Parlor paintings

 Way back when I first started this blog, I briefly shared the story behind the Renoir painting that hangs in the parlor. My grandmother has two copies of this painting hanging in her house. One was painted by my great grandmother, and the other by my aunt. As a little girl, I loved to compare the two paintings. My great grandmother especially took a bit of artistic license with her copy- she made the blonde girl into a redhead to look look like my grandmother's best friend! Josephine Meyer painted the copy in my dollhouse. I think it's one of the best miniature paintings she's ever done (though I might be a little biased.)

 

 

 The painting below the Renoir is another special Josephine Meyer painting. Josephine told me after I'd purchased it that it was one of the paintings that she'd submitted to become an IGMA artisan.

I couldn't remember anything about the original portrait, and google wasn't being very helpful either. I finally figured out that the painting was a portrait of the Marquise d'Antin by Jean-Marc Nattier. It looks like Josephine changed changed the color of the dress from blue/grey to gold! Josephine also made the gold easel. I've always had a vague idea that I should drape it with a bit of silk or velvet, but I'm holding off until I have the color scheme for this room pinned down. The (standard bespaq) upholstery in this room was light green for years, but I never really liked it. Right now the parlor is in a bit of a battle between the brighter shade of green which I used to reupholster the loveseat, and some brown and pink furniture I stole from other rooms and loved in here. I think the brown and pink will win in the end, but it's a little hard to banish the green after years of picturing it that way.