The books mentioned below are from my personal collection. Some are over a hundred years old and have brittle pages which fray at the seams when held between my fingers. I love their faded color and old book scent. And I love the stories and secrets they tell, as I ever so gently turn their pages. Did I tell you that I am a time traveler?

1. Adhémar, Jean, Graphic Art of the 18th Century. McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1964.

2. Bailey, Colin B., Consibee, Philip, Et. Al.,  The Age of Watteau, Chardin and Fragonard: Masterpieces of French Genre Painting. In Association With The National Gallery Of Canada, Ottawa. Yale University Press, 2003.

3. Baur, Eva-Gesine, Rococo. Taschen, 2007.

4. Connolly, Cyrill and Zerbe, Jerome, Les Pavillons, French Pavilions of the Eighteenth Century. The MacMillan Company, New York, 1962.

5. Delille, Jacques, The Gardens, A Poem, Tr. (by M.H. Montolieu). Public Domain. Printed by T. Bensley, Bolt Court, London, 1805.

6. Duffey, Stephen and Hedley, Jo, The Wallace Collection’s Pictures: A Complete Catalogue. Unicorn Press and Lindsay Fine Art, Ltd., London, 2004.

7. Faniel, Stephane, Le XVIII Siècle Français. Hachette, France, 1957.

8. de Goncourt, Edmond and Jules, French Eighteenth-Century Painters. Originally published in twelve parts, 1856–1875. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, 1981.

9. Grasselli, Margaret Morgan, Colorful Impressions: The Printmaking Revolution in Eighteenth-Century France. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2003.

10. Hedley, Jo, Francois Boucher, Seductive Visions. The Wallace Collection, London, 2004.

11. Huisman, Philippe, French Watercolors of the 18th Century. Viking Press, New York, 1969.

12. Hunter-Stiebel, Penelope, La Volupté Du Goût: French Painting in the Age of Madame de Pompadour. Musée des Beaux-Arts, Tours and Portland Art Museum, Oregon. Somogy Éditions d’Art, Paris, 2008.

13. Jarrassé, Dominique, 18th-Century French Painting. Finest SA/Editions Pierre Terrail, Paris, 1998.

14. Lady Dilke, French Decoration and Furniture in the XVIII Century. George Bell and Sons, London, 1901.

15. Lady Dilke, French Engravers and Draughtsmen of the XVIII Century. George Bell and Sons, London, 1902.

16. Lajer-Burcharth, Ewa, The Painter’s Touch, Boucher Chardin Fragonard, Princeton University Press, USA and UK, 2018. (currently reading)

17. Lebrun, Louise-Elizabeth Vigee and Strachey, Lionel, Memoirs of Madame Vigee Lebrun. Reprint of the 18th C book. Grant Richards, London, 1904.

18. Luyster, Isaphene M., (Translator and Editor), Memoirs & Correspondence of Madame Récamier. Reprinted from 1867 edition. University Press of the Pacific, Honolulu, Hawaii, 2002.

19. Rolland, Romain (Rousseau), Maurois, André (Voltaire) and Herriot, Eduoard (Diderot), French Thought in the Eighteenth Century: Rousseau, Voltaire, Diderot. David McKay Company, Inc., New York, 1953.

20. Rosenberg, Pierre, From Drawing to Painting: Poussin, Wattteau, Fragonard, David & Ingres. The A.W. Mellon Lectures in the Fine Arts, 1996. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey, 2000.

21. Rousseau, Francis, The Book of Antique Furniture, An International Style Guide from the 16th to 20th Century. Chartwell Books, Inc., Edison, New Jersey, 2000.

22. Schönberger, Arno and Soehner, Halldor, The Rococo Age: Art and Civilization of the 18th Century. McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1960.

23. Sheriff, Mary D., (Editor), Antoine Watteau: Perspectives on the Artist and the Culture of His Time. University of Delaware Press, 2006.

24. Sterling, Charles, (Curator of Paintings at the Louvre), The Metropolitan Museum of Art: A Catalogue of French Paintings XV-XVIII Centuries. Harvard University Press, 1955.

25. Turner, Jane (Editor), From David to Ingres, Early 19th-Century French Artists. St. Martin’s Press, New York, 2000.

26. Wakefield, David, Boucher. Chaucer Press, London, 2005.

27. Whitehead, John, The French Interior in the Eighteenth Century. Lawrence King Publishing, London, 1992.

1. Davidson, Hilary, Dress in the Age of Jane Austen  Regency Fashion. Yale University Press, New Haven & London, 2019.

2. Hart, Avril and North, Susan, Fashion In Detail: From the 17th and 18th Centuries. First published in the U.S., Rizzoli International Publications Inc., 1998. First published in Great Britain, V & A Publications, 1998.

3. North, Susan, 18th-Century Fashion in Detail. Victoria and Albert Museum, London/Thames & Hudson Ltd, London, 2018. First published by the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1998. Revised and expanded edition first published in paperback by Thames & Hudson Inc., N.Y., in association with the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 2018.

4. Steele, Valerie, The Corset: A Cultural History. Yale University Press, New Haven & London, 2001. Fourth printing, 2005.

5. Takeda, Sharon Sadako and Spilker, Kaye Durland, Fashioning Fashion, European Dress in Detail 1700-1915. Los Angeles County Museum Of Art, Delmonico Books-Prestel, 2010.

1. Burke, Edmund, A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful. First addition published 1757. Oxford University Press, 1990.

2. Keats, John, The Major Works including Endymion and selected letters. Oxford University Press, 1990.

3. Wordsworth, William, Preface to Lyrical Ballads. (1800). Famous Prefaces, The Harvard Classics, 1909-14.

(Currently studying Immanuel Kant and Plato. Further details will follow shortly.)

1. Fried, Michael (1974) “Absorption, A Master Theme in Eighteenth-Century French Painting and Criticism.” The John Hopkins University.

2. Mayor, A. Hyatt (1941) “Chinoiserie.” The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, New York.

3. Parker, James (1969) “The Hotel de Varengeville Room and the Room from the Palais Paar: A Magnificent Donation.” The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, New York.

4. Posner, Donald (1972) “The True Path of Fragonard’s ‘Progress of Love’.” Burlington Magazine.

The above image is a detail from a hauntingly beautiful, 19th-century French academic painting which sold through my former gallery, Andrea Fisher Fine Art. The artist, Charles-Amable Lenoir (1860-1926), is considered by scholars to be the finest disciple of William Bouguereau. This mesmerizing nymph – wearing a delicate garland of flowers in her hair – has received museum interest and can be viewed on the Art page of this site.