About this Event
We are thrilled to welcome author of The Duchess Countess, historian Catherine Ostler here to Hatchards for an evening discussing her revelatory new book of splendour, scandal and tragedy in Golden Age Paris:
The Renoir Girls: A Hidden History of Art, War & Betrayal
In 1881, Pierre-Auguste Renoir painted two young sisters from a Jewish banking dynasty at their home in Paris’s grand 8th arrondissement. Pink and Blue, a portrait of Elisabeth and Alice Cahen d’Anvers, captures a fleeting moment of innocence and beauty, and today it is one of Renoir’s most celebrated works.
The portrait evokes the glamour of the Belle Époque: days at the races, nights at the opera, sun-soaked chateaux, brilliant salons filled with art, music and conversation. Paris at its most dazzling. Yet beneath the glittering surface was a surging current of resentment: a family secret and the tensions of an era poised for rupture.
As we will discover this evening, Catherine’s work on letters, diaries and exclusive new archive research has uncovered revelatory truths about a family at the heart of modern Europe’s struggles, from the aftermath of the Franco-Prussian War to the Dreyfus Affair and the devastation of two world wars.
In conversation with James McAuley, Catherine will explore this story of love, courage and identity amidst the conflicting forces of history. We hope you will be able to join us for what promises to be a fascinating evening.
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Hatchards, 187 Piccadilly, London, United Kingdom
GBP 5.00 to GBP 10.00
