Dietrich in Schiap - photographs by Lee Miller, Paris, 1944

 

The first four images are from the Lee Miller Archives.

Whether you believe her version or that of her daughter's regarding the duration of the tour, Dietrich had spent months traveling in North Africa and Italy entertaining the troops. Arriving in the just liberated French capital in September of 1944, she met up with photographer Lee Miller whose own wartime work alternated between the front line and creating features for Vogue. The meeting produced these images of the actress modeling an evening coat/hostess gown by one of her favorite fashion designers, Elsa Schiaparelli. The images were sent to Vogue that same month, and Dietrich went on to wear the garment at further war-related appearances and in publicity portraits.

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Two months later, on 20 November, Dietrich wore the coat when she performed for the 23rd Headquarters Special Troops at the seminary in Luxembourg City.

The 23rd - aka "The Ghost Army" - was a tactical deception unit that had been formed to mislead the Axis forces as to the size and location of Allied forces.

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That same month, this time in Namur, Belgium, she wore the coat again when, famous for her "million dollar" legs, she judged those of a sextet of American GIs. 

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She also wore it for a series of formal portraits, with typical "movie star" lighting, and wearing full-on makeup and a longer wig instead of her own hair. 

I don't know who the photographer was or the reason for the session, possibly publicity for "Kismet" the only film she starred in that year.

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The garment survives, but un-Dietrich-ed it looks distinctly less fabulous.

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Chasing Velázquez, chasing Manet - "Manuelito, the Circus Lad" by Glyn Philpot, 1909

 

This is the painting said to have launched Philpot's career. He had begun his formal art education at the Lambeth School of Art at the age of only fifteen and later, in 1905, at the Académie Julian in Paris. But the first great turning point in his artistic development came in 1908, during his travels in Spain. Upon returning to Britain, he embarked on a series of paintings inspired by his experiences in Spain, work that clearly shows the lingering influence of Goya and Velázquez, those artists that had, previously, had such a strong effect on, among others, Manet and Sargent. (In fact, it's nearly impossible not to see a direct line from Manet's Spanish-themed paintings to this piece.) 

"Manuelito, the Circus Lad" was first exhibited at the Modern Society of Portrait Painters in 1910, causing a sensation, and focusing the spotlight on the young artist, who would soon become a greatly sought-after society portraitist. After being shown at the Venice Biennale in that same year, the painting was bought by the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, in whose collection it still resides.

En famille - Marie-Anne Gaillard de la Bouexière de Gagny and her family, by Jean-François de Troy, 1736

 

Marie Anne Françoise Gaillard de la Bouëxière de Gagny, dame de Richebourg, (1706-1751), is the striking central figure and graceful focus of this group portrait. Her father, Jean Gaillard de la Bouëxière, seigneur de Gagny et de la Bouëxière, (1676-1759), is seated behind her, his arm resting on her toilette table. And in the right half of the composition is seated her husband, Hyacinthe Hocquart, seigneur de Montfermeil, (1695-1764) - the couple married in 1725 and would have eight children - with their eldest son, Jean Hyacinthe Emmanuel Hocquart de Montfermeil, the future marquis de Montfermeil, de Coubron, and de Gagny, (1727-1778). Both her father and her husband were fermiers généraux and firmly established in the royal administration, their prominent positions allowing them to acquire property, wealth, and title. The couple's son also pursued a brilliant career in the royal administration, being appointed councilor to the Parliament of Paris in 1747, then councilor in the Seconde Chambre des Requêtes du Palais in 1758.

The informality of this portrait makes it something almost like a genre painting or a French "conversation piece"...

... and I find the affectionate and naturalistic pose of father and son particularly charming.

I love the "still-life" of the silver toilette articles; I especially enjoy the detail of the pins just visible sticking out of the pin cushion.

I love this very tender detail.

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Auctioned in November of 2025, the painting sold for €4,067,600, more than double its high estimate.

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Along the stretcher of the husband's chair is where the artist chose to sign and date the painting.