Enfilade

From Éditions d’art Monelle Hayot:

Vincent Cochet and Alexia Lebeurre, The Turkish Boudoir of Marie-Antoinette and Joséphine at Fontainebleau / Le Boudoir Turc de Marie-Antoinette et Joséphine à Fontainebleau (Saint-Rémy-en-l’Eau: Éditions d’art Monelle Hayot, 2023), 208 pages, ISBN: 979-1096561384 (English) / ISBN: 979-1096561407 (French), €43.

Within ten years, Marie-Antoinette ordered the achievement of two exquisite rooms in Fontainebleau: the Turkish Boudoir (1777) and the Silver Boudoir (1786). Two peaceful refuges allowing her to escape the laws of «Étiquette». When Joséphine became Empress, the craze for turqueries and chinoiseries, had not faded. Both a lover of Marie-Antoinette and of her style, she made hers the Turkish Boudoir emptied at the Revolution. She enhanced the luxury of the oriental atmosphere adding sumptuous and highly creative pieces of furniture by the finest artists of her time. Mahogany and gilt bronzes accompanied masterpieces of upholstery and curtains made of brocade, silk and gold. After a painstaking seven-year restoration completed in 2015, the graceful carved, painted, and gilded panelings of Marie Antoinette’s boudoir are once again the setting for Joséphine’s luxurious furniture in an environment of rewoven textiles.

Heritage curator Vincent Cochet devoted seven years to the restoration of the Turkish Boudoir. Alexia Lebeurre is Associate Professor in the History of Art Department at the Université Bordeaux Montaigne.