The Judgment of Paris
The Revolutionary Decade that Gave the World Impressionism
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Narrated by:
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Tristan Layton
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By:
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Ross King
About this listen
A tale of many artists, The Judgment of Paris revolves around the lives of two, described as "the two poles of art": Ernest Meissonier, the most famous and successful painter of the 19th century, hailed for his precision and devotion to history; and Edouard Manet, reviled in his time, who nonetheless heralded the most radical change in the history of art since the Renaissance. Out of the most fascinating story of their parallel lives, illuminated by their legendary supporters and critics, King recalls a seminal period when Paris was the artistic center of the world, and a revolutionary art movement had the power to electrify and divide a nation.
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The Apparitionists
- A Tale of Phantoms, Fraud, Photography, and the Man Who Captured Lincoln's Ghost
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- Narrated by: Jefferson Mays
- Length: 9 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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In the early days of photography, in the death-strewn wake of the Civil War, one man seized America's imagination. A "spirit photographer", William Mumler took portrait photographs that featured the ghostly presence of a lost loved one alongside the living subject. Mumler was a sensation. Peter Manseau brilliantly captures a nation wracked with grief and hungry for proof of the existence of ghosts and for contact with their dead husbands and sons. It took a circus-like trial of Mumler on fraud charges to expose a fault line of doubt and manipulation.
By: Peter Manseau
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The Vanishing Velázquez
- A 19th Century Bookseller's Obsession with a Lost Masterpiece
- By: Laura Cumming
- Narrated by: Siobhan Redmond
- Length: 10 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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When John Snare, a 19th-century provincial bookseller, traveled to a liquidation auction, he stumbled on a vivid portrait of King Charles I that defied any explanation. The Charles of the painting was young - too young to be king - and yet also too young to be painted by the Flemish painter to which the work was attributed. Snare had found something incredible - but what? His research brought him to Diego Velázquez, whose long-lost portrait of Prince Charles has eluded art experts for generations.
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A fascinating study of art history
- By Ron on 07-02-16
By: Laura Cumming
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In Montmartre
- Picasso, Matisse and the Birth of Modernist Art
- By: Sue Roe
- Narrated by: Emma Bering
- Length: 12 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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A lively and deeply researched group biography of the figures who transformed the world of art in bohemian Paris in the first decade of the 20th century. In Montmartre is a colorful history of the birth of Modernist art as it arose from one of the most astonishing collections of artistic talent ever assembled. It begins in October 1900, as a teenage Pablo Picasso, eager for fame and fortune, first makes his way up the hillside of Paris’s famous windmill-topped district.
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Florid narrative history with suspect details
- By Keith on 10-30-19
By: Sue Roe
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Rebel Souls
- Walt Whitman and America's First Bohemians
- By: Justin Martin
- Narrated by: Dennis Holland
- Length: 10 hrs and 11 mins
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Rebel Souls is the first book ever written about the colorful group of artists - regulars at Pfaff's Saloon in Manhattan - rightly considered America's original Bohemians. Besides a young Whitman, the circle included actor Edwin Booth; trailblazing stand–up comic Artemus Ward; psychedelic drug pioneer and author Fitz Hugh Ludlow; and brazen performer Adah Menken, famous for her Naked Lady routine. Central to their times, the artists managed to forge connections with Ralph Waldo Emerson, Mark Twain, and even Abraham Lincoln.
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A Wonderful Read with Vibrant Characters
- By A on 11-11-15
By: Justin Martin
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Seven Ages of Paris
- By: Alistair Horne
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 20 hrs and 49 mins
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With a keen eye for the telling anecdote and pivotal moment, he portrays an array of vivid incidents to show us how Paris endures through each age, is altered but always emerges more brilliant and beautiful than ever. The Seven Ages of Paris is a great historian's tribute to a city he loves and has spent a lifetime learning to know.
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Very well researched, but difficult to follow
- By Aw on 05-23-19
By: Alistair Horne
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After the Romanovs
- Russian Exiles in Paris from the Belle Époque Through Revolution and War
- By: Helen Rappaport
- Narrated by: Pearl Hewitt
- Length: 10 hrs and 15 mins
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Paris has always been a city of cultural excellence, fine wine and food, and the latest fashions. But it has also been a place of refuge for those fleeing persecution, never more so than before and after the Russian Revolution and the fall of the Romanov dynasty. For years, Russian aristocrats had enjoyed all that Belle Époque Paris had to offer, spending lavishly when they visited. It was a place of artistic experimentation, such as Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes. But the brutality of the Bolshevik takeover forced Russians of all types to flee their homeland.
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Mildly interesting story of Russians exiles
- By Conrad Hastler on 05-20-22
By: Helen Rappaport
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Marquis
- Lafayette Reconsidered
- By: Laura Auricchio
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 12 hrs and 44 mins
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A major biography of the Marquis de Lafayette, French hero of the American Revolution, looks past the storybook general and selfless champion of righteous causes who, at the age of 19, volunteered to fight under George Washington, casting aside fortune and family (from one of France's oldest families; his ancestors served in the Crusades and alongside Joan of Arc) to advance the transcendent aims of liberty and justice.
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Lafayette: A Hit Abroad! & A Miss at Home!
- By James on 03-05-15
By: Laura Auricchio
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The Black Russian
- By: Vladimir Alexandrov
- Narrated by: Peter Marinker
- Length: 10 hrs and 23 mins
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Overall
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The Black Russian is the incredible story of Frederick Bruce Thomas, born in 1872 to former slaves who became prosperous farmers in Mississippi. After leaving the South and working as a waiter and valet in Chicago and Brooklyn, Frederick sought greater freedom in London, then crisscrossed Europe, and - in a highly unusual choice for a black American at the time - went to Russia in 1899. Because he found no color line there, Frederick made Moscow his home. He renamed himself Fyodor Fyodorovich Tomas, married twice, acquired a mistress, and took Russian citizenship.
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US Born African Descendant 2 Russian Citizenship
- By Sheila Gibson on 03-14-15
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Stealing the Mystic Lamb
- The True Story of the World's Most Coveted Masterpiece
- By: Noah Charney
- Narrated by: John Allen Nelson
- Length: 10 hrs and 27 mins
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Overall
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Jan van Eyck's Ghent Altarpiece is on any art historian's list of the 10 most important paintings ever made. Often referred to by the subject of its central panel, the Adoration of the Mystic Lamb, it represents the fulcrum between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. It is also the most frequently stolen artwork of all time.
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Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory
- By Jody R. Nathan on 01-04-12
By: Noah Charney
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The Art of Rivalry
- Four Friendships, Betrayals, and Breakthroughs in Modern Art
- By: Sebastian Smee
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 10 hrs and 22 mins
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Rivalry is at the heart of some of the most famous and fruitful relationships in history. The Art of Rivalry follows eight celebrated artists, each linked to a counterpart by friendship, admiration, envy, and ambition. All eight are household names today. But to achieve what they did, each needed the influence of a contemporary - one who was equally ambitious but who possessed sharply contrasting strengths and weaknesses.
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Death by bob souer
- By SKWAD on 01-18-18
By: Sebastian Smee
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a good education
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Great history with terrible narration
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Enlightening
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An art history course in one slim book
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In January 1939, Pablo Picasso was renowned in Europe but disdained by many in the United States. One year later, Americans across the country were clamoring to see his art. How did the controversial leader of the Paris avant-garde break through to the heart of American culture? The answer begins a generation earlier, when a renegade Irish American lawyer named John Quinn set out to build the greatest collection of Picassos in existence. His dream of a museum to house them died with him, until it was rediscovered by Alfred H. Barr, Jr.
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In 1900, an 18-year-old Spaniard named Pablo Picasso made his first trip to Paris. It was in this glittering capital of the international art world that, after suffering years of poverty and neglect, he emerged as the leader of a bohemian band of painters, sculptors, and poets. Fueled by opium and alcohol, inspired by raucous late-night conversations at the Lapin Agile cabaret, Picasso and his friends resolved to shake up the world.
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An Excellent Text
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Paris, City of Dreams
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Acclaimed historian Mary McAuliffe vividly recaptures the Paris of Napoleon III, Claude Monet, and Victor Hugo as Georges Haussmann tore down and rebuilt Paris into the beautiful City of Light we know today. Paris, City of Dreams traces the transformation of the City of Light during Napoleon III’s Second Empire into the beloved city of today.
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Superb
- By Cheri Stocking on 02-17-23
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Machiavelli
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Performance
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Part of the acclaimed Eminent Lives series, Machiavelli is a superb portrait of the brilliant and revolutionary political philosopher - history's most famous theorist of "warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed" - and the age he embodied. Ross King, the New York Times best-selling author of Brunelleschi's Dome, argues that the author of The Prince was a far more complex and sympathetic character than is often portrayed.
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Awesome
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By: Ross King
What listeners say about The Judgment of Paris
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Lori
- 12-01-11
Excellent for Serious Art Lovers
This is an excellent exploration of the political, social and artistic background that led to the birth of Impressionism. It is a very detailed, in-depth look at the artists Manet and Meissonier, their work and how that work both exemplified and defied the artistic trends and political environment of 19th century Paris - the crucial time period that both shaped and changed the art world.
This is not a book for the casual art observer, but an in-depth exploration for those seriously interested in the Impressionists and/or the evolution of art during the 19th century as well as serious fans of Manet and Meissonier. Meissonier who, prior to this book, was rather unfamiliar to me exemplifies the ultimate, classically-trained French artist of his time. The author contrasts Meissonier with Eduard Manet who was was a key player in challenging the VERY strict dictates of the Academie des Beaux Arts in Paris. The Academie was the ultimate authority in mid 19th Century Paris as to who did or did NOT get presented during the annual exhibition each year.
This book gives an excellent, in-depth exploration of the numerous influences and happenings that resulted in the birth of Impressionism. It helps significantly to either be familiar with or have access (at least via internet) to copies of the paintings discussed here while King explores their significance and import. The beauty of reading a book like this today is the almost instant access the internet can provide to these works while reading the book. Its a bit like having your own personal docent step you through the foundational works of Impressionism, being able to see how one influenced the other.
I used this as research for a recent study tour I was leading to Paris featuring both the Louvre and the Orsay museums and I found the material here both well presented, fascinating and an excellent preparation for my trip. I've always loved the Impressionists and studied them for years, but this helped to fill in some of the blanks surrounding both their work and its revolutionary effect on the entire world of art.
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- Greg
- 10-11-12
Interesting from an historical perspective
The Judgment of Paris is a good book with very interesting views of the general historical layout in which these events took place, what the painters did and why. Where it falls short is in it's lack of immediacy and intimacy. It's a little dry. That said, I do recommend it. What it has to teach is worth while and I have a new appreciation for some of the artists involved.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall
- loix
- 03-29-06
Better on paper
The fact that this book traces the development of an important movement in visual art might be reason enough to recommend it as a book to read on paper rather than to listen to. Although the descriptions were very vivid and conjured up a fairly good representation of the works described (even works unfamiliar to the "reader"), there were quite a few occasions when I would have liked a closer look at the works alongside the descriptions. But another reason I might have enjoyed this book a great deal more on paper is the narrator, who had a very unconventional (and at times, not even consistent) way of stressing the many French words that populate the book; the erratic stress pattern became so jarring that I could not wait for the reading to end, even in the thick of a very well-constructed and engrossing narrative! The book on its own gets 5 stars, but its narration demotes the audio version to 3.
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- Jennifer
- 08-26-19
Manet was kind of a jerk
Definitely educational but it wasn’t a book that I listened to on fast forward! Great details about iconic artists of the period about personality, etc.
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Overall
- Robert
- 10-28-08
Try this!
This was my first experience with Ross King, and after "Judgment of Paris" I am hungry to read more of his work. I thought it was a very enjoyable and entertaining "listen". Unlike some of the previous reviewers, I don't speak French, and so, was not disturbed by the reader's poor pronunciation. I listened to most of the book at my computer, which allowed me to search the web for most of the pictures mentioned in the story. This capability made the book an interesting interactive experience. All in all it was a great audio experience that I would recommend to anyone interested in art, art history, or just a good story.
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17 people found this helpful
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Overall
- jc
- 05-12-07
French pronunciation abominable
I'm a big fan of Ross King and this is an interesting history of a period of change in the world of painting. I would give it 5 stars if it were not for the narrator's incorrect and inconsistent pronunciation of the French words in almost every paragraph. This distracted me to the point that I found it difficult to pay attention to the substance of the book.
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5 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Kindle Customer
- 03-07-07
The painting that changed everything
An engaging narrative surrounds the events of the creation of the most pivotal painting in modern art, "Le Dejeuner sur l'herbe." Better known to Americans as "Luncheon on the Grass," this painting marks the beginning of modern art, affecting every painting to come after it. Everything about this painting was different and radical: the scandalous subject matter, violations of perspective, confounding multiple light sources, and most of all the style of painting. Manet did paint it in the draftsman like style of the popular painters of the day, but in an "impressionistic" way.
This is a must for any art history buff and an excellent story of French history for the less artistically inclined as well.
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- Keith
- 06-10-07
Compelling Listening
For me there is no better way to learn about history than the historic novel. "The Judgement of Paris" follows the parallel careers of the French painters Meissonier & Manet: one the most respected and sought-after painters of his day, the other a struggling artist who would eventually help define the Impressionist art movement.
The story goes back & forth between the careers of both men before, during and just after the time that the Impressionists were setting up their own public showing, after being refused from the Paris Salon. You get a real feel for the sensibility, politics, art and people of that period of time. All in a very entertaining manner, that doesn't feel like a text book. It's the kind of story that will have you running to the library or internet to look up the lesser known paintings and sculptures that are mentioned throughout.
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5 people found this helpful
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- Tomas
- 07-21-20
Makes you feel there
Combines perfectly the historical background with the details of each painter' life.
Truly enjoyable and educational.
The french pronunciation of the reader was not the best.
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- S. Shaw
- 02-27-18
Wonderfully researched, but to what end?
This was an easy one to finish, the narration is perfect and it was full of interesting information to fill out the period. As far as carrying through the theme, it felt abrupt towards the end and I'm not certain it achieved the goal of explaining the progress and ultimate primacy of impressionism. I would happily listen to it again, however, for the biographical information.
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