years she diligently transcribed them and also translated them into English. She was very careful not to let the letters overshadow the paintings, the two had to go hand in hand building interest in Vicent and his paintings. 

Johanna also kept a detailed diary that her son would later release after her death. In one entry she wrote “Imagine for one moment my experience when I came back to Holland realizing the greatness and the nobility of that lonely artist's life”, She held her responsibility to Theo  & Vincent very close to her heart. As Vincent Willem grew up he was surrounded by more than 200 paintings of his uncle covering the walls. Out of all of them, one was the most important to his mother, Sunflowers painted in 1888. When news of Gauguin's arrival came, Vincent decided to paint a series of paintings to surround his friend's room. Seven paintings, three of which were copies he did himself all of the happy sunflower that would jump off the wall.

After his death alongside all of his other paintings, Theo would hang Sunflowers of sixteen stems in a vase on his wall, it was his favorite. After their deaths, Johanna held onto this painting and would never part with it or let it be exhibited. In 1924 Jim Eend working for the National Gallery in London was given a large amount of money from Samuel Courtauld to purchase paintings of modern artists. Jim went to visit Johanna and wanted to purchase her beloved Sunflowers. She told him no, and it wasn’t for sale,  “I have seen this painting every day of my life for 30 years and can’t part with it”. Jim persisted and just before Johanna died she sent him a letter that she would sell it to him. Vincent had spent time in London at the National Gallery and her goal was to get his paintings into the public museums so generations could enjoy them. 

On September 2, 1925, Johanna died in Laren, Netherlands at 62 years old. Her son Vincent continued the legacy of their family and in the 1960s created the Van Gogh Foundation. The over 200 paintings that she could never sell that surrounded their home would become the basis of the collection in the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam in 1973. 

 In 1914, she had Theo’s body moved to lay beside his brother in Auvers-sur-Oise, the two brothers together once again. 

Johanna wrote in her diary, “I wish I could make you feel the influence Vincent had on my life”. If it wasn’t for Johanna van Gogh, we would never know the life and genius of Vincent and for that gift she gave us all she should be remembered as a saint. 

Episode 186 - European Christmas Traditions Part Two

Oh the many patisseries of Paris, those lovely welcoming windows that tease you with tasty treats. Of all the things my grandmother loves about Paris, it would be the pastries that are at the top of her list. I could have a personal meeting with Marie Antoinette, but what kind of pastry we ate would be what she would want to know. I do love a light-as-air Saint Honoré or a Mille Feuille with its layers of pastry cream, but I would rather have a platter of cheese any day. I would just never have told her that.   Every year on Christmas Eve in Provence after their Christmas dinner they embrace the sweeter side of life.

Les treize desserts de Noel, is the tradition of having thirteen desserts that represent Jesus and the twelve apostles. Before you stop reading and book that flight to get to Provence tonight, these aren’t the pastry cream-rich desserts. They vary from town to town but most will include a variation of nuts, fruits, and specialties of the region each representing a piece of their faith. 

The first four items represent the four monastic communities. Walnuts for St Augustin, almonds for Carmelites, raisins for Dominicans, and dry figs for the Franciscans.  Next comes, pomme à l’huile, the olive oil flatbread eaten with grape jam. Two different nougats, Nougat de Montelimar, the white nougat symbolizes the good with pistachios, pine nuts, and hazelnuts, and black nougat represents the evil with caramelized honey cooked with almonds. The bulk of the thirteen includes dried plums, dates, quince fruit paste, candied melons, pain d’epice, Oreillettes, Calisson d’Aix en Provence, plenty of grandma’s favorite marzipan, and finishing with seasonal fruit. It all ends with a Buche de Noel and the desserts are left on the table for three days.  Joyeaux Réveillon de Noel to all and to all a good night. Now how about the thirteen cheeses of New Year’s Eve

12 days of Christmas 

You thought Christmas ended 11 days ago but I have one more story for you. Do you know the little diddy “The 12 Days of Christmas”? Well, guess what, the 1st day starts December 26th! Shocking right? Although it has nothing to do with turtle doves.  

Going way back to the year 567 the Council of Tours proclaimed that the period between Christmas and the Feast of the Epiphany would be the 12 days of Christmas. There is more on the Epiphany tomorrow. In the Eastern Orthodox religion, the 12 days in-between were all feast days starting with Saint Etienne on the 26th, Saint Sylvester on the 31st, and the Virgin Mary on the 1st. It all ends with the Magi’s and some cake. 

There is one story that each line of the 12 Days of Christmas is somehow related to the bible and a code to teach people Christianity in places not open to it but that has been found over and over not to be the case. 

Maybe this means there should be more presents and celebrations each day to help survive those first days of the year? 

As for the song it first appeared in 1780 in the British book, Mirth without Mischief as a poem but it most likely is older than that and French in origin, bien sûr! It wasn’t set to music until the 20th century, and it sticks with you forever. 

Also in some places, it’s okay to still have your Christmas tree up until after tomorrow, so sit back down with a glass of wine and enjoy the glow of twinkly lights for another evening. 

On January 6 the celebration of the Epiphany marks the visit of the Magi or Three Kings that brought the gifts to Christ. It also marks the conclusion of the 12 days of Christmas that ends the night before.  But more importantly, it's about a delicious French pastry, the Galette des Rois. 

Celebrating the Epiphany with the Galette dates back to the 16th century but fell in and out of popularity in the 17th century when the priests of Saint-Germain and Louis XIV considered it a pagan ritual.  Nevertheless, the people cannot be parted from the pastries for long, so they decided to create la fete du bon voisinage or the neighborly relations day. And when the king or royalty sunk in popularity during the French Revolution it became the Gateau de L'Egality or the equality cake.

In Paris and northern France, it's created with flaky puff pastry, filled with almond frangipane, and hidden inside a lucky charm or "une fève". The youngest person is to sit under the table and call out who gets the first slice, and each thereafter. Whoever finds the charm gets to wear the crown for the day. 

I prefer to celebrate with a tiara because a little sparkle makes every day better. It always reminds me of my great-grandmother who would wrap dimes in tin foil and hide them inside cakes when I was little, it is always best to find them before you bite into them.  You can easily make this wonderful and simple dessert, tiara not included.

Episode 185 - French & European Christmas Traditions

Bûche de Nöel, gingerbread, wreaths, and advent calendars are just a few of those wonderful things that make December so special.  Most of the holiday customs in America derive from Europe and a few have some interesting stories that may surprise you.

On the evening of December 5, children in Europe and the north and eastern side of France leave their shoes out at night hoping to wake up and find some sweets and treats waiting for them.

Saint Nicholas was an actual person and the basis for the modern-day Santa Claus who was born on March 15, 270 in Lycia. The 3rd-century saint was devoted to the church from a very early age and lived a life of selfless giving. When his parents died he gave all the money they had away helping those that had nothing. 

Nicholas learned of a man who had three daughters but had lost all of his money. Without a dowry, they were destined to a life of prostitution. To keep his identity secret  Nicholas walked by in the dark of night and dropped a small bag of gold coins in their open window. The oldest daughter was married shortly after when she had the much-needed dowry. Nicholas returned two more times, allowing each of the daughters to marry. 

Scenes of the life of Saint Nicolas de Bari by Ambrogio Lorenzetti 1332

Musée du Louvre & Uffizi Florence

However, the most famous of all stories is a slightly gruesome one, but with a happy ending. Three boys were lost in the woods and after days without food, they wandered into the door of a butcher. He promised to give them food if they came in, but had a dastardly plan in mind. Killing the three boys he stuffed them into a barrel of salt and planned to sell them off as pork later. Nicholas found out and arrived in time to revive the boys and save them. 

That butcher is known now as Père Foutteard, often seen in images of the saint holding switches for the bad kids. Sounds much worse than the threat of the Elf on the Shelf to me. 

Nicholas died on December 6, 343 and today he is the patron saint of children and prostitutes, which is very fitting from the legend of his life. 

Today you will find children leaving their shoes to wake up to find an orange and some chocolate coins and treats. 

Saint Nicholas of course morphed into Father Christmas in England and Santa Claus in the US, all derived from the kind man who delivered gifts to those who needed them. Come this Saturday night, start a new little tradition, and leave your shoes out, after all, we could all use a nice little treat these days. 

Let’s start with that centerpiece of the season, the Christmas tree. Dating back to the 16th century the first tree was set up in front of the Cathédrale Notre Dame de Strasbourg, at the time it was part of Germany but now it’s France so we can say the lovely Christmas tree is French. The original trees were decorated with edible items like dried fruit, a far cry from our popcorn garland. Originally the tree was set up for the solstice on that darkest day of the year, and like many of those European rituals, they morphed into Christmas celebrations. The triangle shape of the tree represents the holy trinity and that star you place on the top represents Bethlehem. For those of you that add an angel looking over you, it is the angel of the nativity. 

The evergreen bows of the trees and wreaths represent eternal life as the bows are always green, a sure sign of hope in these dark months. The greenery used also has symbolic meanings, Laurel for victory over prosecution. Pine and holly for immortality and Cedar for strength and healing, Holly symbolizes the crown of thorns and one legend even says the True Cross was made from the wood of a Holly tree. Add some pinecones or seeds for life and resurrection. 

The wreath has a much longer history and first began as what some may imagine as a crown. Back in the Etruscan times of Southern Europe, it was the wreath of laurel leaves that was all the rage. We all know the images of Julius Caesar and Napoleon sporting their golden laurel crowns on their heads and those crowns would eventually become the harvest wreaths hung in the homes across Europe. Constructed of elements from their crop it was a way for the family to pay tribute to the prosperity of their harvest. However, we still aren’t to the fragrant wreath you hang on your front door yet. 

Advent Wreath in Eglise Saint Sulpice December 10. 2023

In the 16th century Minister Johann Wichern, a pastor who would visit the children at the local mission came up with an idea to help solve the age-old question “How many days to Christmas”. Wichern used an old wagon wheel and covered it with evergreen bows and twenty-four candles. On each evening one of the smaller candles was lit and on Sunday one of the larger white candles.

This was also the birth of the advent calendar, then known as the advent wreath which many families in Europe still do every Sunday night. The Advent Wreath goes back to the Middle Ages. Each candle for the week represents 1000 years, adding up to 4000 years since the birth of Adam & Eve. The 3 purple candles for the first three weeks represent Prayer, penance, and good work. The final week is a pink rejoicing the faithful. Eventually, the Roman Catholics adopted the idea in the 1920’s with each of the four candles representing a moment in the biblical story of the season. 

Today we know advent calendars as everything from the inexpensive cardboard filled with chocolate to the expensive ones filled with Bonne Maman jam or a special Christian Louboutin treasure to open each day. My grandmother always had an advent calendar and I still buy them each year, it’s just as much fun today opening a little door to find a little treat. 

Now for some sweet stuff. Gingerbread may be one of the oldest of all the holiday traditions and dates back to the year 992 when an Armenian monk brought the treat to France. Near the town of Pithiviers just south of the Ile de France where he would spend the rest of his life teaching other monks how to make the early version of gingerbread. In the 13th century, the German Franconia monks created a version called Lebkuchen. It can be soft and almost cake-like and also harder cookies which my grandmother always made. Later in the 17th century they actually made a law that only certified bakers could make the spicy cookies, with a small clause that let anyone make them for Christmas.  

The gingerbread house itself also originated in Germany and was first seen in the 1800’s and was inspired by the age-old tale of  Hansel and Gretel. The Grimm’s fairy tale of children in an edible house inspired a baker to create one out of Lebkuchen. 

One of my favorite stories might be the legend of the Bûche de Nöel. The cake that looks like a log actually started out that way. Back in the 11th century,  the solstice was a night of celebration. Once we have reached that shortest day of the year each day after we get a sliver of added light counting the days to spring. To celebrate, many of the families cut a log from their dormant fruit trees, bathed it in wine or cognac, and decorated it with evergreen, ivy, and pinecones. They would burn it after the sun went down to celebrate the upcoming spring filled with wishes for a productive season.  

The log would sometimes burn for days and into the new year, which added extra luck. The ashes were saved and they added a level of protection to the home and would also be used in medicine. As the years passed, the larger fireplaces became smaller and smaller and families no longer held the yearly celebration. In the early 17th century, the log itself became a cake. A delicious genoise cake that is rolled and filled with pastry cream, frosting, or jam and rolled. The cake is decorated and covered with marzipan or meringue mushrooms and decoration, still resembling the log from long ago. Why wait for Christmas this year, make one of these and enjoy it on the night of the solstice, December 21. 

Episode 184 - Rose Valland replay

Rose Valland, the heroine of France died on September 18, 1980, at 82 years old. She devoted her entire life to art and the restitution that so many families sought.  Rose was a very quiet child with a thirst for knowledge. Born in 1898 her mother had to apply for grants so she could attend university In 1918 she began at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Lyon which would take her to Paris where she would attend the Beaux-Arts, Sorbonne, and Ecole du Louvre. 

Incredibly smart she was able to absorb everything she read and learned languages quickly. All of this would be useful in 1939 as Hitler and his thirst for art was moving across Europe. Rose spent the war years at the Jeu de Paume, cataloging everything with her photographic memory, noting every piece of art, where it was taken from, and where it was going.  Quiet and rather plain looking they never saw her as a threat but she put her life in danger every day.

After the war, Rose was an integral part of the Ministry of Culture, and the Monuments Men to retrieve more than 60,000 pieces including paintings, statues & objets d’art. 

In 1968 she officially retired but never stopped working. Just after the war, she met Joyce Heer a British translator working for the US Embassy. They lived together in her small apartment on Rue de Navarre until they moved to a cottage in Ris-Orangis.  Rose continued to write and published three books dedicated to art and the race to save it.  Joyce died in 1977 and Rose lived out her remaining years alone, surrounded by her notes and books until she died in 1980.  The two are buried together in Saint-Étienne-de-Saint-Geoire, where she grew up. 

One of my largest driving principles is that everyone knows how amazing Rose Valland was. I am thrilled to see that there is now a petition to have her interred in the Pantheon. The highest honor for any figure in French history and one she deserves more than anyone. Please sign the petition and share it with anyone you know. 

We released a wonderful podcast about her in 2020 and if you haven’t listened to it yet please do so you can learn more about this amazing and brave woman.

SIGN THE PETITION HERE

Episode 182 - Eglise Madeleine

The beautiful Neoclassical Eglise Madeleine that crowns the Rue Royale off the Place de la Concorde came from the vision of a few rulers and almost didn’t happen. 

It was first conceived by architect Pierre Contant d’Ivry, architect to Duc d’Orleans in 1757. A Latin cross church with a dome inspired by Jacques-Germain Sufflot’s plans for the Eglise Sainte Geneviève, later known as the Pantheon.  Louis XV laid the first stone on August 3, 1763, but his death the next year halted any progress. 

By the Revolution, the foundation had been laid and stopped on December 31, 1791. Shortly after a wine merchant took it over and in 1806 it was given to the Banque de France but Napoleon would put a stop to that before they could move in. 

The next page in the history of the church came In 1806 Napoleon Bonaparte wanted a temple created and dedicated to his army and on the 2nd anniversary of his coronation on December 2, 1806, he signed the decree planning just that. Out of 80 architects, Pierre-Alexandre Vignon was chosen by the Emperor to create a temple based on Greek and Roman architecture. 

The building continued until 1811 and once again they ran out of money and the project stopped yet again.  In August 1816, Louis XVIII would be the man to bring the project to its conclusion. Originally he wanted a church dedicated to his brother Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette but with his niece and only surviving daughter of Louis XVI,  Madame Royale they personally paid for the building of Chapelle Expiatoire.  

Architect Jean-Jacques-Marie-Huvé took over after the death of Pierre Alexandre Vignon laying out the vision of the church and incorporating all of the ideas from the architects before them. 

The facade with its 52 columns each topped with a gorgeous flowering Corinthian capital gives the church its dominating exterior in the center of the street. On March 20, 1842, the church was open for its first mass, and on October 9, 1845, it was consecrated. 

Surrounding the outside are also 34 saints including Sainte Genevieve and Saint-Denis as well as the saints of the Orleans family Antoine, Charles, Ferdinand, Francois, Adelaide, Christine, and Helen. The three archangels are Gabriel, Michel, and Raphael as well as a guardian angel. On the back is where the real treasure is hidden.

Just a little over six months before the end of the” War to End all Wars”, German shells fired at Paris and decapitated a statue. The Germans had begun using the Paris Gun, a long-range gun that was named after the city more so to get into the heads of Parisians than to destroy the city.  Large 220-pound bombs could be shot through the air and travel more than 80 miles. They were silently flying through the sky at over 3000 miles an hour until they hit their target. Parisians at the time thought they were being dropped from a Zeppelin.  

March 22nd  the Paris Gun fired a shell that killed 88 people in the Eglise Saint-Gervais, the single deadliest attack of WWI in Paris.  On Thursday, May 30, 1918, a shot was fired and landed just behind La Madeleine. It was the feast day of Jeanne d’Arc, and as the faithful arrived to light a candle, another saint didn’t fare so well. The many Christian saints line the outside of La Madeleine, and on the back, you will find the four evangelists. Matthew, Mark, John, and Luke each with each of their symbols. Matthew and his angel, Mark and his lion, John, and his eagle, and Luke with his bull.  

When the shell hit a fragment flew, hit Saint Luke, and took his head right off.  They never replaced it, and today you can still see the headless Luke with his adoring bull looking up at him. I love that Paris leaves things like this so you are reminded of a moment in history.

Episode 181 - Paris Doesn't Have to Break the Bank - Part 2

In Part Two of Paris doesn’t have to break the bank we explore all the great things you can visit for free. Art, museums, live performances, and less expensive ways to dine in Paris. 

As you stroll along the cobblestones of Paris, never miss a chance to take a peek inside the inviting open doors of the many churches.  For it is inside you will find a treasure or two from some of the greatest masters of art, away from the crowds and for free. 

Located in the 7th arrondissement is the Second Empire Neo-Byzantine church, St-François-Xavier. From the outside, it is not the most interesting of facades, but do not let that stop you. Inside you will lay your eyes on one of the greatest pieces by the Italian painter of the Venetian school, Jacopo Tintoretto. The Last Supper by Tintoretto was an image he painted many times, refining it along the way. Unlike the Leonard da Vinci version, Le Tintoret, as he is known in France, decided to gather the Apostles around a square table. It gives you the perspective that you are looking at them gathered from a hidden vantage point. A gift to the church in 1905, it can be seen today hanging in the wedding sacristy. 

Just off Boulevard Saint Germain is the Latin Quarter church of Saint-Nicolas-du-Chardonnet which is a treasure trove of art.  Charles Le Brun’s  1962 The Martyrdom of Saint John the Evangelist is striking and was a departure from the usual way the Saint was depicted.  The painting shows the Saint being lifted by a rope towards the vat of boiling oil while the executioner blows on the fire below. Humanizing the Saint for the first time by showing his full body gave the painting movement and life.  

You certainly cannot talk about the great art in the churches of Paris without talking about one man, Eugène Delacroix. The leader of the Romantic Movement, dedicated the last years of his life to painting large-scale decorations for public places, as a way for him to live on after he was gone.  

Often overlooked in the bustling Le Marais is the Saint-Denys-du-Saint-Sacrement church. This was the first public commission for a religious mural for Delacroix in 1840. The familiar scene of La Pietà depicting the body of Christ in the arms of the Virgin after he is pulled down from the cross, was painted directly onto the wall of the Saint Genevieve chapel. Using bright colors for the figures and placing them in the foreground of the painting gives it even more depth and emotion. 

Follow down Rue de Turenne for a few minutes and you will reach the gem of Rue Saint Antoine. The Italian and French Gothic church with its red doors is not to be overlooked.  The inside is beautiful with its high dome, stonework, statues, and chandeliers. On the left of the transept above the door is Delacroix’s Le Christ au Jardin des Olivers painted in 1824 shows why he is the master of Romanticism. It shows Christ pushing back three angels that are hanging their heads in sadness, which is a slight change from the printed word. It was his liberal use of the biblical text and the changing of the story he would continue in all his religious pieces.  

Last but not least, it is a visit to the largest church on the Left Bank, Saint-Sulpice where we will find his finest of religious paintings that remain today.  Just inside the door to the right in the Chapel of the Holy Angels where Delacroix was given free rein of the paintings, the only stipulation was that they referred to the subject of angels.   For the two walls he chose; Jacob Wrestling the Angel on the left, and on the right Heliodurus Driven from the Temple.  Painted directly onto the walls with a medium mixed with wax and oil, it would take him over three years to complete.  Hanging above is the beautiful Saint Michael Defeats the Devil, painted on a canvas and later secured into place. Each of these three works is filled with symbolism and even some small features that are more reminiscent of modern times than of biblical. A restoration was just completed in 2017 where the layers of the years were removed so they can now be seen in all their glory. 

For the more contemporary art fans, there are a few pockets in Paris where you can find gallery after gallery of art. The Rue de Seine on the left bank just steps from the Ecole des Beaux-Arts is a lovely stroll, especially on a Thursday to Saturday night. Each one opens their door and sometimes there is even champagne. On the right bank, the Marais has many streets of galleries where you may find the next Picasso. 

The lover of Renaissance and antiques the left bank between the Ecole des Beaux-Arts and the Musée d’Orsay is also filled with shops filled with objets d’art, paintings, and statues. 

And now for some of my favorite places to spend a day, the museums of Paris. The City of Paris has a collection of museums that are free for visitors that span from the Liberation of Paris to a few well-known French authors, Hugo and Balzac.  Scattered throughout the city, the museums are free to visit but you will need a ticket for any of the special exhibitions, which are normally under 10€. 

A favorite is the Musée Carnavalet which opened in 2021 after what felt like an endless renovation. The collection is dedicated to the City of Paris and begins at the very start when it was the island of Lutetia. Over four floors you will climb to the top which focuses on the Revolution and death of many of its most notable figures and onto the Romantic movement. It’s a fantastic museum and lover of Paris needs to visit. 

Other free museums include the Petit Palais with the collection of art owned by the city. The Musée Victor Hugo in the Place des Vosges and the author’s former home. The Musée Cognac-Jay and the collection of the husband and wife team that opened Samaritaine also include some amazing pieces of the Rococo period.  The Musée Bourdelle and the art of Antoine Bourdelle including his many variations on the head of Beethoven you will also see in the Orsay. 

In Passy past the Eiffel Tower is the Musée Balzac located in the author’s former home where he dodged bill collectors running out his back door. Not far is the Musée d’Art Moderne which is normally very quiet unless there is a special exhibition on display and across the avenue to the Musée Galliera which holds the fashion history of Paris. Special exhibits do need a ticket and the permanent collection isn’t always on display so it’s a little vague on if this one can be considered a free museum, but still not one to miss. 

The Musée Cernuschi located at the edge of the Parc Monceau holds the collection of Henri Cernuschi who died in 1896 and left his home and collection to the city of Paris. Opened as the 2nd largest collection of Asian art in Europe it is a fantastic small museum to visit. Other museums include the Liberation Museum, Museum of the Romantic Life, and Musée Zadkine all great ones to add to your list of places to see.

Episode 180 - Paris Doesn't Have to be Expensive - Part one

Paris can be very expensive. A city filled with amazing restaurants, fancy hotels, 29€ cocktails, and the best fashion in the world comes with a high cost, but you can still have an amazing trip in Paris. In this week’s newest episode of Paris History Avec a Hemingway, we give you a few tips and tricks on the biggest ticket items for your trip.

The first step is getting here. In the last year, airfare prices have gone through the roof. After more than a year of zero revenue, the airlines are making up for lost time and now they are passing those prices on to you.  The good news is that for the winter those prices have come down to a bit closer to the pre-pandemic level. 

Avoid the two weeks around Christmas and New Year’s Eve and you can find flights from the west coast for as low as $500 which is a steal! 

When I was counting each moment to return to Paris and constantly looking for flights my go-to was Skyscanner. They have an app as well as a website where you can “love” specific legs and dates and every time they drop in price they will alert you.  

Since the rise of the internet and the hundreds of options to find flights the old “rules” have all gone out the window. There is no longer a perfect day or time to look for tickets.  One thing that still holds is the difference in price on the days you fly. Avoid a Friday to Monday and stick with mid-week and the prices can be a lot less expensive. 

Now that you have your dates on the calendar and can start the countdown it now time to find your Parisian home, even if for just a few days. On all my trips to Paris, I always stayed in an Airbnb and had very good luck, well except the one that began to leak water in the middle of the night from the ceiling.  

An apartment can be a lot more cost-effective if you are staying for a week or longer, lucky you! Depending on the neighborhood and the time of the year an Airbnb can be as low as 60€ a night, just think of all the extra money for croissants.  Extend your trip to at least 28 days and a whole new world on Airbnb opens and you can find some great places for even less. That is how I found my first Parisian apartment and still love it. 

My advice for Airbnb is to drill down on all the comments left by past guests. Never go with one that has zero or just a few comments. This is where you find the real details like if 8 years ago there was a family of mice. Non, merci pour moi! Also, be sure to check on the floor the apartment is on and if it has an elevator or not. Not many do and not all renters are good about listing it but someone always mentions it in the comments. 

Hotel Littré where my grandparents stayed in 1972

There are more than 1500 hotels within Paris and one for every level of budget. Prices are also skyrocketing and will continue to do so as we get closer to next summer and the event that is talked about every single day, the Olympics.   If you are just coming for a long weekend a hotel is great.  You should be out exploring Paris all day, so save on the hotel and book the shoebox size room for a lower cost. 

Paris is one of the easiest cities in the world to explore on foot and also a great and free way to discover the city. Your itinerary should be loose enough that you can take your time getting from point A to B and find all the great hidden nuggets along the way.  

Take one of the many podcast episodes we did in the fall of 2022 with you and let us give you a little walking tour. Or better yet book a customized tour of Paris with me. 

The other option that gets a bit overwhelming for some but doesn’t need to be in the Paris Metro. It is very easy to use and even a simple Google search for directions to where you need to go gives you an option for the Metro. Simply follow the color of the line and which direction you need to go to and you are set. 

The paper tickets are going away soon if not already gone in a few stations but you can buy a pass and reload it on your phone. In 2024 they will finally have an App for iphone and it will be even easier. 

Check back next week when we share the tips and tricks for the good stuff, restaurants, museums and what to see in Paris.

Episode 179 - Pere Lachaise

Pere Lachaise isn't any cemetery, it is the final resting place of some of the most notable people in French history. Père-Lachaise gets its name from the confessor of Louis XIV Père François de La Chaise, who lived in a house near the chapel built in this spot in 1682 until his death in 1709.  On May 21, 1804, the land was reopened as a cemetery at the time far outside of Paris and called Cimitiere de l'Est.  Rather unpopular due to the distance, few wanted to hold funerals or burials there. 

The very first burial on June 4 was of 5-year-old girl Adelaide Paillard de Villeneuve.  In 1805 they had an idea to move some famous names to Père-Lachaise. Two of the first of these famous people to find their way there were two of France's masters of words. The playwright Molière and fabulist Jean de La Fontaine. Two large gravesites were erected side by side, although none of their remains are actually here, which is common amongst the more than one million people interred within the walls of Père-Lachaise. It isn't just famous people, anyone can be buried at Père-Lachaise which was also a first when it opened. With Moliere and Fontaine along, people clamored to spend eternity there. Colette, Pissarro, Ingres, Balzac, Delacroix, Géricault, Oscar Wilde, Edith Piaf, and Victor Noir are just a handful of the names you can visit. I always have an ever-running list of tombs to search out.

You can almost hear the beautiful notes of one of his Nocturnes floating in the air as you get close to his tomb. Frédéric Chopin, the Polish virtuoso made Paris his home and staked his claim to the Romantic Movement of the 19th C. Arriving in September 1831 after his plans to move to Italy were thwarted by the Revolution through the country. Having a hard time getting a visa to France from Poland, he reached out to the French and was able to get a visa that stated he was “passing through on his way to London”. He never arrived in London staying in Paris the rest of his life and became a citizen in 1835. His life was filled with friends like Delacroix and Liszt and lover George Sand, but it was his music that still fills the air today. Between 1830 and 1832 he wrote three of his most famous pieces, Nocturne Op 9. The twinkly and graceful notes were written when he was just 20 years old. No 2 is one of the most recognized pieces of music in the world and is what I play many times in the background as I sit and write.

Like many great artists, Chopin died at a very early age. Rarely performing publicly and falling ill over the last few years of his life at 36 he died of tuberculosis.

Before he died Chopin planned out his funeral down to the last detail. He wanted it to be held in the Eglise de la Madeleine and Mozart's Requiem to be performed and this is where it all came screeching to a halt. At the time women were not allowed to perform in the church and it took almost two weeks for the church to give in and allow Jeanne-Anais Castellan and Pauline Viardot to perform, although they had to hide behind a black curtain.

Delacroix served as a pallbearer for his friend and would remember him in a painting that he had painted of him before he died that is now in the Louvre. Buried in Pere Lachaise in a grand tomb by Jean-Baptiste Clèsinger, son-in-law of his former lover George Sand. A marble Euterpe, the muse of music cries over a broken lyre.  As he was lowered into the ground his very own funeral march, sonata no 2 was played. While his body lies in Père Lachaise in division 11, his wish was to have his heart buried in Poland.

Artist Amedeo Modigliano was born in Italy in 1884 and was rather sick as a child but a gifted artist at an early age. Arriving in Paris in 1906 with a bag full of money he lived fast and fueled with drugs and alcohol. His portraits have a style that is easy to spot and known as Modi. The models with their long faces and sharp edges found little interest in the art-buying elite of Paris. Suffering from mood swings and depression he turned to opium and alcohol which was encouraged with the crowd he kept in Paris at the time. Suffering from tuberculosis on and off throughout his life, it would be what would also take him down. On January 22, 1920, he was taken to the Hôpital de la Charité, suffering from tubercular meningitis and paralyzed he would die on January 24. His longtime love and girlfriend Jeanne Herbuterne, also pregnant with their child, couldn't take the grief and tossed herself from the 5th-floor window of her parent's apartment. At the time he was penniless when he died and was buried at the Bagneux Cemetery, but the two lovers were later moved to Pére Lachaise in division 96. Today his paintings sell for millions of dollars. 

“Now and then it's good to pause in our pursuit of happiness and just be happy.” These words were written by Guillaume Apollinaire, the Polish-Belarusian Italian-born French poet whose short life tells quite a tale. Born in 1880, he moved to Paris before the turn of the century and became friends with the biggest artists and writers of the time. Gertrude Stein, Max Jacob, Chagall, Cocteau, Rousseau, and Picasso as they explored the cafés of Montparnasse and Montmartre from morning to night. These relationships would lead the poet to become a noted art critic and one of the first to coin the term cubism. However, some of the friendships with the artists would land Apollinaire in hot water on September 7, 1911, when he was arrested with Picasso under suspicion of stealing the Mona Lisa. After hearing of the theft of La Joconde, Apollinaire went to the Paris-Journal to report his former assistant Honoré Joseph Géry Pieret had stolen many sculptures from the Louvre in the past and sold them to the poet and Picasso. The police in turn arrested him and held him for a week before being released. At the advent of WWI, Apollinaire decided to become a French citizen and enlisted in the war, which would last until a piece of shrapnel tore through his helmet, almost killing him. The injury would alter his mind forever and he would die on this day two short years later at 38 in 1918 and laid to rest in Père-Lachaise in the 86th division. 

Louis Visconti came from a long line of archaeologists and art lovers and enrolled in the Ecole des Beaux-Arts and began to study under Charles Percier, a man who would also leave his mark on one of my favorite buildings in Paris. During his teaching, Percier was also walking over the newly built Pont des Arts to the Louvre where he was working under Napoleon Bonaparte breathing new life into the former palace of the kings. Visconti was taking it all in and when he finished school he began working for the city of Paris as architect of the 3rd and 8th arrondissement and their monuments. While his old teacher worked under Napoleon it was Visconti who was tasked with the job in 1840 to transform the city for the arrival of the former emperor's ashes as they returned to their final resting place.  Visconti was also asked to create the casket that lies under the dome of Les Invalides holding Napoleon. One of my favorites, the Fountain of the Four Bishops in front of Saint-Sulpice with their angry lions guarding the parve was also from the mind of Visconti. 

In 1851 Napoleon III asked Visconti to complete the design of the Palais du Tuileries and join the building to the Louvre. Immortalized in the painting by Jean Baptiste Tissier, Visconti is presenting his design to the Emperor and his wife Eugénie. You can see his plan of joining the two palaces creating a royal residence and offices for the second empire. It was the perfect job of Visconti in a place he loved. As a child, his father was named the curator of antiquities and paintings of the Musée Napoleon, later known as the Louvre. Visconti would grow up inside the Louvre and it would be the final project he never finished. Dying in 1853 of a heart attack he would never see his vision of the Louvre come to life 

His tomb with a marble reclined image of Visconti over a bas-relief of the “New Louvre” was designed by Victor Leharivel who also worked alongside Visconti on the Louvre  and can be found in division 4 

Episode 178 - The Cemeteries of Paris

On a beautiful fall day, it is one of the best strolls in Paris. Baudelaire, Dreyfus, Man Ray, and the man of Statue of Liberty fame, Frédéric Bartholdi are all buried here. But, one tomb stands out over the many, that of Charles Pigeon. The French inventor started out working at the Bon Marché before he opened his own shop on rue du Cherche-Midi selling lamps. During the late 19th century, lamps would easily catch on fire and he set out to fix that. Inventing the gas lamp, that wouldn’t explode in 1884 brought him fame and fortune. In 1909 his wife would die, and six years later in 1915, Charles himself would pass. After purchasing the plot in 1905, they interred together following his death. Before he died he commissioned French sculptor Caveau to create a bronze monument to grace the top. His wife on her deathbed is clutching a flower, while Charles props himself up on the bed with pen and paper in hand. Is he coming up with a new invention, writing her last words, or pledging his love to her one last time, we will never know. Above their head is an angel watching over them holding up one of the famous Pigeon lamps. Their eternal love is rather sweet, captured in bronze, and tells us a story of a man we would most likely never know or even look into if it wasn’t for the monument he left behind. It is located in the Petit cemetery, in division 22. 

Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, the man known for creating the Statue of Liberty lays to rest within the walls of Montparnasse. Born in Colmar, France he was inspired to create large statues after a visit to Egypt. He first created a statue of a woman holding a flame for the construction of the Suez Canal, but the commission was turned down. Does it sound familiar? Two years later he redesigned it and proposed that it be a gift from France to America. Today you can find 7 versions of the statue in Paris. His tomb is topped with a bronze flying angel that he created himself. In division 28 of the Petit cemetery. 

Keep your eye out and you may find a small Statue of Liberty on this next tomb. Cèsar Baldaccini was a French sculptor who used leftover and discarded metal to create large-scale pieces. His name was given to the French Oscars, the Cèsar Awards after he created the award itself. Although, you may know his work best at the corner of Rue du Cherche-Mid, steps away from the wonderful Poilâne bakery. Before he died he created a smaller version that can be found on his tomb.  Grand cemetery, division 3. 

Charles Baudelaire, the French author had an opinion on everything and everyone back in his day. Quite the dandy around town, he was known in just about every group of Paris. In 1857 he wrote Les Fleurs de Mal,  a collection of short essays many with racy themes, so of course it became one of his best-known pieces. Baudelaire also lived in just about every neighborhood in Paris, relying at times on the help of friends. He died on August 31. 1867 at 46 years old. He was laid to rest in the tomb of his parents, but one grave wasn’t good enough. Later his fans didn’t think his grave was fit for the great writer and had another monument created. The L-shaped grave is topped with a bust of a thinking man as he looks out and over the mummified body below.  The family grave is in Division 5 and the cenotaph is on the back wall of divisions 26 and 27, both in the Grand cemetery. (the Petit also has divisions 26 & 27 to make it more confusing)

Montmartre 

After the Cimetière des Innocents was closed in 1780 and the remains mostly used to fill the Catacombs, the Parisians were looking for a new place to bury their loved ones. In the next few weeks in honor of spooky Halloween, I will share with you some of my favorites from the big three cemeteries of Paris. A few of the famous residents and a few you may not even know. 

On January 1, 1825, the Cimetière des Grandes Carrières also known as the Cimetière du Nord officially opened. During the Revolution, the old gypsum quarry was a mass grave at the base of Montmartre. Spreading out over 28 acres the Cimetière Montmartre is as much a part of the neighborhood as the historic Moulin Rouge.

One of the biggest names in the cemetery is of course Dalida. The Italian-Egyptian singer moved to Paris and became an international star. Sadly her life was filled with tragedy including her very own ending. On May 2, 1987, she overdosed on barbiturates, washing it down with whiskey and leaving behind a note saying, “Life is unbearable to me, excuse me”. She was just 54 years old.  Her tomb is hard to miss and fitting for the Egyptian beauty. Created by Alain Aslan who also did the bust of her in Montmartre at Place Dalida. The full-size statue stands in front of a marble wall with a golden sun behind her head. For more Dalida check out our podcast episode about her.  You can’t miss her in division 18.

The beautiful Juliette Récamier, whose Salons in Paris were the place to be. Widely recognized for her unfinished portrait by Jacques-Louis David laying on what would later be named a Récamier. Married to what may have been her father, it’s an interesting story coming up in November on the podcast. In Paris, their home, decorated in Etruscan style, was one of the first in Paris. Juliette was a constant trendsetter who caught the attention of everyone including Napoleon. Pushing off his advances, she later left Paris before he could exile her, returning after he was out of power. Dying on May 11, 1849, at 71 years old and forever remembered hanging on the walls of the Louvre. Her rather plain marker for such a beautiful woman is in division 30.

Listen to her story in the episode we did in 2020

Edgar Degas, the great Impressionist painter, who didn’t like to be called one, lay near the eastern wall in Division 4. The first thing you notice is the name. The family plot is marked with his birth name, De Gas. The artist known for his paintings of ballet dancers, lived most of his life in Montmartre taking artists under his wings including Suzanne Valadon and Mary Cassatt.

Jacques Offenbach, a musical theater composer, may be best known for one of his most famous pieces, the Can Can. Coming to Paris at 14 years old from Germany he attended the Paris Conservatoire for a year before he decided he didn’t need it. As a trained cellist he toured Europe but always had his eye on the stage but was constantly denied entry into the Paris stage scene. He built his own company in Les Bouffes-Parisiennes near the Opera and found some of the prettiest ladies in Paris to take his stage. Valtese de la Bigne, long before she became the biggest courtesan in Paris, once graced his stage and also his bedroom. A pretty nasty episode happened when his wife found out. Can’t wait to release our episode about Valtese. Offenbach died in 1880 of heart failure and was laid to rest in this tomb topped with a bust by Jules Franceschi in division 9.

Chef Marie-Antoine Carème, the French father of Haute Cuisine, began as a pastry chef. He opened Pâtisserie de la rue de la Paix after training under Sylvain Bailly and would display pasties that defied gravity and would wow everyone who walked by. Working for Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord he was asked to create menus using only seasonal ingredients for an entire year. His career took him from Paris to London and Russia. Returning to Paris, he died at 48 and entered here at Montmartre. Stop by and leave a pastry for the great chef.

Théodore Chassériau, a French romantic painter heavenly influenced by Eugene Delacroix died far too early at 37 years old. In that short time he created beautiful paintings of his family and Oriental themes hanging in the Musée du Louvre, a room away from his idol Delacroix. 

You will also come across a large tomb dedicated to Émile Zola in division 19. Topped with a bust of the writer with some pretty fantastic hair, he looks over his family that lay at rest in the red marble tomb. Zola himself was moved to the Pantheon in 1908. A friend and supporter of Manet, but best known for his involvement in the Dreyfus affair causing him to flee France for a time. Zola died on September 29, 1902, from carbon monoxide poisoning. Thought to be an accident, later a roofer confessed in the final moments of his life that he shoved linens into his chimney for his political views.

Passy 

Sitting in the shadows of the Eiffel Tower it may be the best view for a final resting place for some of the greats in French history.​ As the smaller of the big cemeteries it’s a bit easier to tackle and two of my favorites can be found here. 

Edouard Manet first exhibited at the Salon of 1859 with the Absinthe Drinker. Died on April 30, 1883, of Syphilis he got at a Rio Carnival as a teenager. Which later caused him to lose part of his leg.  Buried alongside is his wife Suzane Leenhoff, brother Eugene Manet, and artist Berthe Morisot. 

Morisot and Manet met within the walls of the Musée du Louvre as a copyist. With her dark looks that resembled the Spanish models of Goya and Velazagez, he knew he had to paint her immediately. The subject of 10 paintings she also gleaned all she could from Manet and became the most successful of all the female impressionists.

Claude Achille Debussy born August 22, 1862 in Saint Geramin-en-Laye. At 10 years old he was admitted to the Paris Conservatoire after his talents were recognized by Mme Maute. 

The cemetery also holds a few French aviators.  Henry Farman became the first man to fly a heavy than air, aircraft to New York City in 1908. He also designed the first aircraft for passengers before his death on 17 July 1958. 

Maurice Bellone made the first east-west crossing of the North Atlantic in 1930. 

Emanuel de Las Cases born in 1766 was a historian and friend of Napoleon who was with the Emperor during his exile on Saint Helena. He later published Mémorial de Saint-Hélène about his observations of Napoleon. Las Caes died in 1842, 21 years after Napoleon. 

Episode 177 - Hidden Treasures of the Left Bank

Ahhhh the rive gauche, the home of the Latin Quarter, Jardin du Luxembourg and the Eiffel Tower. The ancient, cobbled streets were well-traveled by the Lost Generation of Hemingway and Fitzgerald and the great artists and authors of the 20th century. It was any given day you would see Picasso, Dora Maar, Jean-Paul Sartre, or Simone de Beauvoir on the terrace of Les Deux Magots enjoying their morning coffee or an early evening apéro. You could wander for hours in Saint-Germain-des-Prés, stopping at every plaque along the way and learning about the people who called the Left Bank home. Tourists are numerous in the area, but many may never slow down enough to notice some of the treasures that are hidden in plain sight.

Few details are overlooked in Paris; it is one of the amazing things that the planners going back hundreds of years took into account. From the grates that surround the base of a tree to the green benches in the parks, no detail is too small– but frequently missed by passersby.

Rose Window Grate

The Jardin des Plantes is a beautiful oasis off the banks of the Seine in the 5th arrondissement that includes a zoo and numerous museums. The lush landscape is filled with a peony garden, alpine garden, iris garden, and– in the center leading up to the Grand Galerie de l’Évolution– a vast garden that is filled with pink blossoms in the spring. As you walk around, look down and you may find a little piece of Notre-Dame cathedral. All over the Jardin des Plantes the small, round grates that catch the rain aren’t the standard design. Look closely; they are in the shape of the rose windows of the Notre Dame de Paris. Created by Jacquemin Fonderie, these lovely iron grates are exactly what make Paris so magical. I have spotted them around Paris a few other times– inside inner courtyards behind locked doors– so keep your eyes out for these little beauties.

Philipe Auguste Wall

A short and lovely walk from the Jardin des Plantes is the Rue Mouffetard, one of the best streets in Paris, leading to the Place de la Contrescarpe that Hemingway mentioned in A Moveable Feast and just around the corner from his first apartment. Continue down Rue Descartes and a right on Rue Clovis. The street named for the king of the Franks holds one of the best remnants of the wall of Philippe Auguste. In the past episodes, we have seen the wall in a parking garage and a basketball court. Of the many visible remains in Paris, this one on Rue Clovis gives you an idea of just how wide the wall was.

Saint Etienne de Mont 

A few steps away the Église Saint-Étienne-de Mont rises up in the shadow of the Pantheon. The church is well known for what is outside of it, but don’t skip going inside this gem. The steps on the north side are always filled with fans of the Woody Allen film Midnight in Paris, looking to recreate their own Gil moment to travel back in time. Head inside the church for a real treat. In front of you at the altar is the last Jube screen in Paris. Created by artist Biart le père, the single-span screen stretches above the choir and on either side are carved stone stairs that are stunning. Biart carved angels, mascarons, ivy and palm trees into the screen that was once used during sermons. The Jube screens were commonly seen in many of the churches of Paris before removed. Notre Dame de Paris had one as well before they were abolished by the Council of Trent to bring the congregation closer to the choir. Take some time to walk around Saint-Étienne, the relics of Sainte Geneviève, the patron saint of Paris who saved it from the attack of Attila the Hun, are in a side chapel with beautiful stained glass windows telling the story of the life of Geneviève.

Salvador Dali Sundial

Head down Rue Soufflot and take a right onto Rue Saint-Jacques. The Rue Saint-Jacques was once the cardo of Roman Lutetia, long before Paris became Paris. The north-south road led to the Chemin de St-Jacques and the Santiago de Compostela. At 27 Rue Saint-Jacques look up at the corner; one of the 120 sundials that can be found around Paris resides on the corner. This isn’t your normal sundial, it is by artist Salvador Dali. Placed on 15 November 1966, Dali had created it for a friend who owned the shop beneath it. The sundial is a woman’s face on a scallop shell, a nod to the Saint-Jacques de Compostelle. Her blue eyes shine beneath her eyebrows set aflame like the sun. Her hair cascades down forming the recognizable mustache of her creator. Dali’s signature can be seen in the lower right-hand corner, but don’t set your watch to it, the surrealist artist never designed it to work.

Luxembourg Statue- Marchand de Masques 

The Jardin du Luxembourg is filled with over 100 statues that line the terrace, hide beneath the tree-lined paths, and sit majestically in the middle of the perfectly trimmed grass. On the eastern side of the park a few steps from the terrace with the statues of the Queens of France, down a path is the statue with the faces of the great artists. Le Marchand de Masques by Zacharie Astruc is a statue of a young boy selling masks. In his hand, he holds the mask of the French novelist, Victor Hugo. At his feet are the faces of eight of the greatest French artists, authors and musicians. You can come face to face with landscape artist Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, novelist Alexandre Dumas, composer Hector Berlioz, sculptor Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux, operatic baritone Jean-Baptiste Faure, novelist Honoré de Balzac, novelist Jules Barbey d’Aurevilly and, a personal favorite, Eugène Delacroix. The entire Jardin du Luxembourg is worth an entire day exploring, sitting in the sun reading, and do not forget a picnic to set up on one of the iconic Luxembourg green chairs.

Rue Saint Sulpice 

Walking along the Rue Saint-Sulpice on your right is the largest church on the left bank– only a tad bit smaller than Notre Dame de Paris. While you walk in the shadows of the church look to the left to find a remnant of a seedier time in Paris. At no. 36 Rue Saint-Sulpice, above the door is the address, but just a bit fancier than any other numbers on the street. Why such a lovely number on what appears to be a regular Paris façade? During the Belle Epoque, Paris was celebrating the good life and that even went for a man looking for, how shall we say, companionship. The fancy and normally larger numbers signified this address was a Maison close, a really French way of saying brothel. Miss Betty ran this brothel in the very narrow six-floor building that specialized in a rather authoritative type of companionship. The remains of these Maison close can be found all over Paris, keep an eye out for the larger numbers.

Speaking of ladies of the night, our next hidden treasure belonged to the man who was said to of given up his virginity to one at the Palais Royal. Napoleon Bonaparte made his mark on Paris in many ways, but this treasure is one of the most personal. Le Procope in Saint Germain claims to be the oldest restaurant in Paris and dates back to 1686. Over the centuries, you would see Benjamin Franklin working on the Constitution. Voltaire drank coffee, Diderot came up with the Encyclopédie, and Thomas Jefferson, George Sand, Robespierre, and Marat all frequented the café. However, back to Napoleon. In 1795, General Napoleon was in Paris and dined at Le Procope. At the end of the meal he didn’t have enough money to cover his bill so he left his hat as collateral in good faith that he would return. He clearly didn’t keep his word as today you can still see his hat on display in the restaurant. While other hats he’s worn can be seen at the Musée de l’Armee, the one in the display case at Le Procope seems a bit more special. Once located in the doorway, the restaurant moved it upstairs due to the high traffic that stopped at the door to catch a peek. Le Procope holds a smorgasbord of history and is well worth a lunch or an apéro and a chance to wander within these historic walls. Come with money; they don’t take hats anymore as payment.

Marat Bell

Just behind Le Procope, the short, uneven Cour du Commerce Saint-André connects the Boulevard Saint Germain to Rue Saint André des Arts. Although it is short, it holds many historical moments in the history of Paris. Joseph Guillotin would practice his machine on sheep in this street, Georges Danton lived here and Jean-Paul Marat had his printing house here. If you walk down the Cour du Commerce, facing south just before you reach La Procope look up. Outside a window, you will see a bell. This bell dates back to the time when Marat would be working late into the night and would ring a bell when his article was printed and ready to be distributed.

École des Beaux-Arts 

Just off the Seine and in view of the Musée du Louvre is the school where many of its artists began: the École des Beaux-Arts. It dates back to 1648 when Cardinal Mazarin set up the school to educate the cream of the crop of French students in painting, sculpture, and architecture. Louis XIV used the school to hand-pick talent to decorate his ever-growing Versailles. Degas, Ingres, Moreau, Renoir, Géricault, Sissley, and Delacroix all attended the prestigious school. It is still an active school today and holds many special exhibitions. To fully visit the Beaux-Arts you have to wait until the Journées Européennes du Patrimoine, the third weekend of September when many French institutes open for just one weekend to visitors. However, you can just stroll right in any day of the week to view a portion of this historic school. Inside you can view a copy of Michelangelo’s Pietà without jetting over to Rome. Copies of famous tombs are seen at the Basilique Saint-Denis and the Cour du Mûrier which is filled with statues within the courtyard colonnade. Walk around (where you can) and you will come across sketching students, surrounded by columns from the former Palais des Tuileries in the Cour Chimay, looking out at the Linden trees gently blowing in the summer wind. An open door in Paris is always an invitation to explore.

Episode 176 - Hidden Treasures of Paris - Right Bank part Deux

Once you have visited all the bucket list locations of Paris, the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, Sacré-Cœur, Musée du Louvre— and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that, look a little further to a few more hidden treasures. After all, your whole life has been filled with images of these iconic monuments and the chance to see them up close is a dream come true. However, the beauty of Paris comes from the in-between moments. The walk through the Jardin des Tuileries on the way to the Louvre and the leisurely lunch sitting on a terrace watching Paris walk past are some of the very best things to do in the city. Slow down and savor the cobbled streets where famous authors and historical figures lived and keep an eye out for a hidden treasure.

We shall stay on the right bank on this little voyage, uncovering more of the little details with a big story that many will walk right past. We’ll start at the Place de la Concorde, sitting between the Jardin des Tuileries and the Champs Élysées where a large chapter of the bloody history of Paris once took place. It was called the Place de la Revolution when Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette lost their heads in the guillotine alongside 2,000 other people during the Reign of Terror. Have no fear; a quick name change in 1795 to the Place de la Concorde would hopefully wipe that image from people’s minds.

Obelisk 

In 1833, Muhammad Ali Pasha, the ruler of Ottoman Egypt, gifted France with the 3000-year-old Obelisk that once stood in front of the Luxor Temple. Pasha asked for only one thing in return: a clock. The obelisk itself is not a hidden treasure, but it plays a role in it. If you walk around the Place de la Concorde, as far as to the statues of the great cities of France, and look down, you may notice some Roman numerals on the ground. In 1913, the founder of the Société Astronomique de France and astronomer Camille Flammarion wanted to create the largest sundial in the world at this very spot. Plans were put in place using the 108-foot high Obelisk as a gnomon but were postponed twice due to the World Wars. Flammarion would never see his vision come to life. In 1999, at the advent of the millennium, Philippe de la Cotardière and Denis Savoie– members of the Société Astronomique– presented the idea to the city of Paris. Mayor Jean Tiberi enthusiastically agreed and on June 21, 1999, he was present as the finished sundial was inaugurated. It was to remain until 2001, but just like the Eiffel Tower, it has fought past the hands of time. A few of the Roman numerals can still be seen, and on a clear sunny day, the Obelisk will help you find the time.

Walk up to the north corner of the Jardin des Tuileries towards the Jeu du Paume. On the corner of the Terrasse de Jeu de Paume, overlooking the busy traffic of rue de Rivoli, stands a majestic lion. Placed in 1819, the neoclassical lion by Giuseppe Franchi has seen a thing or two in his time. It stands in front of the Jeu du Paume, today a museum but during WWII it was the warehouse for looted art that was sent to Germany. In August 1945 as the Liberation of Paris began, and the fighting intensified in the Place de la Concorde, the lion was struck by a German tank and tumbled down. If you look closely, you can see the cracks on his legs and tale where he was reassembled. At the base of where he stands, you can still see the bullet holes that riddled the Place de la Concorde: tangible history you can touch.

Walking through the Tuileries, imagine the Queen mother Catherine de’ Medici looking out the windows of the Palais des Tuileries at the changing leaves. The palace she had built after the death of her husband King Henri II would open in 1564. The Renaissance palace was covered in regal symbolism on the columns and above the windows. It was Catherine’s way of rewriting the love story with her husband, emphasizing its significance over his true great love, his mistress Diane de Poitiers. Three hundred years of royalty would use the palace including Louis XIV and Marie Antoinette who would spend their final years of semi-freedom before prison. Napoleon Bonaparte would use the Palais des Tuileries as his official residence and would spend each night with a certain lady of the Louvre in his bedroom, the Mona Lisa.

However, the grandness of the palace would end on 23 May 1871. It was the days of the Paris Commune and a dozen men set out, torches and gas in hand and set the Tuileries on fire. The ruins of the palace would stand for over 12 years– finally torn down in 1883. Although, we can still find a bit of the palace sprinkled throughout the city. You may never even know you walked past or sat on a bench on a lovely summer day in front of these historic remnants. On the southern side of the Jardin des Tuileries is a former arch, partially rebuilt that rises over the terrace that few people even notice. Other remains can be found inside the Musée du Louvre in the Cour Marly, in the Square Georges Cain, Académie des Beaux Arts and the Trocadero, far away from the hordes of people.

Henri IV, our next find takes us over to the area once home to Les Halles market, known as “the Belly of Paris.” On Friday, May 14, 1610, Henri IV was traveling by coach from the Louvre, wanting to see the procession of his wife Marie de Medici who was just crowned Queen of France the day before at Saint-Denis. Henri made his way from the Louvre to the very narrow Rue de la Ferronnerie and found it blocked by wagons carrying hay and wine barrels. While his men stepped off the coach to clear the traffic, the king was left unguarded long enough for François Ravaillac to jump onto the coach and stab the Vert Gallant with a stolen knife. As you walk down the street, keep your eyes down. Inlaid into the street at the spot at which he was killed is a stone with the crest of Henri IV, King of France and Navarre, and the date of his death. He would die before he was able to return to the Louvre. Following his death, a wax effigy of the king would sit in the Salle des Caryatids for eleven days in June 1610. Lavish meals were served in front of him and members of his court sat in silence eating.

A short walk from Rue de la Ferronnerie is the Gothic masterpiece Saint Eustache that once overlooked Les Halles, the famed market that dates back to the 11th century when it started as a dry goods market. The food vendors moved in and it would be the central market of Paris until it was torn down in 1971. In 1476, La Corporation des Charcutiers, one of the most important organizations in France, was created blending history and gastronomy. While they may have been popular, they did go through some difficulties when rumors went around on what type of meeting they butchered; I will leave it at that. Therefore, to win back their good name they would give back to the community and to the church of Saint Eustache. The first chapel on your left holds a very special set of stained glass windows donated by the guild in 1945. Look closely at it. The top holds the seal of Paris on the left and the coat of arms of the guild– depicting three sausages and a swine. Below, Saint Antoine, their patron saint, can be seen with a pig near his feet, and to his left, a chef is presenting a tray of pork goodness to a church official. Only Paris would have a chapel dedicated to sausage, and rightfully so.

Medici Column

Just outside the doors of Saint Eustche through the Jardin Nelson-Mandela is a tall column topped with what looks like a cage. It was built by Jean Bullant under the instruction of Catherine de Medici. Catherine was a big believer in astrology and her advisor Como Ruggeri told her she would die near Saint-Germain. In the midst of building the Palais du Tuileries, near the Église St Germain l’Auxerrois, she stopped construction and abruptly moved to the Hôtel de Saissons near Saint-Eustache. The tall column built with a glass roof, which no longer remains, was connected to the Queen’s apartment so she could travel the 147 stairs to the top. The Hôtel de Saissons would be destroyed in 1748 and the Bourse du Commerce would be built in its place. It must have been a little Medici witchcraft that protected the column from being demolished. It remains today alongside the stock exchange, although currently covered and going through a renovation.

Tour de Jean Sans Peur

Tour de Jean Sans Peur in the second arrondissement is one of the few architectural remains of the Middle Ages. Built-in 1409 and finished in 1411, the tower keep of the former Hôtel de Bourgogne is an often overlooked treasure that sits just off the busy Rue Étienne Marcel. After Jean sans peur (Jean the Fearless) had his cousin Louis d’Orleans killed, he would take over the property and have a grand palais built to show his power and great wealth. Over many years, the property passed through the hands of one noble after another and the land was divided. In 1866 on the heels of Haussmann’s rebuilding of Paris and construction of Rue Étienne Marcel, the remaining buildings were destroyed. The tower is all that remains of this once-medieval palace. The good news is that you can visit, climbing each of its historic steps. Each floor has details of the former rooms and those that lived there. Make sure to look up, as you get closer to the final floor. The ceiling at the top of the tower is beautiful and looks like a tree that has grown from the center of the stairs reaching to the sky. It’s open from Wednesday to Sunday in the afternoon only and frequently has special exhibits of life in medieval times.

Auguste Wall 

Long before Jean sans Peur completed his palace and keep, it was once the location of the Hôtel d’Artois, built by Robert II, Count of Artois in 1270– sitting on the edge of the Philippe Auguste wall that encircles Paris. The wall was built between 1190 and 1290 by Philippe Auguste to protect Paris while he was off on crusades. Encircling over 625 acres and running a mile and a half on the right bank alone, the 20 to 25-foot high and three-foot thick limestone walls kept the invaders out. On the right bank just behind the Saint-Paul-Saint-Louis church is the longest stretch of wall that remains today. On the Rue des Jardins-Saint Paul lining the large basketball court is almost 200 feet of ancient wall and a portion of the Tour Montgomery just outside the court. Walking by and seeing all the kids playing basketball, I constantly wonder if they know what that wall means and what it once was. Sitting in the third arrondissement, close to the center of all of Paris, this was once the outside of what we now know as the City of Light.

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Episode 176 - Hidden Treasures of Paris Part One

You plan your trip to Paris and have all the big things on your list to see. The Eiffel Tower, Musée d’Orsay, Arc de Triomphe, Louvre, and– if you are brave– maybe even the Catacombs. While Paris is filled with beautiful architecture, monuments, and museums there are also a few treasures that are hidden in plain sight just waiting for you to discover. Let’s take a little stroll through Paris and discover their secrets.

ARAGO MARKERS

Marking the sidewalks of Paris is a set of brass medallions imprinted with the name Arago. The markers that run over 9km through Paris mark the ancient Paris meridian.

In 1994 the Arago Association commissioned artist Jan Dibbets to create a memorial to François Arago, a 19th-century French astronomer and mathematician who mapped out the meridian: I hate to tell you, but he had nothing to do with the Da Vinci Code. You will come across these markers in the Palais Royal, Jardin du Luxembourg, and along the Seine. However, did you know you could find them INSIDE the Musée du Louvre? There are a few outside in the Cour Napoleon but it is the ones inside the Louvre that sent my heart racing as soon as I spotted one. You will find them in the Richelieu and the Denon wings and even people that work there do not know they are walking among them every day.

In the Richelieu wing between the Cour Marly and Cour Puget as you come down the stairs and through the passage between them, look down. Head back into the Cour Puget and walk up the stairs to your right. When you see the Thomas Regnaudin statue of Saturne enlevant Cybèle, look just behind it, et voila. A third in the wing lies just between the escalators. Over in the Denon wing, in the Etruscan and Roman Antiquities rooms, three more can be discovered by the avid hunter; some are hidden due to renovation but if the rooms are open keep your eyes to the ground.

Medieval Louvre

The lower level of the Musée du Louvre holds the remnants of the original medieval fortress. Dating back to the 12th century and the Louvre of Philippe Auguste, the original moat of the Louvre can be found with all its secrets it unleashed in 1984. During the construction of the “Grand Louvre”, an archaeological dig unearthed the moat and over 100,000 objects including pottery, jewelry, and medieval armor. They also found the base of the staircase to the tower that held Charles the V’s library.

As you walk among the ruins you will notice marks on many of the stones– hearts, circles, and slashes– but fear not these are not wayward annoying love lockers looking for a new place to vandalize the city of love. The stone carvers that painstakingly cut each stone in the 12th century made these marks. The way they would receive their wages was by counting the amount of stones they cut. From the looks of it, the guy who had the heart symbol was a pretty hard worker. Many visitors walk right past not noticing, nor knowing what these symbols mean, but it is one of the amazing stories of the Louvre that date back hundreds of years.

Napoleon on the Louvre

Sticking with the Musée du Louvre, this time let’s head outside to the very end known as the Colonnade de Perrault. It’s named for the architect Claude Perrault whom Louis XIV selected to design the eastern end of the Palais du Louvre.

The Sun King wanted to add his own mark onto the Louvre like the kings before him but decided to move his court to Versailles and left the entire wing unfinished without a roof. It would take almost a hundred years for the Colonnade to get its roof and it was Napoleon Bonaparte that would finally make it happen. The Emperor wanted to leave a lasting impression and François-Frédéric Lemont did just that for him. On the outward side, facing Saint-Germain-l’Auxerrois at the top of the pavilion, there’s the bust of a man with a long curly wig. Look closely at the face; it is the face of Napoleon with a much different hairstyle. During the Restoration in 1815 Louis XVIII and the Bourbons were back in power and he tried to scrub all traces of Napoleon from the city. He ordered a wig to be carved and placed on the bust and just like that, it is now Louis XIV.

Napoleon & Henri 

The Musée du Louvre and the palace that came before are decorated with the initials of the kings and emperors that each took part in its construction over 500 years. However, this little secret can be found at your feet outside the galleries. Out on the Quai François Mitterrand just as you walk under the Pavillon de Lesdiguières from the Place du Carousel as you wait for the light to change, look down. In the stones are the initials of two of the great builders of the Louvre. On the right is H for Henri IV and on the other side past the lanes of traffic is N for Napoleon III. Hard to spot when filled with people but hold back after the crossing and take a peek.

Episode 174 - Hemingway Books

Hundreds of books have also been written about him, many of which are filled with inaccurate info. As a stickler for details I want to share some of the best books written about him and by him this week on the podcast.
Even if you aren’t a Hemingway disciple, as a lover of Paris most likely have read A Moveable Feast. The book was posthumously published in 1964 under the guidance of his fourth wife Mary Hemingway and Harry Brague at Scribner’s publishing house. In 1956 a manager at the Ritz Hotel contacted Ernest and let him know that they still had a trunk of his in the basement. Some say it was a trunk made by Louis Vuitton himself, which adds to the romantic nature of the story. However, there is also a thought that the story isn’t true at all. It was said to be left by him in March 1928, however at that time he was too poor to frequent the bar stools and certainly the rooms of the Ritz. It makes for a great story though. 

The next summer he started to work on “The Paris Sketches”, his collection of the tales of those days in Paris when he and Hadley arrived as a young married couple poor and happy to the stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald and of course Pauline. Through the pages, Hem is painted as a bully and jerk at times. Many will be surprised to learn that it’s not what he originally wrote. 

In the last few months of his life, he was working on the final chapters of the book. As he was locked into the Mayo Clinic he wanted to write a proper ending dedicated to the Paris years and his marriage to Hadley. Returning to Ketchum, Idaho he was still working on it the night before he would kill himself. Pages were still in the typewriter after he was discovered. 

After his death as Mary went through his papers, he was rather a pack rat and that is something we are thankful for when she contacted A.E. Hotchner in regards to Hem’s Paris Sketches book. Once she reached out to Harry Brague at Scribner’s the butchering began.  Mary and Harry would alter the final words of Hem, removing sections that he wrote and changing some of his words. His relationship with Fitzgerald was edited to look much worse than his original pages. As his fourth wife, she also changed the text to appease her instead of what he originally wrote or wanted. 

If you are to read any edition of A Moveable Feast or if it’s been years be sure to read this version and only this version. A Moveable Feast, the Restored Edition, released in 2011 includes the actual text he wrote and notes on changes. It is a fascinating version and if I had to rate his wives from worst to best, Mary is at the top. 

In 1925, after seeing the Festival of San Fermin in Pamplona for three years, Hemingway took pen to paper and began to write the story based on what he knew, bullfights and his friends in Paris. While Gertrude Stein called them all the Lost Generation, the post-war Americans aimlessly went through life without direction and plenty of alcohol. Hem actually took offense to it and wanted to repaint them as capable and resilient. In fact, it was the second title for the book before it was decided to call it The Sun Also Rises after Hemingway and John Dos Passos sat at the Closerie Des Lilas, which is also featured in the book and found a passage in Ecclesiastes of the Old Testament. “One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh; but the earth abideth forever. . . The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to the place where he arose.”  

The first draft was finished in September 1925, just as the first steps of his marriage to Hadley marched to the finish. Published on October 22, 1926, after they had separated. It was dedicated to Haldey and their son Jack and in the divorce, he gave her all rights to the book and any future royalties that would include the movie. Six months after the printing she was sent her first check for 18,363 copies sold for $5, 577 today which would be more than $80,000. The Sun Also Rises has gone on to be one of the most translated books in history and has never been out of print. 
The Sun Also Rises, the Hemingway Library edition was released in 2015 with early drafts of his manuscripts and deleted pages, is a great edition to read again. 

At 2 a.m. on March 4, 1928, after a night out drinking with friend Archibald Macleash, Ernest Hemingway returned home and with the turn of a few events came up with his idea that would become A Farewell to Arms. The home was now on Rue Férou between Saint Sulpice and the Musée du Luxembourg. After his divorce from Hadley in April 1927 and his marriage in May to Pauline Pfeiffer, the two would move into the grandest place of his Paris years. On the top floor of the Hotel du Luzy, with the gate guarded by two sphinxes, the newlyweds now lived in the lap of luxury courtesy of her rich uncle Gus. 

On that early morning of March 4, Hemingway went into his bathroom and reached up to grab the lavatory chain and gave it a yank, although it was the chain for the skylight, not the lavatory.  Within seconds the skylight opened and cut a large gash into his forehead. Blood was everywhere and he wrapped his head with thirty layers of toilet paper. Macleash raced back over and with Pauline, they took a taxi to the American Hospital in Neuilly.  The large horseshoe-shaped gash needed 9 stitches. 

While sitting in the hospital, between the pain and the blood, the memories of the war in Italy all came back to him. Biographer Michael Reynolds said ‘When the pain dulled ... he knew exactly what he should be writing ... the story was the war, the wound, the woman.’ He began right away writing. 

On August 20 he had finished his 1st draft of A Farewell to Arms. Set in WWI during the Italian campaign tells the story of the American Lieutenant Frederick Henry who was in the ambulance corps and who falls in love with a nurse, Catering Barkley. Loosely based on his time in the war and falling in love with nurse Agnes von Kurowsky while he was in an Italian hospital. 

A week after the skylight incident he began to write A Farewell to Arms and by August he had his first draft done. Although he had problems with the ending and was said to have written over 39 different endings.  In 2012 the Hemingway Library restored edition was released with 47 of them. Fascinating to see the different endings together. 

A.E. Hotchner was a close friend of Hemingway in the years after the war. The young Hotchner called himself a bit of a bounty hunter, going after big-name authors to write for Cosmopolitan, most of whom were so flattered they did it. Long ago Cosmo magazine was filled with wonderful articles by some of the most celebrated authors.  But one writer was more elusive and he was apprehensive to contact him. In the winter of 1948, Hotchner went to Havana, Cuba to meet Ernest Hemingway and to try to catch the larger-than-life author. “I had been in awe of Hemingway ever since my high school teacher introduced me to Hem’s Nick Adams stories”. With a lot of trepidation, he headed to Cuba to ask Hem to write a story on the “Future of Literature”. Sending him a letter from the hotel, still scared to reach out to the literary giant, Hotchner waited. 

The next day his phone rang and the booming voice said “This Hotchner? Dr Hemingway here”, Hem told him he would be happy to help him and to meet for a drink at El Floridita that night. 

That drink was the start of a friendship that would last the rest of Hem’s life. Hotchner would follow him on his many adventures from Key West to Cuba, Europe, and finally to Idaho. With a small tape recorder, he would record the conversations and moments of Hem’s life that few have ever been able to do. He would oversee the screenwriting of many of Ernest’s stories that made their way onto stage and screen and even write a few books about him. Papa Hemingway and Hemingway in Love are two of the best and give a glimpse into another side of Hem that few get to see. Hotchner was with him at the Mayo Clinic just a few weeks before he took his life in 1961 where he captured Hem wanting to write the last chapter of what would become A Moveable Feast and his final love letter to Hadley. 

Papa Hemingway, by A.E. Hotchner, published it in 1966, five years after Hemingway’s death. Documenting adventures from Cuba to Europe Hem recounts major moments of his past. A close and trusted friendship from 1948 to his death in 1961 allowed Hotchner to document his life like no one else. Struggling with health issues and paranoia he does all he can to recall his life and his many loves. Unlike many biographies, this comes straight from the source. 

Hemingway in Love, His Own Story by A. E. Hotchner waited until 2015 to release this book, long after the death of Mary Hemingway, Ernest’s fourth wife. Hotchner counted Mary as a close friend after Hem’s sudden death and wanted to spare her feelings while recounting the words of Hem on his first three wives. (too bad she didn’t have the same thought about what she did to Hadley, but I digress) This short book is filled with the raw thoughts and words that Hemingway recalled about each of the women in his life. As the book ends with Hotchners’s final visit to the master at the Mayo Clinic, A Moveable Feast takes on a whole new meaning and may leave you in tears. 

Michael Reynolds wrote five volumes of the life of Hemingway broken up by, The Young Hemingway following his adolescence in Oak Park and Michigan to his days in World War I. Hemingway: The Paris Years, from poor and happy to his second wife Pauline. Hemingway: The Homecoming from 1926 to spring of 1929 the last years in Paris to Key West, Hemingway: The 1930’s, the end of their Europe days, Key West and the meeting of Martha Gellhorn. And the last in the series Hemingway: The Final Years.  Reynolds did a fantastic job researching the books with the hundreds and hundreds of dates and moments of his life. If you were to read one complete biography of the man, these are the ones. 

For the true Hemingway scholar, you must have the five-part collection of The Letters of Ernest Hemingway. Published by Cambridge, the current five volumes begin in 1907 and end in 1934. The collection will ultimately consist of 17 volumes! The work that has gone into these is amazing. Each and every letter has been painstakingly researched and added notes are listed at the end of each. It is Hem’s own words that are presented completely as they were intended and in their raw form. A pack rat by nature he kept everything including letters he didn’t send. In the letters, many of the famous legends can even be dispelled or validated. Take for instance the story of Hadley losing his manuscripts in the Gare de Lyon. In Moveable Feast every biographer later states he dropped everything to return to Paris. In fact, in his letter dated January 23, 1923, to Ezra Pound, he says he didn’t return to Paris until mid-January over a month after Hadley arrived in Chambry. The first five volumes are so wonderful, I can’t wait to see the next twelve. 

Episode 173 - Exhibitions in Paris this Autumn

This week as we enjoy the last official days of summer we are tiptoeing to the start of autumn but that also means new fantastic exhibitions in Paris. 

Of course, we start with my beloved Musée du Louvre and the Renaissance collection of Naple á Paris. In collaboration with the Musee de Capodimonte in Naples, it is currently undergoing major renovation. The Louvre is trying something a little different with this exhibit by placing the borrowed pieces within the Grande Galerie alongside the Louvre’s own collection. By mixing the two together a conversation takes place between the Louvre and Capodimonte collections that is fascinating to decipher. 

The exhibition extends to the Pavillon d’Horloage on the 1st and 2nd levels with the 2nd being the one you do not want to miss. In a dimly lit room, the drawings of Michelangelo and Raphael come to life. Standing up close to a drawing by Michelangelo is humbling, to say the least. The showing of the fragile sketches is limited and will close on September 25 while the rest of the exhibition in the Grande Galerie runs until January 8. 

Coming up on October 18 is the exhibit I have been anxiously looking forward to since it was announced in 2021. In what was the Petite Galerie of the Richelieu wing the Treasury of Notre Dame Cathedral from its Origins to Viollet-le-Duc featuring more than 120 pieces once held in the Treasury of Notre Dame. 

On April 16, 2019, the morning after the fire officials of the Louvre assisted in emptying the Treasury which held the reliquaries that once held the Crown of Thorns and pieces of the True Cross as well as the tunic of Saint Louis. It was always a place I loved to pop in and see the golden treasures and thrilled that we were able to see them once again prior to the historic cathedral reopening on December 8, 2024. 

The exhibition space is small and just past the ticket entrance of the Richelieu wing. The exhibition runs until January 29, 2024. 

Coming to Paris and want a guided tour through the Louvre reach out. Recently my wonderful client Dianne remarked, “This was the best money I have ever spent on travel”. Allow me to share my favorite place in the world in a way few other guides can. 

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Musée du Louvre

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The biggest exhibition this season in Paris will undoubtedly be Van Gogh à Auvers-sur-Oise, the Last Months. Opening October 3 at the Musée d’Orsay it will be sure to have very long lines and you must think ahead and plan accordingly. You will want to book your Orsay in advance as well as a timed entry to the exhibition as well. Without a timed ticket for van Gogh itself, you might wait a while to get in. If you are a member, you won’t need a reservation, just glide on in. 

Much of the permanent collection of van Gogh that the Orsay owns is from the last months of his life. Dr Gachet who took care of Vincent at that time was given many pieces by the artist himself that were given to the Louvre in 1946 as a donation from his children after his death. In the last few months of his life, Vincent painted 74 pieces and created 33 drawings. Criticized by Gauguin for painting too fast those last months he worked feverishly utilizing all the amazing colors of his pallet, for which we are very thankful. 

The exhibit opens at 9:30 a.m. on October 3 and runs until February 4. Join the Orsay and become a Carte Blanche member and enter at 9 am before the general public for an up close and personal look at the collection or book a tour with me. 

To learn more about the history of the one-time train station and how it became a museum listen to the episode of Paris History Avec a Hemingway we recorded in 2021. 

Also in the Orsay, this autumn and winter are two small exhibits one after another. 

Gustave Eiffel - Bridge Builder opens October 31 until February 4, 2024. To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the architects’ passing the small Espace Paris at the end of the central nave holds a photo exhibit of the great iron bridges of the Eiffel. 

Just a week later on February 10, 2024, until May 12 the same space highlights the art nouveau and metro designer Hector Guimard. 

No need for a special reservation for either exhibit. 

The partner of the Orsay, the Musée de l’Orangerie always does an amazing job when it comes to exhibitions. Opening today! Amedeo Modigliani, A Painter and his Merchant focuses on the relationship between Modigliani and Paul Guillaume. Guillaume’s collection was acquired by the state in 1959 in a long juicy drawn-out drama that we will get into another time. The collection was added to the Orangerie in 1984. 

The Modigliani exhibition focuses on the relationship between the two men that met in 1914. Guillaume rented an apartment and studio for the artist in Montmartre after they met through Max Jacob. Guillaume became his exclusive dealer until his death in 1920. 

Known for his portraits the exhibit will have over 100 paintings and 50 drawings on display. I can’t wait to see it and will report back right away. 

Lines can be long when they have exhibitions so be sure to buy your ticket in advance or better yet, join the Orsay Carte Blanche which also allows free entry to the Orangerie. 

(this is not sponsored in any way by the Orsay, it’s just a fantastic deal! If you are a Louvre member you also get a discount on the Orsay membership) 

Musée d’Orsay is open Tuesday to Sunday 9:30 am to 6 pm, and 9:45 pm on Thursdays 

Musée de l’Orangerie Wednesday to Monday 9 am to 6 pm 

A bit farther out from the center of Paris is the Musée Marmottan Monet. Located just on the edge of the Bois de Boulogne this little treasure of a museum is worth the trek. Thanks to a gift from Michael Monet, the museum holds the largest collection of his father Claude Monet’s work in the world. The property was purchased by Jules Marmottan in 1829 and his son Paul inherited a large inheritance that he would use to collect a stunning assortment of furnishing of the Consulate and Empire period. Without an heir, he donated his estate to the Academy of Beaux-Arts in 1932 at his death.  The families of William Adolphe Bouguereau in 1938, and Henri Duherm in 1985 enhanced the collection of the museum as well as the Rouart family in 1993. 

Julie Manet Rouart was the only child of Berthe Morisot and Eugène Manet. Morisot was the subject of many Édouard Manet paintings including one of my favorites that is now visiting the Met in New York.  Morisot was one of the few women ushered into the group of Impressionists that gave light and feminist touch to the colorful period of art. Before Berthe, there was the 18th century Rococo period in Watteau, Boucher, Fragonard, and Perronneau dominated and inspired Berthe. As a young artist, she spent hours in the Musée du Louvre with her sister Edme copying the master as women were not allowed in an artist atelier.  

Opening October 18 Berthe Morisot & the 18th Century Art of Watteau, Boucher, Fragonard & Perronneau runs until March 3, 2024. The permanent collection also holds two rooms of Morisot you won’t want to miss. 

Paul Girard named Morisot the Modernizer of the 17th & 18th centuries. The exhibition will have amazing examples of the side-to-side pieces of Morisot’s interpretation of Boucher, Watteau, and more.  Listen to the podcast episode we did in 2020, she was a fascinating woman with such a wonderful story. 

Musée Marmottan Monet

2 rue Louis-Boilly 16e

Open Tuesday - Sunday 10 am - 6 pm. Thursdays until 9 pm. 

Keeping with the small museum and the beautiful pastel colors is an exhibit in the wonderful Musée Cognac-Jay.  A museum that is often missed the collection of Ernest Cognac and Marie Louis Jay was collected between 1900 and 1927. You may not know their names but you do know their fantastic department store, Samaritaine on the edge of the Right Bank. 

The two created a collection of 18th pieces that are now beautifully displayed in the 16th-century Hotel Donon steps from the Musée Picasso Paris and the Musée Carnavalet.

Pastels, Between Line and Color opens from October 12 to February 11, 2024. I love pastel pieces and are seldom on view due to their delicate nature. The Louvre no longer displays their collection sadly and so I leap at any chance to see a few of these lovely creations. 

The exhibit includes Boucher, Maurice-Quentin de La Tour, Perronneau, and Elisabeth Vigee Le Brun. Visit the Cognac-Jay after the Berthe Morisot to continue on the dreamy theme. 

Listen to the story of Marie-Louise Jay and the Samaritain on the episode we recorded in July 2021 

Musée Cognac-Jay 

8 rue Elzévir 

Open Tuesday - Sunday 10 am - 6 pm 

The permanent collection is free, and special exhibits a few euros. 

Other exhibits you will want to add to your itinerary: 

Gertrude Stein & Picasso at the Musée du Luxembourg 

September 13 to January 28'

Musée des Arts Decoratifs 

Mode et Sport September 20 to April 7 

Iris van Herpen November 29 to April 28 

Cité de l’Architecture 

The amazing Notre Dame exhibition and display of the 16 statues from the roof will run until June 2, 2024. I’ve been telling everyone for two years not to miss this, it’s a once in a lifetime chance. 

Le Paris de Gustave Eiffel 1832-1923  jusqu’a January 8, 2024

Métro, le Grande Parisian en Mouvement  November 8 to June 1, 2024

Petit Palais 

Trésors en Noir et Blanc, Dürer, Rembrandy, Goya, Toulouse-Lautrec  until January 14, 2024

Le Paris de la Modernité November 14 to April 14, 2024

Musée Carnavalet 

The Régence in Paris 1715 - 1723. Dawn of Enlightenment October 20 - February 25, 2024 

Musée de Montmartre 

Theophile-Alexandre Steinlen (famous for his Chat Noir painting) October 13 to February 11 

Fondation Louis Vuitton 

Rothko October 18 to0 April 2, 2024 

Centre Pompidou 

Chagall at Work, Drawings, Ceramics & Sculpture October 18 to January 15, 2024

Picasso Endlessly Drawings October 4 to February 26, 2024 

Musée Rodin 

Gormley Chez Rodin October 17 to March 3, 2024 

Episode 171 - More Favorite Books - John Baxter

No one has enriched my love or knowledge of Paris more than John Baxter. The Australian who made a few stops around the world before landing in Paris has written over 40 books and he keeps on going. His books on Paris are filled with the stories of the figures that made Paris what it is today. I’m not even sure how I first came across his books, but they led me to one of his tours, and now has become a mentor and a friend. Many books on Paris are filled with half facts or at times even wrong info. John does a lot of exhausting research to make sure he has accurate info and one of the few I trust explicitly. Every single one of his books is wonderful but I will try to limit my gushing to just a handful. 

Chronicles of Old Paris is a fantastic book for those who want to learn more about the historical figures of France. From Saint-Denis to Ernest Hemingway and the Opera Garnier to Notre Dame, this book gives you a short but detailed history of some of the greatest stories of Paris.  Each chapter is complete with sites to search out in Paris tied to the subject and the back includes a few walking tours. 

The Golden Moment of Paris, a guide to the Paris of the 1920s that found the Lost Generation wandering the streets.  Paris was much more than the days described by Fitzgerald, Hem, and Gertrude Stein. Cheap living and even cheaper booze was the ideal place for Americans escaping the Prohibition years. Matisse vs. Picasso, Landru the French Bluebeard, and even the unknown woman of the Seine will become familiar to anyone who has ever taken a CPR class.

Eating Eternity Food, Art and Literature in France Food and wine go with France, well better than anything. A country that has more cheeses than days of the year, amazing wine you can get with pocket change, and let’s not even get started on the bread. One of my favorite chapters is Absinthe, the Green Fairy, the green liquor that drove Oscar Wilde mad and was captured in art over and over again. The love of food transcends far from the plate and this book is for everyone who loves a good slow meal. Read it while eating some French fromage and a glass of Vouvray Sec on a sunny day. 

A Year in Paris, Season by Season in the City of Light. Stories of Paris from each season of the year including the years when the weeks stretched to ten days. Ten-day weeks in Paris sounds great! Even holding the book is a moment to treasure. The French flaps and the deckled pages are so lovely. John’s books are fantastic any way you can get them, but even better when you can hold the pages in your hands. 

We all have our favorite corner of Paris, there is always a conversation between left bankers and the right bankers, clearly the left bank is the best. Then there is the die-hard Saint-Germain-des-Prés fans vs. the Montmartre fans. Monsieur Baxter has you all covered. Three separate books that dive deeper into the Great Parisian Neighborhoods, Saint-Germain-des-Prés, Montmartre, and Montparnasse. There is so much more to all of John’s books. These aren’t the Rick Steeves guidebooks that give you a short glance of a neighborhood hitting the highlights and moving you to the next box to check. These books give you an idea of the people that formed them. Drunken nights of the artists in Montparnasse. The Jazz Age of Saint Germain and the romantic, poor artists of Montmartre. Every one of my Baxter books is filled with bookmarks of treasures to track down and to find out even more. 

Hot off the press is John's newest book, Of Love and Paris. Given an early copy, I couldn't wait to dig into this gem. Paris is known for being the city of love because of the many great love stories fueled by ancient cobblestones.  Napoleon & Josephine, Colette & Willy, and Modigliani & Jeanne Hébuterne are just a few of the great stories, and 29 more. You will surely love it. 

He has written many more on Paris and can be found on my La Boutique page and I recommend each one. The Most Beautiful Walk in Paris is just what the grounded Paris lover needs right now. 

Another favorite Paris author is David Downie and two of his books I have read over and over many times. Paris, Paris, Journey Into the City of Light a favorite chapter is devoted to spending an entire day in the Jardin du Luxembourg can send any deprived Paris lover straight to one of the green Luxembourg chairs. 

A Passion for Paris, Romanticism, and Romance in the City of Light. One of my favorite periods in French history is the Romantic Movement. The days of Delacroix, Baudelaire, and the love triangle of Victor Hugo. The City of Love comes alive in this book and is one you will love. 

So many wonderful stories in all these books I have mentioned. As I pull them out to write this newsletter I want to read every single one of them again, gah Give me a few of those ten-day weeks. 

Episode 170 - Must Have Coffee Table Books of Paris

Another great way to help pass the time is to curl up on the couch with a café or glass of wine and jump into one of the many great coffee table books about Paris and the artists that were shaped by its historic cobblestones. Here are just a few of my favorites. 

1For the art lover who misses walking through the Musée du Louvre and the Musée d’Orsay, there are many fantastic books you need and can even help you plan a visit to one of these fantastic museums.

Painting Musée d’Orsay, released in honor of their 25th Anniversary in 2011. Filled with over 300 pages of paintings from 1840-1910 many of which moved over from the Musée du Louvre and the Musée du Luxembourg when the Orsay opened in 1986. A few of the most famous pieces also have some more detailed information that will send you straight into the painting. Beautifully laid out you can transport yourself to the 5th floor of the Orsay and straight into an intimate conversation with the Impressionists. 

For the end all be all books on the art of the Musée du Louvre, look no further than The Louvre All the Paintings by Erich Lessing and Vincent Pomarède published by the Louvre in 2011. The 750-page book of 3,022 paintings is broken out by the different schools and is easy to navigate if you are looking for something specific. The Italian, Northern, French, and Spanish Schools fill the pages. It is close to impossible to see all of the Louvre in a short period of time, so this is the perfect book for the art lover. If you are planning on going to Paris and love art but are overwhelmed by the Louvre, pick up this book and note which paintings you are dying to see in Paris. Many of the locations are noted on each painting but these things change, especially in the past ten years. If you get this book and are dying to see something specific, let me know and I can help you find it.  The book also comes with a CD-ROM with many of the paintings and info. 

For more of the French school from the Medieval era all the way to contemporary art, Charles F. Stuckey’s French Painting is a wonderful book that pulls many of the museums of Paris into one. Each chapter is complete with a description of the period and the paintings on the following pages. A great book for anyone looking for a broader description of French paintings. 

There are many artist-specific books and Daniel Wildenstein’s Monet or The Triumph of Impressionism is beautifully put together. A larger and heavy book, it is also filled with the life of Monet told chronologically and filled with photos and his paintings. It’s an incredible reference book for anything you would ever want to know about the great French painter. 

Le Grand Véfour is one of the oldest restaurants in Paris and nestled into the Palais Royal. Chef Guy Martin put together a gorgeous cookbook that is also filled with the history of the restaurant and photos of the historic interior where Napoleon proposed to Josephine and Colette was carried in on a chair. 

If photographs are more your thing, Paris, Portrait of a City by Jean Vlaude Gautrand covers Paris from 1830 to 2011. Photos of famous photographers like Willy Ronis and Robert Doisneau are mixed with candid photos of the people who have called Paris home for almost two hundred years. The cover has changed in the new version, but it is still the same fascinating book. 

If you want to get even deeper into the architecture of Paris, One Thousand Buildings of Paris by Kathy Borrus and photos by Jorg Brockmann and James Driscoll. With photos of 1000 buildings and a short description and history of each, it's a true gem for the architectural fan. 

Check out all of these books and more in my boutique at ClaudineHemingway.com