Category Archives: Toni O

Still Lingering

Posted on July 15, 2022 by Art for Housewives

My mom died a year ago but, for me, she’s more alive than ever. My parents divorced when I was six months old. My dad just disappeared and all the responsibility of raising me was left to my mom. And … Continue reading →

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Back to Rome

Posted on October 17, 2021 by Art for Housewives

Once back in Rome and far away from Revolutionary France, I felt safe again. But that feeling quickly disappeared in 1798. It was a February morning and I was climbing down the Spanish Steps when an overpowering noise like thunder … Continue reading →

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Fantasies

Posted on October 15, 2021 by Art for Housewives

Versailles—where too much is not enough. At first I was dazzled but it didn’t take long for the Rococo style to wear me out. All that theatrical exuberance, all those asymmetrical curves, all those volutes and festoons made me dizzy. … Continue reading →

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The Power of a Gaze

Posted on October 13, 2021 by Art for Housewives

It was at the Petit Trianon that I’d met the artist Elisabeth Vigée Le Brun. Elisabeth, after the royal family’s arrest, wisely left France taking her young daughter with her. At the time of Marie-Antoinette’s execution, she was in Vienna … Continue reading →

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Guillotined Styles

Posted on October 11, 2021 by Art for Housewives

Charlotte Corday was just beginning to blossom as a woman when the French Revolution broke out.  She saw nothing liberating about the aftermath of the Revolution and its atrocities.  Believing Jean-Paul Marat to be a blood thirsty monster who sent … Continue reading →

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