Paris - Palais Royal - 1er

Plate XIX - The Palais Royal ...

Another of my favourite retreats in Paris is the Palais-Royal, especially for the many delightful specialist boutiques within its arcades. There is one selling the most exquisite hand painted lead figurines, ranging from authentically uniformed historical military characters to miniature TinTins. It is reputed that it was in one of these shops, selling knives, that Charlotte Corday acquired the weapon she used in the murder of Jean Marat (Marquis de Sade). Of course commercial pursuit was not the original intent of these buildings, for it was originally known as the Palais Cardinal and was home of the powerful Cardinal Richelieu. Completed in 1629 it was designed by Jacques Lemercier. Bequeathed to the crown by Richelieu on his death it has been home to various members of the French royal families, and was a refuge for the royals during the Fronde. It later became home to numerous second floor casinos, and was frequented by ‘ladies of the night’ (no longer part of the deal).

Today the French Conseil d’ État, Constitutional Council and Ministry of Culture are housed here. Controversy arose with the 1986 installation of Daniel Buren’s conceptual contemporary artwork Les Deux Plateaux. Primarily a work in black and white I wanted to capture this scene primarily shaded in natural greys or monochrome. This is not as difficult as it may sound, in a cloudy Paris. I was almost ready to snap (one did not shoot with this camera), when a young cyclist in a red shirt rode into view - making for one of my all time favourite images. I like to think of this as an instant that photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson described in his book Images à la sauvette as a Decisive Moment. Once again, in Paris I was in the perfect place, at the perfect time … only, without the perfect camera!!