Jeanne-Françoise Julie Adélaïde Bernard Récamier ( December 4 , 1777 – May 11, 1849 ) was a Frenchwoman who was a leader of the literary and political circles of the early 19th century.Born in Lyon, France Lyon, and known as Juliette, she was married at fifteen to
Jacques Récamier (d. 1830), a rich banker more than 30 years her senior. At the time, it was said that he was in fact her natural father who married her to make her his heir.
She gave her name to a famous kind of sofa called the récamier after her and her habit to lie in one. And I believe she really could carry it off. She was quite lovely to look at, and reclining in that way must have only added to her attractiveness. She once had a thing with Lucien Bonaparte, as suspicion goes. (Lucien was a younger brother of Joseph and Napoleon Bonaparte )
Juliette Récamier died in 1849 at the age of 71 and was buried in the Cimetiere de Montmartre in the Montmartre Quarter of Paris
above - just like my grandmothers
To have something like one of these placed in a sitting area of a bedroom or living room would add so much to a room. My grandmother had one on one side of her living room. Even if you were shooting for contemporary, it would be like an accessory. A painting or vintage poster. Now I know that people doing contemporary rooms often buy the vintage posters ( which are great ) and the reason they do that is to give the room some relief, a rest, a break from all the clean lines and plainness that can happen. It really is a piece of history, and remember that a unique appointment in a finished room is all you will ever need for an ice breaker, a conversation maker at a any gathering.
This sofa really has ' bones!'
Don't you think?
i originally posted this back in 2008
