Painter Frère Luc was born Claude François in Amiens, France in May 1614. There is no record of the exact day, so we’ll just wish him a happy 403rd birthday today. Before he became a monk, he trained under Simon Vouet in Paris, and then he went to Rome to study the great Masters. He returned to Paris in 1639, where he worked on the redecoration of the Louvre. In 1641, he joined the Franciscan Order, taking the name Frère Luc, and thereafter, most of his paintings were devoted to the life and works of St. Francis of Assisi, which he executed for various monasteries.
In 1670, he went to Québec, mainly as the architect in charge of the rebuilding of the monastery there. At the end of 1671, he returned to Paris and resumed his work as a painter of religious works. He is now chiefly of interest for the work he produced while in Québec and these paintings influenced later generations of French-Canadian artists. He died in May 17, 1685 back in Paris, France.
French Painting in the 17th Century
I saw a very good French film on Netflix this week. The English title is 
The costumes are gorgeous and definitely merit the César that they won for costume design. The two principal actors were similarly honored with Meilleur Actrice and Meilleur Acteur awards. The lavish period interior and exterior shots kept me trying to figure out where the movie had been filmed. I hope that you enjoy it!
Jacques le fataliste et son maître
Mother’s Day was cold and wet in the Boston area, so we decided to spend some time at the Toulouse-Lautrec exhibit at the Museum of Fine Art. Before social media, there were posters, and Toulouse-Lautrec had a gift of conveying all the sizzle of demi-monde clubs and cabarets in the advertising art that was splashed on walls around Paris.
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Lautrec died of complications of alcoholism and syphilis at the age of only 36, but he left behind a substantial body of work. It’s amazing to me that so many of the advertising posters, which were always intended to be ephemeral have survived. The bright colors and exuberance chased away the nasty weather blues. The exhibit is on until August 4, 2019.
Next month, I’m heading back to France! Each summer, I work at a study abroad program in one of the best neighborhoods in Paris. My employer will fly me over prior to the program or allow me to return home later, so I usually tack on a week of vacation either before or after the program. I try to visit a region or city I haven’t been to before. This year, I have decided to go to Aix-en-Provence.
I last went to Provence two years ago and nearly melted on the cobbled pavement. I stayed in Avignon for the week after the program ended and it was HOT, over 40 degrees Celsius every day – that’s about 104 degrees Fahrenheit! I needed a siesta in the afternoon and it greatly cramped my ability to get out and see things. Roman ruins in the noonday sun and not a speck of shade? I don’t think so. So, I’m crossing my fingers that it won’t be so ennervatingly hot in the third week of June.
What do those of you who have already been to Aix suggest? I know that I want to take a drive to the lavender fields, and I’ve heard that Aix is famous for its 130 fountains. Of course, I always plan to visit the museums and churches. And no trip to Aix would be complete without paying hommage to its native son, Paul Cézanne. What about other day trips? Is Cassis a must see? And I have tons of recommendations for pâtisseries, but relatively few for places for dinner. Please add to mon carnet d’addresses (mohn kar-nay dad-ress), or “my contact list.” I’d love to hear your thoughts.
I love décor and I love French. So when I found a good French decorating channel on YouTube, and it led me to another one, and then it led me to a third, I couldn’t resist sharing them with you.
This week, all of us have been riveted by the tragic fire at Notre Dame. We were in a small town in New Hampshire, grabbing a quick bite, when we saw the horrible images on a muted TV in the corner. All eyes were glued to the set, watching in horror. I started receiving texts from family members who wanted to make sure I knew what was going on, knowing my deep love for Paris. The outpouring of pledges to rebuild the great cathedral from people, great and small, from all over the world showed that Notre Dame is more than just a building in France. It truly is a piece of the world’s heritage.
The first time I went to Paris, we took the train from the airport to the center of Paris. The station we were to get out at was Saint-Michel – Notre-Dame. We didn’t really give a great deal of thought to the name, at most supposing that the cathedral was somewhere in the vicinity. When we came up out of the ground, we found that we were directly opposite those two great towers. We couldn’t quite believe our eyes. It was a stunning first introduction to Paris.
On that trip, after visiting the interior and marveling over the rose windows, we queued up to visit the towers and get a closer look at the gargoyles and chimera. Our daughter was just nine and it was hard for her to wait in the sun. The line used to cross in front of the church, instead of running down the side, as in recent years. I suggested that our daughter have a seat in one of the niches on the facade while we waited and we’d call her to join us when we got closer. She gladly took me up on that and promptly lost herself in her game of trying to figure out how to get from one place to the next using the Paris A -Z booklet (a pre-Google maps relic). I took advantage of the moment to take a photo of her. I knew it was going to be a terrific picture. It was in the day of film cameras, so I had to curb my impatience to see the picture until I could get back home and have it developed. It was worth the wait. That picture remains my favorite one I ever took.
Over the years, I visited Notre Dame many times, sometimes by myself, sometimes with students. I took dozens more photos. When our daughter moved to Paris during her Junior of university, she rented a tiny apartment just steps from Notre Dame. The great gothic cathedral was an inextricable part of our visits to Paris. If this horrible event has shown us anything, it is the fragility of our collective patrimoine culturel (pat-ree-mwahn kool-toor-ell), or “cultural heritage.” Coincidentally, this was one of the vocab words for my French IV class this week. They had no trouble remembering it when the quiz came.
It remains to be seen how Notre Dame will be rebuilt. Will it be close to identical? Will some of the rather preposterous design proposals I’ve seen be accepted? One proposed a spire that looked like a meteorite had landed on the roof. Please not that one! So, go visit a place you’ve been putting off seeing until “someday” or revisit a place that has a special place in your heart. Carpe diem!
I always cringe when I hear the American expression “a wifebeater” to refer to a tank-style undershirt. The French term is much more civilized, un marcel. The shirt was first popularized in the middle of the 19th century by the workers at les Halles, the food market in the center of Paris. It’s called un marcel after its manufacturer, Marcel Eisenberg. It moved from being an undershirt to ubiquitous summer street wear; you’ll no doubt see a lot of them as the weather heats up.
