Belle Epoque Life in Paris

Based onpreviously unpublished documents, this book traces the life in Paris ofCountess Olga von Hohenfelsen, later known as Princess Paley, the morganaticwife of Grand Duke Paul of Russia, uncle of the last emperor, NicholasII. While immersing the reader in the world ofMarcel Proust (most of Princess Paley's social contacts had fed the writer'simagination), the book explores the couple's day-to-day life, highlightingtheir relationships with leading suppliers such as couturiers Worth and Paquinand the jeweller Cartier. It also provides an overview of the Parisian artmarket, and studies the development of the couple's successive residences fromParis to St. Petersburg. For a time in the aftermath of the Russian Revolution,the significant collection and the palace built to house it were shown to thepublic as the Museum of French Art and History. Dispersed during the 1920s bythe Soviet authorities, the collection is studied as a whole here for the firsttime. Published first in French in 2018, this updated English version includesan additional chapter on Princess Natalie Paley, as many works of art andarchival documents from the family are now preserved at Hillwood Estate, Museum& Gardens. The couple's youngest child, Natalie Paley continued herfamily's legacy of contributing to culture and the arts well into the 20thcentury while living in Paris and the United States,where she was more than a muse to writers, designers, photographers, andartists, whom she influenced.