Thursday, July 20 - Monday, July 24

Four day guided tour of Paris introduces travelers to

the royal mistresses and courtesans of French history

New York, NY -- Shady Ladies Tours will present Shady Ladies of Paris, a four day tour of Parisian art, architecture and culture that celebrates the seductive women who rose to the top of French society, from royal mistresses like Madame de Pompadour and Madame du Barry to courtesans like the Lady of the Camellias.  Guided by Professor Andrew Lear, world-renowned scholar of sexuality and art, Shady Ladies of Paris introduces tour-goers to the powerful women of France from the Renaissance through the Belle Epoque.  Taking place from Thursday July 20 to Monday July 24, the tour takes travelers to sights and museums across Paris and the Loire Valley to reveal the lives of the many shady ladies of Paris.

"The Shady Ladies of Paris tour gives people Paris the way Madame de Pompadour herself would want them to see it," explained Professor Lear.  "As a long weekend with friends or as part of a longer trip to France, the tour is a fabulous way to discover Paris for the first time or see it again from an entirely new perspective."

Highlights of the jam-packed four day itinerary include:

• A Shady Ladies tour of the Musée D'Orsay (modeled on Professor Lear's well-known Shady Ladies tour of the Metropolitan Museum of Art) where they'll learn the stories behind artworks like Clesinger's "Woman Bitten by a Serpent" and Cézanne's "A Modern Olympia."
• Some of Paris' lesser known treasures, such as Maxim's Art Nouveau Museum, which houses designer Pierre Cardin's collection of 19th century antiques, arranged as a courtesan's apartment.
• An exclusive tour of the spectacular mansion of La Païva, one of the most famous courtesans of Belle Epoque Paris. The house—now the only remaining private mansion on the Champs Elysées—is today one of Paris' most elegant private clubs. 
• An excursion to the beautiful Loire Valley to visit “the castle of the women," Chenonceau, the best-preserved and most interesting of the valley's castles.
• Hotel and restaurants chosen both for their excellence and for relevance to the Shady Ladies theme.

The Shady Ladies of Paris tour is available for $2,450. Price includes five nights accommodations (July 19-24, including one complimentary pre-tour night) at Hotel Edouard VII, all transportation inside France, the services of professional tour guides, all museum and attraction admission fees, all breakfasts, 2 lunches and 2 dinners. Reservations can be made now at www.shadyladiestours.com/shady-ladies-paris/. For more information, please visit www.shadyladiestours.com/paris-faqs/, email shadyladiestours@gmail.com, or call 646 201 4848.

Professor Lear is also offering a series of European tours in late summer and fall.  Gay London and Paris (Monday August 14 - Tuesday August 22), Gay Greece (Thursday September 7 - Tuesday September 19), and Gay Italy from Caesar to Michelangelo and Beyond (Wednesday September 20 - Friday September 29).

About Shady Ladies Tours

Shady Ladies Tours introduces art lovers to some of the sexiest and  sauciest works of art in the world.  Led personally by Professor Andrew Lear, a leading scholar on the history of sexuality and one of the foremost experts on erotic art, the tours reveal the scandalous back-stories behind paintings and sculptures in major museums throughout New York City and Europe.  With his groundbreaking work on the history of art and his long experience as a scholar and teacher, Professor Lear is an ideal guide to give tour-goers an entirely new (and naughty) perspective on both classic and little-known pieces of art.  For more information, please visit www.shadyladiestours.com.

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