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Hotel de Sully, January Paris letter
If one is going to eat scallops for 5 days straight (after my haul at the Fete de St.-Jacques on Sunday) one is going to paint them. The watercolors are up on Etsy.
Here's an easy trick to painting beautiful scallop shells. A shell is required. Simply trace around the edge with a pencil and voila! You've got the basic shape down on your paper. Then color in.
The scallop shell adorns 17th and 18th centure architecture like mad. And rightly so. Its the perfect filler for a triangular shape like here.
Or on top of a portrait and gold-leafed = perfection and elegance.
Last Sunday I did the 90-minute tour (10€ in French only) of the apartment of la Duchesse Charlotte, Hotel de Sully. 62, rue Saint-Antoine, 75004 in the Marais. If you've gotten out at metro St.Paul you've passed Hotel de Sully and forgot to notice. Next time do enter the courtyard and walk through to Place de Vosges.
First we got an introductory historical background in the conference room.
My French not being up to snuff...I drew out the window...just like in grade school :)
On to la Duchesse Charlotte's boudoir.
I was dying to give her mattress a good squeeze...
Too many mornings I tear out to the post office with barely a glance in the mirror. Now if I had this dressing table...
La Duchesse was a mad collector of Chinoiserie.
Naturally I found lurking behind the Chinese vases the perfect golden scallop to paint. I was longing to move them a bit for a better view, but thought better of it.
Look out the windows in the apartment - a divine view of the gardens. Place des Vosges is just beyond.
Downstairs in the Hotel de Sully bookshop I bought a nice English guide to catch up on all I'd missed.
The January Shakespeare and Co. Paris painted letter went this Monday!
I love my visits to Paris with you Carol....Beautiful as always!
ReplyDeleteI always enjoy your art. Scallops are very paintable with their plethora of lovely curves. There is something quite luxurious about them.
ReplyDeleteLoved the segue from coquilles to coquilles.
ReplyDeleteAlso, your picture "out the window" cracked me up - like in grade school.
What fun to mix the scallops with the duchesse's quarters. Did the proper French with you on the tour examine the antiques? I was on a tour once where a very well-dressed couple in their 50s were on their hands and knees to see the underside of an antique table. Cracked me up.
ReplyDeleteNo antique experts on oard or at least no one on their hands and knees. A selfie in that grad bed appeals though ;))
DeleteSo much history wherever you go in Paris. I love the January letter. I have learned so much from your postings. Thank you Carol.
ReplyDeleteJust ordered this January letter flat. I can see it in a cloche creating a diarama. Cannot wait.
ReplyDeleteI simply loved EVERYTHING about this post!! Pop over to Etsy guys the masterpieces are in the shop!! They are amazing!
ReplyDeleteLove your scallop shells. They are the symbols of baptism and were considered important symbols in pilgrimages.
ReplyDeleteTo me they are the beautiful symbol of good eats in the winter!!
Deletetoday I received my packet with the bookstore pictures!
ReplyDeleteIt's lovely
oysters & the hôtel de sully--what riches u send u
ReplyDeleteCarol I love the Hotel Sully and the bookstore enjoy you highlighting it LL
ReplyDeleteMore Sully!
ReplyDeleteShakespeare and Co looks wonderful. It is a favorite of mine when in Paris!!
ReplyDeleteThanks Beverly!
DeleteIf you take a look on Etsy I added lots of Paris photos to each individual map and letter, including Shakespeare and Co.
A little vicarious tour around Paris.
http://www.etsy.com/shop/ParisBreakfast
Love my bookstore map and bookmark - that was such a clever idea.
ReplyDeleteCarol the Scallop shell is a powerful Christian symbol of the Pilgrim, especially in the Middle Ages but to this day for the Pilgrimage to Santiago de Campostilla. A symbol of Christ for the seeker on the Emmaus Road.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Carol, for the recent posts about scallops, so delicious, and their graceful shells. Both are favorites of mine.
ReplyDeleteDid you know that the scallop shell has been the symbol for the pilgrimage to Compostela for centuries? If you google Camino de Santiago Wikipedia has a fine article that includes a paragraph about the symbolism of the scallop shell. Even the shell's ridges have meaning.
Very interestingSusan and Eugenia.
DeleteAs I understand it Rococo design used a lot of marine elements like dolphins and Neptune along with the scallops.
They were into swirling forms big time.
Carol, I hope you gave Shakespeare and Co one of your prints of the shop. Signed with your info. They can frame it and you will have full time advertising..... Non?
ReplyDeleteYes of course I did Roseann.
DeleteI needed lots of their bookmarks!! :))
Barter.
Lovely sketches and watercolors of the scallop shells, Carol - great photos, too.
ReplyDeleteIt's grand to see so many graceful scallop shells, and your drawing and painting thereof, too!
ReplyDeleteLove that golden scallop shell behind the blue and white china. Very un-trump use of gold...i.e., beautiful and subtle. xo
The mail just arrived. Wonderful Paris Shakespeare and Co Letter. I love it. And the extra bookmarks are so nice! Always a little surprise. Thank you so much.
ReplyDeleteBonjour,
ReplyDeleteNice Collection,
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