9
City & Village Tours: 0208 692 1133
school, the French consulate and the French cultural
institute in the South Kensington French Quarter. We’ll
see this during the morning and unless you opt to include
a two-course Anglo-French pub lunch we’ll stop in the
French Quarter for free time to buy lunch.
Did fashion and style feature on your list of things that
you associate with the French? The French just have that
certain
Je Ne Sais Quoi!
The idea of the French as well
dressed and rather glamorous is as pervasive as the old
idea of the French beret and the stripy jersey! The latter
apparently coming from the maritime tradition, stripes
making it easier to spot sailors who’d fallen overboard.
In nineteenth century England the
French Style
was the
height of fashion for interior decoration. It represented
glamour and luxury and dominated commercial suppliers
from about 1835 to 1880. French Style was a revival of the
lavish styles established by the trend setting French kings
who had reigned from 1660 to 1790. The various styles
were identified by the names of the French Kings who ruled
when the styles were first used. The Sun King Louis XIV,
pictured left (King from 1643-1715, Louis Quatorze style,
moving from the Baroque to the Classical) through Louis
XV (King from 1715-1774, Louis Quinze, Rococo,
Madame de Pompadour) to Louis XVI (King 1774-1792,
Louis Seize, Late Rococo to early Neoclassicism, Marie
Antoinette). The taste for French Style was fuelled after
the French Revolution of 1789 when French art, including
many objects from the Palace of Versailles, arrived at the
London auction houses.
The collectors were, of course, the wealthiest people in
the country and the treasures of pre-Revolutionary France
disappeared into the stately homes of England. Some forty
years after the French Revolution the influence of French
art and design had trickled down into the commercial world
and began to influence manufacture and taste. French Style
as seen in England from about 1835 to 1880 meant boldly
coloured carpets, rich gold gilding, curves and scrolls and
really elaborate upholstery festooned with swags, braids and
tassels. Think George IV, Minton & Co, Baron Rothschild’s
Waddesdon Manor and Benjamin Dean Wyatt (son of
architect James
The Destroyer
Wyatt) who designed the
Waterloo Gallery at Apsley House. The aim was to
recreate the grandeur of the pre-Revolutionary French
court and in particular the Palace of Versailles.
On the
All Our Waterloos
tour following a morning
exploring 1000 years of argy-bargy with the French and
seeing the modern French Quarter one afternoon option is
Je Ne Sais Quoi
- a guided tour of the Europe Galleries
at The V&A. Opening later this year following a £15m
restoration the new galleries contain some of museum’s
very best exhibits including three period rooms. We’ll
divide your party into two halves. Each member of your
group will enjoy a guided tour of the Europe Galleries,
by way of an erudite, entertaining masterclass in the art
and design of the pre-Revolutionary French Court, after
which you’ll be able to confidently distinguish your
Baroque from your Rococo and your Louis Quatorze
from your Louis Quinze. Each member will also have
time to visit The British Galleries to see how these eras
influenced British art and design resulting in the
French
Style
of the 19th century. There will be time to buy
refreshments in the museum before leaving to head home
at 4.45pm ready to impress yourselves, your friends and
families on all subsequent visits to stately homes and
home viewings of the Antique Roadshow.
The V&A Europe Galleries are scheduled to open in
November 2015 (a year late). To play safe we are
therefore accepting bookings from January 2016.
This is an ideal winter trip for DFAS, National Trust,
U3A and other lifelong learning groups.
Adults & Seniors: £12.00 until 31/3/15
And Daily throughout 2016 from 1/4/16 for £12.50.
You can also include a 2-course lunch of roast beef,
brioche & croissant bread and butter pudding laced
with French Brandy and served with Crème Anglais.
Tour including this lunch is Adults & Seniors: £28.00
(price valid to 31/3/16) Walking throughout the day
won’t exceed 400 yards and the coach mileage is 15.
