Selected pictures list
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A
schematic depiction of the first successful frameless
parachute, invented by
André-Jacques Garnerin (1769–1823). On
October 22, 1797, Garnerin rode in a basket hanging from the parachute, which was attached to the bottom of a
hot air balloon (centre). At a height of approximately 3,000 feet (910 m), he severed the rope that connected his parachute to the balloon. The basket swung during descent, then bumped and scraped when it landed, but Garnerin emerged uninjured.
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An
écorché (flayed figure) of a horseman and his horse, prepared by
anatomist Honoré Fragonard and on display at the
Musée Fragonard d'Alfort in Paris. Fragonard was the first professor of anatomy at the École nationale vétérinaire d'Alfort (National Veterinary School of Alfort) and prepared thousands of anatomical pieces. In 1771, after six years of teaching, he was dismissed from his post for being a "madman".
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Saint George Palace is an historic building in the city of
Rennes, France. Built in 1670, it was used as an abbey residence, replacing a much older abbey building that stood on the same site. During the
French Revolution the abbey was closed and the property was seized by the government. Since 1930 the building has been listed as a
monument historique of France. It now houses the fire services for the city and other civil administrative offices.
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Les raboteurs de parquet (
The Floor Scrapers) is an 1875 oil on canvas painting by French
impressionist Gustave Caillebotte. Measuring 102 by 146.5 centimetres (40 in × 57.7 in), it depicts three men scraping the floor of what is thought to be Caillebotte's own studio, apparently engaged in conversation. According to the
Musée d'Orsay, where the painting is held, this is one of the first paintings to feature the urban working class, and indeed the subject matter proved scandalous at the time.
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An illustration showing the
Stade Français rugby union team, wearing dark blue jerseys, playing against Racing Club (now known as
Racing 92) in 1906. On 20 March 1892, the two teams played in the first ever French rugby championship in a one-off game.
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The
French franc is a former currency of France and
Monaco and, alongside the
Spanish peseta, a former
de facto currency in
Andorra. The first franc was a gold coin introduced in 1360, which showed King
John II of France on a richly decorated horse, earning it the name
franc à cheval. A later coin, showing
Charles VII on foot, under a canopy, was named the
franc à pied. The decimal franc was established by the French Revolutionary Convention in 1795 as a decimal unit, and became the official currency of France in 1799. France joined the
euro in 1999, and the franc was replaced by euro notes and coins in 2002.
This picture shows a 20-franc coin, dated 1803. The obverse shows an image of Napoleon.
See also: 1807 40-franc coin
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A map of the the French city of
Brest, dated to around 1700. Located in the
Finistère department of
Brittany, Brest lies in a sheltered bay close to the western extremity of
metropolitan France. Originally named
Bresta, possibly derived from a Celtic word meaning hill, the city came under the rule of the duke of Brittany in 1240. From 1342 to 1397 the city was under English rule, and became part of France in 1491 when a marriage unified Brittany with the French crown.
Cardinal Richelieu designated the city a major naval base in 1631, a status it retains today. The city centre was mostly rebuilt after heavy Allied bombing during World War II.
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The
French franc is a former currency of France and Monaco and, alongside the
Spanish peseta, a former
de facto currency in
Andorra. The first franc was a gold coin introduced in 1360, which showed King
John II of France on a richly decorated horse, earning it the name
franc à cheval. A later coin, showing
Charles VII on foot, under a canopy, was named the
franc à pied. The decimal franc was established by the French Revolutionary Convention in 1795 as a decimal unit, and became the official currency of France in 1799. France joined the
euro in 1999, and the franc was replaced by euro notes and coins in 2002.
This picture shows a 100-franc gold coin, dated 1889, with a "winged genius" designed by
Augustin Dupré on the obverse. Only a hundred proof coins of this design were minted.
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Photograph credit: Leroy Skalstad The 15th-century
St. Joan of Arc Chapel was initially built in the village of
Chasse-sur-Rhône, France. Originally called the Chapelle de St. Martin de Seyssuel, it is said to have been the place at which
Joan of Arc prayed in 1429 after she had met King
Charles VII of France. The present name was given to the chapel when Gertrude Hill Gavin, the daughter of an American railroad magnate, had the derelict building dismantled, transported to America and rebuilt beside her
French Renaissance–style château in
Brookville, New York, in 1927. The chapel was undamaged when the château burned down in 1962, and was later given to
Marquette University in
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, once more being transported stone by stone.
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Graziella is an 1852 novel by the French author
Alphonse de Lamartine. It tells of a young French man who falls in love with the eponymous character, a fisherman's granddaughter, during a trip to
Naples, Italy; they are separated when he must return to France, and Graziella dies soon afterwards. The novel received popular acclaim; an operatic adaptation had been completed by the end of the year, and the work influenced paintings, poems, novels, and films. This 1878 oil-on-canvas painting by the French artist
Jules Joseph Lefebvre shows Graziella sitting on a rock, fishing net in hand, gazing over her shoulder at a smoking
Mount Vesuvius in the distance. The painting is now in the collection of the
Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
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Lithograph credit: Jean-Baptiste Singry; restored by Adam Cuerden Joséphine Fodor (13 October 1789 or in 1793 – 10 August 1870) was a French lyrical artist (
soprano) with Hungarian and Dutch ancestors. Her family moved to
Saint Petersburg when she was an infant, probably because of the French Revolution. After marrying in 1812, Fodor and her husband moved back to France when Saint Petersburg came under attack during the
French invasion of Russia. She performed roles for the
Opéra-Comique in Paris, later being engaged by the
Comédie-Italienne, and also appeared in London, Venice, Naples and Vienna. Experiencing problems with her voice, she gradually ended her operatic career and withdrew from the stage. This lithograph depicts her in 1815.
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The
écu was a gold and silver
coinage system introduced in France in 1266 by
Louis IX, so called because the coins featured the
French coat of arms. The silver coin proved popular but the gold did not, because of the unrealistic ratio of 1:10 used, which did not properly reflect the metals' exchange rate. The écu remained in use for 500 years. Depicted here are two écu coins, the first made of gold and minted in 1641, in the reign of
Louis XIII, and the second made of silver and minted in 1784, in the reign of
Louis XVI. Between these two dates, exchange rates were unstable, new coins were issued, and existing ones revalued periodically.
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The Bathers is an oil-on-canvas painting by the French artist
Paul Cézanne, first exhibited in 1906. The painting is the largest of a series of paintings of bathers by the artist, and is considered a masterpiece of modern art. He worked on the painting for seven years, and it remained unfinished at the time of his death. Often considered Cézanne's finest work, it is in the collection of the
Philadelphia Museum of Art.
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Photograph credit: Joe deSousa The
Palais Galliera, formally known as the Musée de la Mode de la Ville de Paris, is a museum of fashion and fashion history located in the
16th arrondissement of Paris, France. Following the death of her husband in 1876, the
Duchess of Galliera gave land and funds for the erection of a museum to house his collection of paintings and fine art that she proposed to give to the state. The building was completed in 1894, but the collections were in fact donated to
Genoa, Italy, where they are now displayed at the
Palazzo Rosso and the
Palazzo Bianco.
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Marie-Gabrielle Capet (6 September 1761 – 1 November 1818) was a French
Neoclassical painter. Until the
French Revolution, the Royal Academy of Art in Paris was responsible for training artists and exhibiting artworks at the
Salon, but limited the number of female students to four at a time. Unable to gain a place, she moved to Paris in 1781 to become a student of
Adélaïde Labille-Guiard, with whom she struck up a lifelong friendship. She specialised in painting portraits, her works including oil paintings, watercolours and miniatures. This oil-on-canvas self-portrait of Capet, dating from around 1783, is in the collection of the
National Museum of Western Art in Tokyo.
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Map credit: Louis Bretez and Claude Lucas The
Turgot map of Paris is a highly accurate and detailed map of the city of
Paris, France, as it existed in the 1730s. It was published in 1739 as an atlas of twenty non-overlapping sectional bird's-eye-view maps, each approximately 50 cm × 80 cm (20 in × 31 in), in
isometric perspective toward the southeast, as well as one simplified overview map with a four-by-five grid showing the layout of the twenty sectional maps. It has been described as "the first all-comprising graphical inventory of the capital, down to the last orchard and tree, detailing every house and naming even the most modest cul-de-sac". The complete map is shown here in its assembled form.
Other sheets:
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Georges Ernest Boulanger (29 April 1837 – 30 September 1891), nicknamed Général Revanche, was a French general and politician. An enormously popular public figure during the
Third Republic, he won a series of elections and was feared to be powerful enough to establish himself as dictator at the zenith of his popularity in January 1889. This photograph of Boulanger was produced by the
atelier of the French photographer
Nadar.
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![Serge Gainsbourg](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9a/Serge_Gainsbourg_par_Claude_Truong-Ngoc_1981.jpg/450px-Serge_Gainsbourg_par_Claude_Truong-Ngoc_1981.jpg)
Serge Gainsbourg (1928–1991) was a French musician, singer-songwriter, actor, author and filmmaker. Regarded as one of the most important figures in
French pop music, he was renowned for often provocative and scandalous releases which caused uproar in France, dividing its public opinion, as well as his diverse artistic output, which ranged from his early work in
jazz,
chanson, and
yé-yé to later efforts in
rock,
zouk,
funk,
reggae, and
electronica. He is often regarded as one of the world's most influential popular musicians. His lyrical works incorporated
wordplay, with humorous, bizarre, provocative, sexual, satirical or subversive overtones. Gainsbourg's music has reached legendary stature in France, and he has become one of the country's best-loved public figures. He has also gained a cult following all over the world with chart success in the United Kingdom and Belgium with "
Je t'aime... moi non plus" and "
Bonnie and Clyde", respectively. This photo of Gainsbourg was taken in 1981.