
Napoleon: Hero or Tyrant?
The French still cannot agree on whether Napoleon was a hero or a tyrant. In a 2010 opinion poll, French people were …

The French still cannot agree on whether Napoleon was a hero or a tyrant. In a 2010 opinion poll, French people were …

It was the year 1828. In the little English village of Polstead in Suffolk, Mrs. Marten was having a bad dream. A …

Beautiful places, beautiful people, beautiful clothes—Francois Flameng loved to paint them all. Born in an art studio in …

Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, was a French aristocrat and military officer. To many of us, he is simply the …

The Grim Reaper made frequent visits to colonial Boston. Disease and the difficulties of childbirth sent many men, …

King Louis XIV was so proud of Versailles that he would often give tours to visiting dignitaries himself and even wrote …

Sir Joshua Reynolds Sir Joshua Reynolds RA FRS FRSA (1723 – 1792) was an influential eighteenth-century English portrait …

Born a small sickly baby, the son of a Rector in Norfolk, England, Nelson would go on to become the greatest British …

We all know, love, and remember the Lady Diana Spencer whose wedding in 1981 was watched by an estimated 750 million …

Born in Cambridgeshire in 1733 to Irish parents, Maria Gunning was the eldest of seven children. Her father, John …

Today, furniture fills our living and working spaces. It makes a statement about our taste for practicality and …

Despite a turbulent century of changing taste and technology, Sèvres Manufatory in the suburbs of Paris remained at the …

In the 1995 BBC rendition of Pride and Prejudice, Colin Firth's portrayal of Mr. Darcy includes a notable cream linen …

Perhaps no painter captures the romance of the English Regency better than Edmund Blair Leighton. Just as we, today, are …

The Regency (1795–1837) was a period when King George III of England was deemed unfit to rule and his son, the Prince of …

1. Chinoiserie was once the most coveted fashion of the aristocracy During the 17th and 18th centuries, Europeans became …

Today's designer handbags have a long and storied history. Early Europeans used handbags just as we do today—to store …

On August 1, 1714, Queen Anne of Great Britain drew her last breath, and the first of a series of Georges ascended to …

The year was 1775. Some very strange events had been observed at an elegant white mansion in Birmingham, England. In the …

Adorned with decadent decorative arts and steeped in affectation, it's no surprise that the French Court led European …

This is the story of how a series of exquisite handmade dolls, representing the history of French haute couture made …

Portrait miniatures were popular among 16th-century English and French aristocrats. Spreading across Europe in the 18th …

The challenge with historical drama for Hollywood movie studios is to make it appealing to a mass audience. Too much …

French artist Auguste Toulmouche (1829 - 1890) loved to tell stories. But instead of putting quill to paper, he put …

How could we begin without first mentioning the granddaddy of all ceiling frescoes that influenced so many others that …

Does a tiny Australian island in the South Pacific with evergreen pines, jagged cliffs, pure blue waters, and sandy …

The stories from history are all around us. Take this image of a snuffbox from Russia for example. It is part of the …

Mr Darcy is the quintessential British romantic hero and one of two central characters in Jane Austen's late-regency …

Today, the term "lady" is often used as a civil term of respect for a woman, as is "gentleman" for a man. But there was …

In 1839, a blue diamond weighing over forty-five carats appeared in the collection catalogue of London banker and …

Napoleon Bonaparte on Board the 'Bellerophon' in Plymouth Sound by Sir Charles Lock Eastlake, RA, 1815 It was early …

A story of joy and tragedy in an age of revolution. Louise Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun (1755 – 1842), also known as Madame …

In 1785, pirates off the Barbary Coast (what is now Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya), were seizing American …
