Unveiling the Secret Lives Behind Renoir’s Legacy: Art, Betrayal, and War Exposed
The Cahen d’Anvers family, “a Jewish banking dynasty,” includes another Renoir subject: Irène, older sister to Alice and Elisabeth. The post-Revolution, post-Napoleon French political landscape in which they live is a confusing one, with monarchists and Bonapartists in heated matches against staunch anti-monarchists—referred to, somewhat ironically for current US citizens, as Republicans. It shocked me to see the importance of titles in the Cahen d’Anvers circle. Despite the revolution, there are counts, barons, marquises—a massive contingent that I found impossible to keep straight, particularly as Ostler provides exhaustive guest lists for the family’s endless fabulous parties.
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