NEWPORT, R.I. — A two-day program this fall will highlight how French art, architecture, design and cuisine shaped the lives of Newport’s Gilded Age elite.
The Newport Symposium: The French Influence in Newport, hosted by the Preservation Society of Newport County, will take place Nov. 6-7 at Rosecliff and Marble House.
The event will spotlight how America’s wealthiest families drew inspiration from French aristocracy. Architect Richard Morris Hunt modeled Alva Vanderbilt’s Marble House on Versailles’ Petit Trianon. Horace Trumbauer’s Elms was inspired by the Château d’Asnières, while Stanford White’s Rosecliff incorporated details from the Grand Trianon. French furniture maker Jules Allard et Fils furnished many Newport “cottages,” and chefs brought authentic French cuisine to the city’s summer season.
The symposium will feature lectures, tours and exclusive access to the exhibition Richard Morris Hunt: In a New Light at Rosecliff. Attendees will visit Preservation Society properties connected to the talks, including The Breakers, Marble House, The Elms, Chateau-sur-Mer and Ochre Court.
Keynote speaker Mathieu Deldicque, chief curator and museum director of France’s Château de Chantilly, will join an international roster of experts. Other speakers include Dr. Justine De Young of the Fashion Institute of Technology, Bob Shaw, production designer for HBO’s The Gilded Age, interior textile historian Natalie Larson, and several curators, historians and fellows associated with the Preservation Society.
Tickets are available at newportmansions.org
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