Blogs in September 2017

Renoir’s Dancer: The Secret Life of Suzanne Valadon 22nd September 2017

In the 1880s, Suzanne Valadon was considered the Impressionists’ most beautiful model. But behind her captivating façade lay a closely-guarded secret. Born in poverty in rural France, as a teenager Suzanne began, in Montmartre, posing for – and having...

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The Mistress of Paris 6th February 2016

Valtesse de la Bigne was a celebrated nineteenth-century Parisian courtesan. She was painted by Manet and inspired Emile Zola, who immortalised her in his scandalous novel Nana. Her rumoured affairs with Napoleon III and the future Edward VII kept...

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