Emile Guimet, the founder of Musée National des Arts Asiatiques, was born in Lyon, in 1838, the son of a chemist who invented a special ultramarine blue. His family’s wealth enabled him to travel extensively, first to Egypt in the 1860’s, then for ten months around America and Asia with an artist, Félix Régamey , a friend of Verlaine and Rimbaud, … Read More
Alfred de Montesquiou takes us on a dream adventure
Alfred de Montesquiou, already a veteran journalist at 39, has covered wars in the Middle East for Associated Press and Paris Match and was awarded the prestigious Prix Albert Londres for his covering of the Arab Spring revolts. He has been commissioned by Arte, the French German television channel, to do a series on the Silk Road which is being … Read More
Fondation Jacques Chirac draws the best
As usual, Emmanuel Macron was fifteen minutes late, but then he is the President of the Republic and everyone got up to applaud him when he entered the théâtre Levi- Strauss at Musée du Quai Branly. The occasion was the Prize giving ceremony for President Chirac’s foundation to two Middle Eastern associations who work for peace, one in Turkey and … Read More
Happy Thanksgiving!
It is not so easy to prepare Thanksgiving in Paris because French turkeys are only ready for Christmas! But thanks to a few American shops, we will manage… I wish you all a lovely holiday and hope your turkey will be as good as ours.
The Netherlands are full of surprises
Vermeer, The Long girl with the pearl
When I have two close friends who live in the same city, I consider it a sign from heaven and I have to go and visit. So my trip to the Hague was decided and it took a fabulous turn that I did not expect. Marc de Brichambaut, a judge at the International Criminal court, suggested we discover Rotterdam, the … Read More
Chantilly at its grandest
It was a very International affair but also a privileged family moment which took place at Château de Chantilly on Prince Amyn Aga Khan’s 80 th birthday and all guests were mesmerized by the beauty of the castle which houses the largest collection of paintings in France besides the Louvre.
Jean Bissonnet, a young butcher who went very far
The theme of the evening at Club de la Chasse et de la Nature, was the crowning of a very long working life, that of Jean Bissonnet, who started as a young butcher in Paris at 18 and is now, at 87, at the head of an empire of real estate, butcher shops and a shooting paradise near Orléans, called … Read More
A perfect wedding, seven years in the making!
It took seven years to prepare and was therefore a perfect wedding in the most traditional French way with a religious blessing in the medieval church of Echillais, Charente Maritime. Aude Moriani and Alexander Shea were married by Father Gérard Bénéteau, from the Oratorian order, and dinner was served at La Limoise, the family home, often visited by writer Pierre Loti in … Read More