“A Conversation on the Quai
Voltaire” is the title of Lee Langley’s latest novel. It concerns Vivant Denon, and his
servant, Baptiste. Vivant lives in interesting times. Sent to Paris to study
law, he became enraptured by the arts instead. So witty and personable was he,
that he became a favourite of Louis XV, who entrusted him with Madame de
Pompadour’s gems. Catherine the Great thought Vivant was a spy when Louis sent
him as an attaché to the French embassy in St. Petersburg. Vivant Denon was a
skilled artist, who was called upon to make an engraving of Voltaire. After the
revolution, Vivant became a confidante of a certain Monsieur Bonaparte,
although he may have regretted the friendship later when under gunfire in
Egypt, where he sketched the ancient monuments. However, he is credited as being
responsible for “Egyptomania”, and upon his death, his collection of
antiquities formed the basis for the Louvre’s collection. Both Baptiste and
Vivant fall in love in Venice, and run into characters such as William Hamilton
(the cuckolded husband of Emma). Lee Langley has certainly chosen a good
subject for her novel. To find out more about the author, you must visit our Lee Langley page.
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