The Newport Symposium: The French Influence in Newport

Keynote Speaker: Dr. Mathieu Deldicque, Chief Curator and Director of Château de Chantilly

Thursday, November 6

From Chantilly to Newport: A Transatlantic Dialogue between Contemporary Mansions

The architects, decorators and owners of the great Newport mansions were obviously inspired by the Palace of Versailles and the Loire Valley châteaux, but also – something that is generally less emphasized – by the almost contemporary construction sites they discovered in France during their travels. Among these was the Château de Chantilly, rebuilt between 1875 and 1885 by the Duke of Aumale, just a few years before the major construction projects in Newport.

Using previously unpublished archives, this presentation will examine the relationships forged between Richard Morris Hunt, the Vanderbilts and the Duke of Aumale, as well as the use of common suppliers (such as the firm of Tassinari & Chatel) and the commissioning of copies of French furniture currently displayed in Chantilly. A dialogue tinged with admiration but also competition thus emerged between the very old French aristocracy and the great fortunes of the New World.

Bio: Alum of the École nationale des chartes and the Institut national du patrimoine, Paris, Mathieu Deldicque holds a Ph.D. in art history. He now works as a chief curator and director of the Musée Condé and the Horse Museum of the Château de Chantilly. Prior to this, he worked at the French Ministry of Culture from 2013 to 2015 as curator in charge of national châteaux. Since his arrival in Chantilly in 2015, he has curated numerous exhibitions on the Renaissance, the 19th century and the decorative arts. He has overseen several great restoration projects, such as the private apartments of the duke and duchess of Aumale, and the prints and drawings galleries of the Logis wing.

Dr. Deldicque studied some great American mansions in 2023 during his residency hosted by the Villa Albertine. He is a member of the International Council of the Preservation Society of Newport County.

Margot Bernstein, Ph.D., Curator, Private Collection

Thursday, November 6

The Kirby Perkins Construction Lecture

Bio: Dr. Margot Bernstein specializes in 18th-century French art and material culture. She holds a B.A. from Williams College, an M.A. from the Courtauld Institute of Art and an M.A., M.Phil. and Ph.D. from Columbia University. Articles drawn from Dr. Bernstein’s doctoral dissertation on the French draftsman Louis Carrogis, called Carmontelle (1717–1806), have been published in the Metropolitan Museum Journal and Nineteenth Century Studies.

Prior to taking up her current role as curator of a private collection, Dr. Bernstein served as a Chester Dale Fellow in the Department of Drawings and Prints at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and held curatorial internships at numerous New York museums, including the Frick Collection, New-York Historical Society, Metropolitan Museum of Art and Morgan Library and Museum.

Leslie B. Jones, Director of Museum Affairs and Chief Curator, The Preservation Society of Newport County
Laura Bergemann, former Preservation Society Conservation Research Fellow and doctoral student at Vanderbilt University
Théo Lourenço, Preservation Society Curatorial Research Fellow

Thursday, November 6

Allard Across the Atlantic: An Update on the Preservation Society’s Progress in Studying Jules Allard
The Ralph E. Carpenter, Jr. Lecture, presented by the Newport Symposium Committee

The prominent 19th-century designer Jules Allard (1832-1907) has long been associated with America’s Gilded Age interiors. While The Preservation Society of Newport County has known of Allard’s contributions to Marble House (1892), The Breakers (1895), The Elms (1901) and Rosecliff (1902), details of his process, sourcing, design intent and production have lacked a clear understanding. Beginning in 2022, the Preservation Society initiated a dedicated survey of Allard furniture, interiors and personal history. Join current and former research fellows Théo Lourenço and Laura Bergemann, along with the Preservation Society’s Director of Museum Affairs, for a conversation on the status of the survey and what is next for Allard’s French influence in Newport.

Bios:
Leslie B. Jones serves as the Director of Museum Affairs and Chief Curator for The Preservation Society of Newport County. She joined the society in 2019 to oversee research, curatorial, conservation, collections management, exhibitions, interpretation and programmatic initiatives such as family programs and lectures. Previously, Jones served in leadership and curatorial roles at Cheekwood Estate & Gardens in Nashville, Tennessee, and the White House Historical Association.

Laura Bergemann received her BS in Chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a Master of Science degree in Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works and Master of Arts degree in History of Art and Archaeology from The Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, and received a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship. Laura is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Material Science at Vanderbilt University after completing a Conservation Research Fellowship with the Preservation Society of Newport County. Prior to her work with the Preservation Society, she excelled in several internship and professional roles at institutions including the Museum Conservation Institute, Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C.; the Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields, Indianapolis; The Frick Collection, New York; and Sotheby’s, New York.

Théo Lourenço attended École du Louvre, Paris, where he earned a Diploma of the First Cycle, magna cum laude; a Diploma of Museum Studies, summa cum laude; and a master’s degree in Museum Studies. His qualifying dissertations were "The Louvre: An Encyclopedic Museum? Study of the Pavillon des Sessions" and "A Museum in Debate: Study of the Reception of the Decorative Arts Exhibitions at the Louvre (1852-1914)." Lourenço’s previous work as the Preservation Society’s French Heritage Society Intern significantly increased our institutional knowledge regarding Jules Allard and his business practices. He also has experience as the Assistant Curator for an upcoming exhibition "Louvre-Lens, Lens" and as a Project Coordinator for an event honoring the work of French historian Pierre Singaravélou.

Becky Libourel Diamond, Food Culture Historian

Thursday, November 6

French Flavors of the Gilded Age
The Russell Morin Catering & Events Lecture

During the Gilded Age, American high society embraced all things French — especially when it came to food and entertaining. From opulent balls and banquets to elegant teas and wedding breakfasts, French cuisine reigned supreme. Words like restaurant, menu, café and à la became part of everyday vocabulary, while French-inspired dishes became staples on fashionable menus. Join Becky Libourel Diamond, food historian and author of The Gilded Age Cookbook, for an engaging talk exploring the fascination with French food during this glamorous era.

Bio: Becky Libourel Diamond is a food writer, librarian and research historian. Her most recent book, The Gilded Age Christmas Cookbook, was released in September. It follows The Gilded Age Cookbook, in which she blends Gilded Age details and celebrity stories with historic menus and recipes updated for modern kitchens. She is also the author of The Thousand Dollar Dinner and Mrs. Goodfellow: The Story of America’s First Cooking School.

Diamond holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Rider University and a Master of Library Science degree from Rutgers University. She has worked as a business librarian at Rutgers-New Brunswick since 2020. Her current project is a history of Philadelphia's famous City Tavern restaurant. She lives in Yardley, Pennsylvania.

Dr. Justine De Young, Associate Professor and Chair of the History of Art Department, Fashion Institute of Technology (SUNY) in New York City

Friday, November 7

Newport and the Art of Parisian Chic

In the 19th century, French fashion was king. Elite women across the word — from Tokyo to Toronto, from Naples to Newport — sought not only to dress in the latest Parisian styles, but also to master the art of Parisian chic, aligning their dress, appearance and behavior in line with expectations of the time. Looking at a rich array of visual sources — from portraits to modern-life paintings, and from photographs to fashion plates — Professor Justine De Young in this lecture will reveal how 19th-century women were seen, how they aspired to be seen, and how they navigated public life in Belle Époque Paris, Newport, and beyond.

Bio: Dr. Justine De Young specializes in the intersection of art and fashion, teaching courses on modern art and fashion history. Her latest book, The Art of Parisian Chic: Modern Women and Modern Artists in Impressionist Paris (2025), decodes the details of dress, behavior and styling that defined late 19th-century Parisian women and traces the invention of the chic Parisienne in art and life. She is the editor of Fashion in European Art: Dress and Identity, Politics and the Body, 1775-1925 (2019) and of the Fashion History Timeline website, which offers expert-written decade overviews, a fashion dictionary and hundreds of essays on fashion in art, museums and film. She also regularly contributes to exhibition catalogs, including "Impressionism, Fashion & Modernity" (2012-13), "Tissot: Fashion & Faith" (2019-2020), and “Inside Out: The Prints of Mary Cassatt” (2021).

Natalie Faulkner Larson, Interior Textile Historian, Historic Textile Reproductions LLC

Friday, November 7

Following the Evidence Trail: Making Textile Reproductions at The Elms

In Gilded Age Newport, textiles for beds, windows and all interior needs were largely imported from France. Textiles are more than just design; they are important historical documents that provide a wealth of information about the past. When these soft materials, made of natural fibers, become too fragile for display, they often require a reproduction to help bring a historic space back to life. Join Natalie Faulkner Larson to learn more about the process of researching and gathering evidence for textile reproductions. This will include a study of surviving furniture, associated hardware, physical evidence, period graphics and surviving textiles in museum collections. Larson will use recent projects at the Vanderbilt House in Hyde Park and The Elms in Newport to discuss the process and hopeful outcomes of this specific work.

Bio: Natalie Faulkner Larson is a textile historian and owner of Historic Textile Reproductions. She holds a degree in Anthropology from the University of Maine and worked as an archaeologist in Arizona and Virginia before joining the department of Collections and Conservation at the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, where she researched and made reproduction furnishing textiles for 20 years. Larson has served as a consultant to more than 90 museums, from Key West to Maine, including the homes of nine presidents, three state capitols, numerous National Park Service sites and the White House. Larson has lectured at many museums, the Sotheby’s Institute, Parsons School of Design, FIT, and recently won the Samuel Gaillard Stoney Conservation Craftsmanship Award from the Historic Charleston Foundation. She is currently researching a catalog of American furnishing textiles.

Nadia Albertini, French Heritage Society Scholar, Franco-Mexican embroidery and textile designer

Friday, November 7

Woven Splendor: French Fabrics from Versailles to Newport

From the grandeur of Versailles to the salons of the Belle Époque, French textiles have long shaped the aesthetics of interior decoration and luxury living. This talk explores the rich history of France’s textile industry, with a special focus on interior and upholstery fabrics. We will journey through the country’s most important weaving regions — Lyon with its sumptuous silks, Beauvais and Aubusson with their tapestries — tracing the techniques, innovations and artistry that defined them. Along the way, we’ll uncover how these regional traditions responded to royal patronage, global trade and industrial development. The story comes full circle in Newport, where the Gilded Age elite commissioned these very textiles to adorn their “American palaces,” importing the spirit of Versailles and Parisian salons into the mansions along Bellevue Avenue.

Bio: Nadia Albertini is an embroidery designer, historian and Ph.D. researcher specializing in embroidery archives and endangered textile techniques. Trained in Paris at Ecole Duperre and ENSAD, she has worked for leading fashion houses including Chloé, Chanel, Dries van Noten and the Row, before turning to research and teaching. Her doctoral project at l’Ecole Nationale des Chartes focuses on the Rébé embroidery archives preserved at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, with a particular emphasis on cataloguing and digitizing the 900 unpublished samples and more than 5,500 original embroidery sketches. She lectures on fashion and textile history at the American University of Paris, Polimoda in Florence and at the University of the Arts in Singapore. Albertini also leads international workshops and research trips on embroidery heritage. Her work bridges craft practice, material culture and digital preservation, with the aim of ensuring that textile archives remain accessible, relevant and inspirational for future generations of designers and scholars.

Bob Shaw, “The Gilded Age” Production Designer

Friday, November 7

French Inspiration on the Set of HBO’s “The Gilded Age”
The Newport Design Week Lecture

Emmy Award-winning production designer Bob Shaw brings us behind the scenes on bringing 19th-century French-inspired splendor to life on HBO’s “The Gilded Age.” Shaw will speak about the research process that shaped the visual language of the show, including how he and his team matched interiors with the characters’ “old” or “new” money status. The result is a sumptuous backdrop that evokes the era’s grandeur and deepens the narrative of ambition, identity and social transformation. From marble-clad ballrooms to intimate drawing rooms, each space tells a story of wealth, taste and the desire to belong. For the architectural enthusiasts who notice the occasions when the show “gets it wrong” historically, Shaw will explain when a cinematically appropriate decision takes precedence in order to better bring the production to life for viewers. 

Bio: Bob Shaw is an Emmy Award-winning production designer and Academy Award-nominated art director well known for his work on “The Irishman” (2019), “The Wolf of Wall Street” (2013), and “The Sopranos” (2000-2007). His career in film, television and theater spans 30 years and includes winning two Emmys for his work on “Mad Men” (2008) and “Boardwalk Empire” (2011). Since “The Gilded Age” began airing in 2022, his set production has wowed audiences and earned him an Emmy for Outstanding Production Design for a Narrative Period.