"Le Père la chaise" verdict ... Guilty!

No real surprises there!  But one suspects he has got away quite lightly....

The furniture fraud who hoodwinked Versailles....

 After nine years  of investigation, the verdict in the infamous fake chairs trial is to be delivered on Wednesday!  In the meantime, here is a good summary article in English from the BBC News website. 

Darrin McMahon on Equality

The Voltaire Foundation blog publishes a post by Darrin McMahon on the concept of Equality in  Enlightenment thought,  based on a lecture given on April 5, 2025 at the Oxford Literary Festival, sponsored by the Voltaire Foundation.

Napoleon's sword auctioned

On 22nd May a sabre which belonged to Napoleon was sold by Giquello in Paris for the huge sum of €4.6 million of €700,000–€1 million.  

Robert Darnton on The Writer's Lot

Robert Darnton's latest book The Writer's Lot: Culture and Revolution in Eighteenth-Century France (Harvard U.P.) is to be published on 30th May.

The Choiseul snuffbox - unpacked

A lecture by American historian Meredith Martin, posted on Youtube on 12th May, explores  wider themes suggested by the "Choiseul Snuffbox" (acquired by the Louvre in 2023).

À la table de Voltaire (Exhibition)

 The exhibition  "À la table de Voltaire" runs at the Château de Voltaire at Ferney, from 8th May 2025 to 4th January 2026.

The Martyrs of Orange

 On 11th May Avignon's Archbishop François Fonlupt and neighboring bishops will mark the 100th anniversary of the beatification of the Martyrs of Orange — 32 religious sisters guillotined in July 1794  for refusing to renounce their faith.

Napoleon letter auctioned

 A hand-written letter from Napoleon denying his role in the kidnapping of Pope Pius VII in 1809 was sold by Osenat on 27th April for €26,360.

New Biography of Maria-Theresa

Richard Bassett's Maria Theresa Empress: The Making of the Austrian Enlightenment is published by Yale University Press is on 25th February.

Maisons de plaisance (exhibition)

 The exhibition "Pleasure houses in the Parisian countryside from Louis XIV to Napoleon III" runs at the  Museum of the Royal Domain of Marly, from 11th April to 31st August.  

Artists and Models - BBC vintage docu-drama

BBC4 is currently repeating the classic 1986 series Artists and Models, directed by Leslie Megahey, which dramatises the careers of David, Ingres and Gericault.