“To be able to live with it, embrace it, learn about it and discover the next piece of beauty in the world—it’s incredible," he tells Observer. "They’re like my children, you know. And I love all my children.”
From Fragonard and Watteau to the Veil-Picard collection, today’s selective auction fervor for the 18th-century style reveals a deeper logic of survival, nostalgia and intentional illusion.