My inspiration to get the look, is this tiny boudoir which was created in 1786 by Barthelemy, Rousseau and Roland. It was particularly treasured by Marie Antoinette, and it is said that it is so perfect that none of her successors dared to make any alterations. Her inspiration for the room was gold and silver on the theme of the iridescent pearl.
This room has inspired several applications for me. Here I used thelion artwork from the panels to create a variation for this closet door to meet my client’s requirement of lions worked into the design.
In keeping with her pearl theme Marie commissioned Jean-Henri Riesener to create furniture made with mother-of-pearl.
The legendary secretaire was the consummate expression of Riesener’s craftsmanship and marks the transition from the baroque spirit of Louis XV rococo to the purer lines of the Louis XVI style. Since I like an eclectic look I would put an inlaid Middle Eastern piece from Wunderley.
To create the pearl background for the wall panels I recommend Blue Pearl Paste in ”Pearl” which is manufactured by Blue Pearl Paint. It is available online from Metallic Mart. As the name implies it is a paste and is troweled on. I suggest using a base paint color in either a metallic cream tone using Modern Masters Champagne or silver or gold as your base. Modern Masters is a good choice for silver and gold as well. Then apply at least 2 thin coats of the Pearl Paste to achieve a smooth pearlescent shimmer. Modern Masters is available in many paint stores, particularly those which offer faux finishing supplies. Always make a sample which you can put up in the room and view at different times of day to see how the colors are affected by the light.
Great view of two beautiful panels. In the below panel I used mother-of-pearl for the background from an Italian company called Adicolor. Unfortunately with the slow economy they have stopped importing for now. For the design I created a stencil of this historical design so that we could offer a custom painted panel at an affordable price in our hand painted canvas center collection. I would love to create stencils of the boudoir panels one day, but for now I suggest Royal Design Studio. They have a large selection of “elegant” stencils. So you can choose your motif using vase, florals, etc. Another stencil company Cutting Edge Stencils has a collection called “Versailles” which would be wonderful.
Closeups of the artwork.
To recreate some of the artwork the book The Private Realm of Marie Antoinette
has some great pictures which I have shown above. Another must have book is Fontainbleau
