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Sculptor and painter Véronique Anne Chabrolle, a.k.a VeroDalla, was born in Burgundy, France. Her life centered around success in the world of gastronomy until an encounter with a poppy flower changed her existence forever. The poppy called VeroDalla to pursue art. Her experience returning from the brink of death, during childhood, heavily influenced her artistic practice and mission. Her unique work examines what society’s social restrictions repress in humans’ emotional ability and expression. Her work probes the viewer to question their life when they meet themselves in VeroDalla’s figures. Her sculptures awaken the individual and reconnect them with their inner self. VeroDalla plans to continue uncovering the infinite possibilities of human potential by bridging together past and future to create and transmit in multiple dimensions. She is currently working on a large-scale version of the LivenluLu series that made her so popular. Her work lives in public and private collections, featuring clients from more than 30 countries, bringing people together one piece at a time. Verodalla currently lives in Manhattan. www.verodalla.com

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Out today, another story of one of the amazing women in French history. Victorine Meurent was born in Paris on February 18. 1844 and from an early age she was drawn to art. In 1862 Edouard Manet walked into Thomas Couture’s studio and met a young girl. On this one day, Victorine-Louis Meurent was in Couture’s studio when Manet arrived. She was just 16, with red hair and nicknamed La Crevette and would go on to become the muse for some of the biggest artists at that time. He would paint her for the first time in The Street Singer, with her piercing eyes that we would come to know so well in two of his most famous and controversial paintings.  Victorine would sit for him 8 or 9 times. 

Many may know her name because of one fantastic painting, Olympia. The painting that rocked the Salon of 1863 with its suggestive subject of the courtesan laying naked on her bed while her servant brings her flowers from one of her admirers. Given the name Olympia, a name associated with prostitutes and the many small elements that hint at her wealth, many of which transferred over to the model herself. Victorine was nothing close to the woman in the painting, Born to a well established artistic family she would become an artist herself and present her work at the Salon in 1870. 

However it is her Manet paintings that we know so well. Now the other most famous painting may or may not even be her. In 1862 when Manet painted Le Déjeuner sur l'Herbe, another painting that would shock the art world he may have used her as the model, but it is more likely that he used his lover Suzanne Leenhoff. However at the end he would use the face of Victorine to conceal the woman he was in a secret relationship with.

She would sit for him a last time in 1873  for The Railway before they parted ways. Through her own art classes she preferred the academic style and Manet never liked being defined by any style. 

Sadly only two of her paintings remain at the museum in Colombes. Other than Berthe Morisot and Suzanne Valadon, , Victorine is a beautiful face we know so well from the brush of Manet. 

https://www.claudinehemingway.com/paris-history-avec-a-hemingway-podcast-1

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Formally living in London, Janine Marsh decided to take a weekend trip to France to buy some wine, which turned into her buying a farm instead. She started a website to share her adventures called, The Good Life France which has now grown to be one of the biggest travel websites in the world. She has also written several books about her French journey! Listen to her crazy story here. And checkout her wonderful website and books here https://www.thegoodlifefrance.com/

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Welcome back to this week's episode of Paris History Avec a Hemingway. I chat once more with Claudine Hemingway about a Female French Creative from history. Today we learn all about Dalida. I like to compare Dalida to Cher in America.

Lolanda “Dalida”  Gigliotti was born in Egypt to Italian parents in 1933.  The young beauty would be named Miss Egypt in 1954 and a few months after she headed to Paris. Dalida, one of the biggest international stars at a young age, was in awe of Rita Hayworth when she saw her in her iconic role Gilda. With the help of radio host Lucien Morisse her songs began to play on the radio and in a few short years she had her first big hit, Bambino. Before long she was performing on the Olympia stage with Charles Anzavour. Recording songs in French, German, Italian, Spanish she would tour the world for decades. The major star of the stage, known for her amazing outfits was barely known in the United States, turning down major contracts. Her tragic love life on the other hand left her broken and depressed with one partner after another killing themselves. Sadly her own life would end in her Montmartre home when she couldn’t take it anymore. On May 3, 1987 she would overdose on pills washed down with whisky. 

Today she is remembered with a bust in the Place Dalida at the base of the winding road in the shadow of Sacre Coeur. Created in 1997 on the ten year anniversary of her death by Alain Aslan, it is customary to give her a little rub for good luck. Aslan also created the life size statue for her grave in the Montmartre cemetery, with a gold sun as a halo behind her, also evoking an Egyptian tomb of a queen.  To visit her home, follow the small Rue d’Orchcampt  and just as the road bends look up to the white house with its wonderful windows. 

I first became fascinated by Dalida after seeing an exhibition at the Palais Galliera of her years of costumes. From the young girl and her sweet dresses to the international star in all her glitz and glamour.

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Today I spoke with famed professional cook and author David Lebovitz on how he uses creativity in his cooking and writing. He has written 9 books to date and most recently he has been going LIVE on social media to connect with others and share his passion for creating including his French cocktails in his latest book. Listen how he describes what he does to deal with online trolls and his take on why so many creatives are attracted to France.

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In episode four in our series of Marie Antoinette we are in the final moments of her life. Convicted and sentenced to death they didn’t give her much time. In the early hours of the morning she wrote a long letter to her sister in law Madame Elisabeth asking her to look after her children. The letter would never be delivered. At 8am on October 16, 1793 a priest arrived at her cell followed by the executioner, Samson. She was dressed in a simple white dress from her dressmaker Rose Bertin and her best black satin shoes. Samson cut her hair short, tied her hands behind her with a rope and led her up the stairs to a cart in the courtyard of the court house. Her husband Louis XVI was taken in a carriage, but Marie Antoinette sat in an open cart, seated next to the priest. Arriving at the Place de la Revolution, she walked up the scaffolding and stepped on the executioner's foot. Her last words were “I am sorry sir, I did not mean to put it there”. At 12:15pm on October 16, 1793 the blade fell and her life was over. Her body and her head were placed in a coffin and tossed into the Madeleine cemetery. The Dauphin of France, Louis XVI would die in jail as her daughter Marie-Thérèse Charlotte was in the cell below him.  Her uncle Louis XVIII was now in exile and Madame Royale as she was known followed him around Europe while her husband was away. In 1814 during the Restoration she was finally allowed to return to France. As soon as she arrived she asked to be taken to her parents graves. A kindly neighbor watched over their spot they tossed her parents in and when Louis XVIII arrived he let them know where they were. The next year Louis XVIII ordered the construction of the Chapelle Expiatoire to be built on the site. Marie-Thérèse would visit every day and would personally pay for two statues of her parents. Marie-Thérèse traveled all over France as Madame Royale even when her uncle Louis XVIII fled to Belgium.   Leaving for Italy with Charles X and her husband they settled into a quiet life. As for the Duchess de Berry, now a widow she traveled to France to try to gather some favor for Charles X.  Fleeing arrest she hid in a fireplace and was discovered when her dress caught on fire and her screams could be heard. She was also pregnant and unwed and ousted from the Bourbon family. Her children were sent to live with Marie-Thérèse who spent her time educating them on the principles of the ancient regime. She and her husband had a wonderful marriage but never any children of their own. He would die in 1844 at the age of 64. On October 16, 1851 on the 58th anniversary of her mother's death after attending mass she returned to her bed and died three days later. According to her wishes she was buried with her husband and her uncle in the small monastery of Nova Gorica laying on a slab of French stone. 

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Born in Nigeria and raised in Texas, Ajiri, spent 10 years working in New York City in the fashion industry for companies including W Magazine. 

In 2015 she became a New York Times Bestselling author with a book revolving around the fashion world and Karl Lagerfeld titled “Where’s Karl?: A fashion forward parody”. 

She now runs a Paris based company called Madame de la Maison which specializes in selling vintage antiques, linens, and beautiful French inspired table designs for all your events! 

Listen as we dive deep into her struggles and journey into creating.

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On June 4th upon the death of their son, they were not able to be with him when he died or attend his funeral at the Basilique Saint Denis due to the optics of spending more of the state's money. 

On October 1 and 3, two large parties were held for the king's guards and the Flanders Regiments. While the people of Paris were starving and unable to get bread, a lavish dinner at Versailles was the final straw. Before dawn on October 5, a large group met in front of the Hotel de Ville. Breaking in and stealing more than 600 weapons a group largely made up of women took off from Paris. In the pouring rain for over 5 hours they walked in the mud arriving at Versailles. Demanding to be let into the National Assembly their spokesperson Stanislas Maillard read their demands of wheat, floor and to stop blocking the route into Paris. They agreed and took it to Louis XVI to sign. The king agreed and we could be done with this story, but we know it ends differently. 

Overnight the crowd gathered outside grew restless, the guards pushed back. The crowd rushed the palace, killing the queens guards and calling out her name. The royal family would agree to go with the crowd back to Paris. Moved to the Palais des Tuileries where they can be watched closely. Things went along for two years until June 20, 1791 when they decided to escape. The Flight to Varennes, the escape to freedom would begin with one delay after another and end with their return to Paris. After being recognized from a coin with the image of Louis XVI in the small town of Viels-Maisons. On June 22 they would return to the Tuileries, this time closely watched. 

On August 10, 1792 the Tuileries were stormed, the Swiss guards were killed and the royal family sent running for their life through the garden. Arriving at the National Assembly, the king was given wine and treated like a king. Marie and her children were put into a small locked room. That night as they ran, the monarchy slipped through their fingers. The next day they were sent to the Temple prison and in a few short months the king would be killed. 

On January 21, 1793 with the sounds of canons in the distance Marie Antoinette, her sister in law and their two children knew their dad was dead. 

In the summer her children would be taken from her, Marie would be taken to the “antechamber of death” the  Conciergerie in August. After a failed attempt to break her out, she was moved to a tighter cell. In October in a sham of a trial, she was convicted and sentenced to death. The next morning she was taken on a cart through the city of Paris and to her death in the Place de la Revolution, today's Place de la Concorde. 

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In 2012 Laura Bradbury was diagnosed with a rare disease that almost took her life. Feeling that she had little time left on the planet to get her words out she sprung into action and finished her first book “My Grape Escape” which would become the first of a 5 part best selling series all based on her life in France. ⁠
Today she is a best selling author and has taken the self publishing world by storm. ⁠
⁠

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The marriage bed to a necklace that brought down a queen  When we left off in last week's podcast episode, part une of Marie Antoinette she had just married Louis XVI and became the Dauphine of France. Just 14 years old, embarking on a life and the future queen of France with a tragic end we know so well. On the night of May 16, following a long day of ceremony and parties the young couple took to their bed. The bed was blessed by the Archbishop while members of the court watched, closing the curtain the two were left somewhat alone. However, nothing would happen, nothing would happen for seven years. The issues in the bedroom was the talk of France and even past its borders. How can the now king rule from the throne if he couldn’t even give the country an heir. Marie Antoinette’s mother was also quite concerned and let her know what her important role was. During this time to avoid the constant rejection of her husband she turned to friends, parties, all night gambling. The rumors began to turn to her and how she spent her time. Finally after seven long years the marriage was consummated and the next year their first child was born. The talk of the spending of the court while the coffers were empty was picking up momentum in France. Marie Antoinette’s shopping for dresses, shoes and jewelry didn’t play out well when people were starving. She became the perfect unknowing victim of a plot that would be her downfall. Jeanne de la Motte would use this to her advantage. In 1772 King Louis XV wanted to have a necklace made for his mistress Madame du Barry and asked jewelers Boehmer & Bassange to create a lavish gift. Taking years to gather the more than 600 diamonds needed, Louis XV would die before it was finished. Left with a very expensive necklace on their hands without being paid they reached out to Louis XVI thinking he would want to buy it for his queen. With a very high price tag, the queen refused telling her husband “we have more need of 24 ships”. However, it could also be that she never liked Du Barry and didn’t want to have anything intended for her. Once word had spread throughout Paris, the jewelers reached out to Jeanne in hopes to appeal to Marie Antoinette and to buy the necklace.  Jeanne told Rohan that the Queen wanted the necklace but needed someone to get it for her. Jeanne forged a letter and a purchase order for the necklace and he took it to Boehmer. Handing over the necklace to Rohan, he then took it to meet Jeanne and what he thought was one of the Queen’s valets. It was Jeanne’s husband who promptly took the necklace, broke it apart and sent the jewels around Europe to be sold. Months went by and when Boehmer still hadn’t been paid he went to the court with the order signed by the Queen. She had never seen it before. Rohan was arrested in the Hall of Mirrors, would go on trial and be found innocent. Jeanne de la Motte would also be arrested, sentenced to prison but would break out one day dressed as a boy and flee to London.. The Affair of the Diamond Necklace led to her final fall that was to come in just a few years. Today that necklace would be worth over $15 million dollars and held 2800 carats and 685 diamonds. When I saw a replica at the exhibit at the Conciergerie I gasped, but then again I love an over the statement piece.

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