François Halard

Marie-France Boyer

A look at the French queen's private rooms and buildings at Rambouillet, Versailles, and Fontainbleau.

The Private Realm of Marie Antoinette

Sheds and Shelters, Huts and Hideaways

Cabin Fever

The search for solitude and the need to throw off the trappings of worldly life have produced some of the world's most romantic and beguiling buildings. Brought together here, they remind us of that wilder side of human nature which we all recognize and perhaps seek to nourish more.

"Evocative photography and a wealth of detail make the book a visual treat."Interior Design Marie Antoinette, whose marriage at fifteen made her queen of France before she was twenty, died under the blade of the guillotine in 1793. She has been romanticized as the martyred queen, admired as the personification of eighteenth-century French royal style, and vilified as the Austrian whose frivolous extravagance and foreign sympathies fired the French Revolution. This book turns aside from the official portraits and great historical events to rediscover the private places and objects that reflect Marie Antoinette's personality and reveal her more directly to our modern gaze. Beautifully photographed by Francois Halard, the rooms and buildings she inhabited are shown here in fascinating detail, from the distinctive fabrics and furnishings to the queen's favorite objectsan amber curiosity, a Chinese lacquer gift from her mother, a porcelain bowl. 123 illustrations, 108 in color.

Philippe Girardeau

The Private Apartments of Paris

Paris Style

Shows Parisian apartments decorated by top international designers and briefly describes the apartment owners and their daily life

The Most Beautiful Apartments

Private Paris

Henri Matisse

A collection of photographs taken at the villa Le Rve during Henri Mattise's residency there between 1943 and 1948 is a record of his artistic preparation process for such works as "Yellow and Blue Interior" and the portraits of Haitian model Lydia Delectorskaya.

Marie-France Boyer

Books

Your next favorite book is out there