Stanford Report, January 18, 2006

Prominent French women to be subject of Faculty Choice lecture series

art talk

Carolyn Lougee Chappell, the Frances and Charles Field Professor of History, will talk about two of the most prominent women in French history—Marie-Antoinette and Empress Josephine—on Thursday, Jan. 19, as part of the Faculty Choice lecture series at the Cantor Arts Center.

Lougee Chappell's talk, "Royal Wives in Jeopardy: Artful Depictions from the Age of Revolution," will focus on two works: a bronze bust, Marie-Antoinette, created by Felix Lecomte after 1783, and an 1808 oil painting, Her Majesty the Empress Josephine Receiving the Works of Contemporary Artists, by Nicolas-Antoine Taunay. The bronze is part of the Cantor Arts Center collections; the oil painting is on loan from the Hoover Institution Library and Archives.

Lougee Chappell specializes in the history of 17th- and 18th-century Europe and has written widely about aristocratic women and elite families in pre-revolutionary France. She is the recipient of a Dinkelspiel Award for outstanding service to undergraduate education and a Dean's Award for Distinguished Teaching. The talk will begin at 4:15 p.m. in the Europe 1500-1800 Gallery at the Cantor Arts Center.