Thursday, September 23, 2010

Cour d'Honneur -- Les Invalides



You do not have to be a fan of France's military history to appreciate the beautiful patina on the cannons in Cour d'Honneur. Some of them date from the reign of François 1er, 1515-1567.





I have heard that decorators and gardeners go to extreme measures to get the green patina that the centuries have adorned naturally.

21 comments:

  1. surement le canon d'un poissonnier

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  2. Fascinating post a lot of work must have went in to do the decoration.

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  3. Even the art of war gives us works of art. Beautiful photos.

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  4. I know, isn't that funny? I heard that you can put yogurt on clay pots to give them an antiqued patina! Lovely photos, thank you for your kind comment! XX!

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  5. Nature does wonders if allowed to "do it's thing." Too bad we so often try to fight the natural changes.

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  6. Love the color, love the fish handles. Attention to detail that their middle name.
    V

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  7. Beautiful patina. What exquisite details. Love the fish.

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  8. You have such a great eye for framing, Genie!

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  9. Like both these shots, Genie, but especially the detail Are you by any chance a green-eyed Pisces?
    (Yikes—my WV is fisho!)

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  10. Bergson -- Sans doute. Tu es drôle.

    Picturit -- There are so many different designs among the cannons also.

    Bibi -- Thank you for posting a comment (Feel free to correct my French)

    M -- You probably have lots of detail because I know that you and D went through the museum

    Shari -- Yes, and there are some yucky approaches to getting this patina on copper

    Rob -- I think that quite often we long for a bit of history and a patina at least makes us feel like we have something cherished and old

    Virginia -- Yes, there was/is much detail

    Loree -- I really liked the fish as well. There are some other cannon designs that I will show down the road

    Paul -- Merci beaucoup! But I guess that won't buy me a Chupa Chups.

    Alexa -- Thanks, I love the detail and could just swim in that color. I am a blue-eyed scorpio.

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  11. Genie, this is fascinating. Thanks for your comments on my blog. I'll keeep that full moon in mind for the weekend. We're suposed to be having clear skies and summery weather. Australia is one of the first countries to greet a new day so it sometimes seems like we're a day ahead of you.

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  12. J Bar -- and I think that Jupiter is brighter and closer to the moon than usual -- It won't be seen like this again until 2022. I better go put that on my calendar! Hah! Thanks for posting a comment!
    Genie

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  13. Hi Genie ~ I'm a lover of the beautiful aged colours especially the metallic patina's and would you believe I went looking for this beautiful word ~patina~ to use on my blog last week and the name evaded me. Today Iwas so happy to see it on your site. That's what I love about the world of bloggers ~ a wealth of information. Have a lovely week-end
    ~Dianne~

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  14. Those are great Genie! I am not a big fan of Patina but these are really cool.

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  15. Diane -- I'm glad that you weren't looking for a French word or I might have failed you! Bon weekend à toi, mon amie!

    Randy -- We could just call it "seafoam green" paint. hehe

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  16. Beautiful detail! I was surprised when realized where it belogs.

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  17. JM, merci. I started to just post a "what is it" on the first photo but the row of cannons, all with that perfect patina was too compelling to omit.

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  18. They sure are beautiful. I love the close up shot.

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  19. James -- Thanks, the artistisc detail is evident on many of the cannons in this courtyard and you would miss it without a close-up.

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  20. Ahha ... I see what you mean about the light and the colour green that you achieved.

    I took my shots of the cannons about 1030 in the morning and they were in a fair bit of shade. I have no idea if that made the difference or not. But it is as though we have photographed totally different pieces of artillery.

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Merci for your comments!