Napoleonic art crimes A new book, Plunder: Napoleon’s Theft of Veronese’s Feast, by Cynthia Saltzman, describes how Veronese’s masterpiece The Wedding Feast at Cana came to hang (legally) in the Louvre. (Artnews) More on Napoleon’s looting of European art to … Read More
The Oyster Women of Cancale In Cancale, Britanny, famed for its delectable oysters, the local women proved their mettle as both workers and managers while the men were off cod fishing in the New World. (Atlas Obscura) Travel in France … Read More
Paris from above A new book by photographer Jeffrey Millstein, Paris from the Air (Rizzoli), shows a flat-earth view of the city. (CNN) Pandemic news The Paris fashion world is grieving the loss of designer Alber Elbaz to Covid at … Read More
Grandiose eco-friendly development French starchitect Jean Nouvel has designed something entirely new for Gennevilliers, a suburb of Paris: Jeuneville, a huge, multicolored development that will encompass residences, startup offices, shops, sports and leisure facilities, and parks. (New Atlas) Call my … Read More
Unsightly Paris Paris Update published a report on ugly street furniture a couple of weeks ago, and since then there has been a spate of articles on the subject in the French press. Unfortunately, the state of the streets is … Read More
Why the Louvre rejected the Salvator Mundi There was an empty space on the well of the Louvre’s recent Leonardo da Vinci retrospective where the recently discovered painting, purchased by the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman, for … Read More
A wealth of online art It’s not the same as seeing them in person, but it’s all we’ve got right now. The Louvre has put every one of its 480,000 artworks online, including those in the reserves. (CNN) French family … Read More
Top architecture prize goes to French firm In a victory for sustainability, this year’s prestigious Pritzker Prize for architecture has been awarded to Lacaton & Vassal, whose motto is “Never demolish, never remove or replace, always add, transform, and reuse!” … Read More
Césars 2021 winners The French version of the Oscars had a tumultuous awards ceremony this year, complete with nudity, fake blood and plenty of political commentaries. Variety offers a rundown of the winners here and an analysis of the state … Read More
Van Gogh on the block It’s a rare thing when a painting by Vincent Van Gogh comes on the market. “Street Scene in Montmartre” (above) will go on sale at Sotheby’s Paris on March 25, but before then will be … Read More
