Empress Eugénie as Marie Antoinette (Colorized)

Eugénie de Montijo, or Empress Eugénie, was fascinated by Marie Antoinette. Eugénie was an avid collector of memorabilia related to the late queen, which included books (she was said to particularly enjoy the works of G. Lenotre) as well as furniture and personal items belonging to Marie Antoinette. 

Eugénie also sought to bring back an interpretation of Louis XVI-era fashion (more on that in a later post!)--and she, unsurprisingly, chose Marie Antoinette as the figure of choice for a themed costume ball held at the Tuileries during her tenure as empress.

The below photograph of Eugénie dressed as Marie Antoinette has been colorized using DeOldify, an open source deep learning model which can add color to greyscale images and videos.

A colorized photograph of Empress Eugénie, dressed as Marie Antoinette for a costume ball.

 

Camille Clifford in 18th-Century Inspired Style

Camille Clifford (1885-1971) is best known for her work as a model for "Gibson Girl" illustrations, though she did plenty of stage work during her career as well. It's highly likely that her stage work was the source for these delightful cards featuring Clifford in an 18th-century inspired costume. Wikimedia dates another image in this series to 1907 and describes it as Clifford dressed as Madame de Pompadour; in 1906, Clifford was part of the musical The Belle of Mayfair, which included a harlequinade sequence that Footlight Notes describes as featuring Camille Clifford as "La Pompadour."

 

[source: unknown]

 [source: unknown] 

[source: cardsandclowns]

More Autochromes of Life at Versailles by Jules Gervais-Courtellemont

I am in love with the soft, dreamy quality of Jules Gervais-Courtellemont's autochromes of costumed actors at Versailles. I was fortunate enough to find some vintage prints of these autochromes, so I am sharing a few more that weren't in my previous posts, or were only there with watermarks from other websites.

 credit: Jules Gervais-Courtellemont, scanned from my collection 

 credit: Jules Gervais-Courtellemont, scanned from my collection 

 credit: Jules Gervais-Courtellemont, scanned from my collection 

credit: Jules Gervais-Courtellemont, scanned from my collection

Quick Treasure: Another Versailles Autochrome by Jules-Gervais Courtellemont

I've really fallen in love with these romantic autochromes of players/actors at Versailles, taken by Jules-Gervais Courtellemont. This next scan is of a print made from an autochrome, but is still lovely nonetheless.

 

image: players reenact life at the Temple of Love

credit: my collection

Quick Treasure: An Afternoon at the Trianon

There's something special about vintage photographs of people, whether it's someone's personal family pictures or a photograph eventually used en masse for postcards like the image below. A simple photograph can bring about a thousand questions--most of them unanswerable and yet still fun to think about.

This particular postcard of the chateau at the Petit Trianon depicts a woman gazing at the fountains below, along with a smaller group of people walking in the background. Who is the woman in the foreground? Why was she visiting Versailles that day? Was she alone? Or did she come with friends? Did she visit for the history or just to go along with the recommendations of friends or family?

Perhaps she was visiting the palace with a few companions, but became bored of the gilded palace or her compatriots, and decided to stroll to the Petit Trianon on her own, looking for fresher air and peace of mind. Maybe the moment captured forever by this unknown photographer was a moment of quiet reflection at the end of a tiring afternoon filled with gossip or petty chatter.

Or maybe not. But it's always nice to imagine!

credit: my collection

Even More Jules Gervais-Courtellemont Autochromes of Life at Versailles

Earlier this summer, I posted a small collection of Jules Gervais-Courtellemont autochromes/autochrome prints of "life at Versailles," as portrayed by 1920s re-enactment players. Since then, I've been lucky enough to add to my small collection of prints made from Courtellemont's autochromes!

I can't get enough of the nostalgic, almost whimsical feeling they inspire. They are like romantic snapshots of a moment forever frozen in time... two companions taking a stroll through the gardens, a noblewoman making her entrance into the Hall of Mirrors--the queen herself,  lost in the tranquility of her hamlet.

  

Players at the Fountains of Versailles

credit: my collection

 

Players in the Hall of Mirrors

credit: my collection

 

Player at the hamlet of Marie Antoinette

credit: my collection

'There was none so haunted as Trianon...'

 

image credit: gallica.bnf.fr 

"Thérèse had lived in many places, but there was none so haunted as Trianon, or as vibrant with memory. Its haunting was a wistful and compelling call to linger, as if the murmuring poplars and cedars entreated one to stay forever. The soul seemed drawn into an enchanted realm where time itself dallied. She breathed in the scented air. No one would ever live there for long in peace; no one could ever again make it a dwelling place, for the person who had enlivened Trianon with her own spontaneous magic was gone from the world. Trianon was no longer a home, but a tangible dream of lost happiness."

—Madame Royale by Elena Maria Vidal

This quote from Madame Royale is one that I think about a lot--it's one of those passages that really sticks to your mind long after you've finished the book. I was browsing through some vintage photographs of the Trianon and the image, of two women walking through the hamlet, immediately reminded me of this quote.

Are there any book quotes about Marie Antoinette, or the Trianon, that stick out for you? 

Jules Gervais-Courtellemont's autochromes of life at Versailles

Jules Gervais-Courtellemont (1863-1931) was a French photographer who is most well known for his color autochromes of World War I, which were so popular that Courtellemont had them published in a 12 volume series. In addition to his photography of the battlefield, Courtellemont also took many photographs of scenes of homes, landscapes and people. His composition style, especially when taking photographs of people, was often intimate but deliberately artistic. Courtellemont loved using symbolism, such as ensuring that certain colors or people were distanced or contrasted with others, to create an appearance of structured--and yet realistic--life.

My favorite Courtellemont autochromes are, perhaps not surprisingly, his photographs of some historical players at Versailles, taken in 1925. Unfortunately, I've only been able to find a few of these stunning autochromes without watermarks, but I hope the beauty of these photographs still shines through.

 

Players Portray Life at the Queen’s Hamlet 

image credit: my collection

 

Actors in Period Costumes Perform Among the Flowerbeds of Versailles
image credit: allposters

 

Players Reenact Life at the Queen's Hamlet

image credit: fine art america

 

Costumed Actors Look Toward the Chateau of Versailles from the Garden

image credit: allposters

 

Blindman's Bluff as played in the time of Marie Antoinette

image credit: ebay

 

Players Sit in Gardens Outside Thatched Cottages in the Petit Trianon

image credit: allposters

 

Players at the Temple of Love

image credit: art.com