PENELOPE ROWLANDS

Some of the many articles and essays I've contributed to various periodicals and websites over the length of my career...

Recent pieces:

A deep look into the famously staring Hans Holbein portraits of Thomas Cromwell and Sir Thomas More

at New York's Frick Collection

The American Scholar

April, 2022

In the midst of the pandemic, an outdated file led me into a precious, near-forgotten world

The American Scholar

December, 2020

A visit to shoe designer Christian Louboutin's zany exhibition in Paris

AirMail Weekly

Feb. 22, 2020

I headed to Chile to research a

biography, but found myself

in an uprising instead...

The American Scholar

December, 2019

The story of Aaron Burr's exile in Europe -- and the extraordinary diary he kept in this period.

The American Scholar

Summer issue, 2019

Designer Alessandra Branca's

new atelier by the Seine

ElleDecor

April, 2019

"The Ambitious Dr. Hosack" A book review for the Wall St. Journal (June 1, 2018) (415 KB)

The story of quiche

-- and my amazing mother

Eat, Darling, Eat

October, 2017

And some classics:

On the artists Kiki and Seton Smith, for WSJ. magazine (613 KB)

A profile of the

inimitable designer Tony Duquette

Architectural Digest

January, 2000

On the HUGE impact of a tiny ad...

Columbia Journalism Review

January / February, 2007

How living in Paris transforms you...

The Telegraph (UK)

January 31, 2011

Novelist, Essayist, Parisian:

A profile of Diane Johnson

San Francisco Chronicle Magazine

June 15, 2003

Joan Juliet Buck, former editor of Paris Vogue, turns to acting

The Daily Beast

July, 2010

My wayward youth, as documented in Vogue... (548 KB)

On the outsized influence of an inherited chair...

San Francisco Chronicle Magazine

July 17, 2010

A visit to the Maine house of

Sister Parish, American designer

Architectural Digest

June, 2006

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