28 May

Promenades de Paris (1962)

promenadesH981350S-03

Design by Philippe Ledoux

Year: 1962, 1970s, 2014 (as 70cm)

No. 1350

Centred on the heraldic arms of the City of Paris, a charming mise en scène captures images of everyday life in the French capital during the First Empire: promenades, bygone trades and children at play. Soldiers and onlookers throng the kiosks, fashionable cafés and restaurants of the Palais Royal. The Tuileries Gardens attract children bowling hoops, hot chestnut-sellers and miniature carriages drawn by goats. The Champs-Elysées is the promenade of choice for elegant carriages, riders and society ladies taking the route to the country, and the racecource at Longchamp.  At the Invalides – founded by Louis XIV as a home for wounded servicemen, and the last resting-place of the Emperor Napoleon – the vast esplanade offers a backdrop for military parades and peaceable strolls. Paris is a playground, too: skittles, badminton, and games of skipping and cup-and-ball were favourite pastimes for children in the early nineteenth century.

Old copyright:

promenades cp





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