Rose Valland was an overlooked, unassuming, and unpaid but highly educated art historian in a Parisian museum until the Nazi’s invaded France–then she became an unassuming and overlooked French Resistance spy, putting her life on the line as she tracked the Nazi looting of French artwork. When the war ended, her documentation and continued work were invaluable in retrieving and returning this art to its rightful owners.
Rosa Antonia Valland was born on November 1, 1898, in Saint Etienne de Saint Geoirs, France. She was the only surviving child of Francois Valland and Rosa Viardin Valland. Papa was a blacksmith, and Mama was a strong supporter of education for her daughter, which Rose got in abundance. Primary school, teaching college, art school in Lyon, France, and then off to Paris to study art, art history, and a whole lot of other topics in multiple universities all designed to give her a well-rounded art education. Her goal: Art curator at a French museum.
Along the way, Rose met Joyce Heer a British woman who worked as a translator at the US Embassy in Paris, and the two had a long and lovely life together. Having a supportive partner must have helped Rose, who, despite being more qualitfied for any job she applied for, was blackballed in the Parisian art world by one man. She had so many side-hustles to pay the bills, but Rose finally secured an unpaid, volunteer position at the Jeu de Paume National Museum in Paris.
Joyce Heer circa 1930, via US State Dept.
Rose was well-established, extremely efficient, and knew a great deal about art, art history, and the operations of the Jeu de Paume museum when, in 1940, the Nazi army invaded France. Their art-theiving operation set up offices in Rose’s museum, and because they thought she was simply someone who could keep the lights on and the bathrooms cleaned, they let the unassuming woman continue to work there.
Front of Jeu de Paume in the Tuileries Gardens, Paris. via wikicommonsThe Jeu de Paume’s profile…much larger than it looks from the front! via wikcommons
When the Nazis occupied France, they began systematically looting Europe’s greatest works of art from families, collectors, and galleries of Jewish people. It was then that Rose, quiet and unassuming, found herself in a unique position with a unique skill set to fight back. Working undercover in the museum, surrounded by the enemy and risking her life every day, she secretly documented their crimes.
Because of her extensive and detailed documentation, Rose helped ensure that those responsible for the thefts were brought to justice. After the war, Rose joined the military, led a Fine Arts unit, and continued her mission to bring art masterpieces back to their rightful homes. After eight years of being stationed in Germany, Rose retired back to Paris and was finally employed as an art curator.
Rose died on September 18, 1980, at the age of 81. She is, as well as her life partner Joyce, buried in the Valland family vault in her hometown.
Valland family vault, Saint Etienne et Saint Geoirs, France (via geneanet)
Time Travel With The History Chicks
Books!
By Michelle Young. Get this one, it’s such a great read.Rose book, Volume One (IYKYK) By Corrine BouchouxBy Robert M. EdselPicture book for kids, by Erin McGuire
Web!
Visit Rose’s museum, the Jeu de Paume in Paris, either in person (lucky you!) or virtually.
Before you gobble up your next biography, take a moment to peek into the methods used to get that information from Michelle Young, author of The Art Spy (then read that because it is so good!) From Narratively.
Moving Pictures!
We think Rose’s story is so perfect for a movie, this is not about Rose but there is a character in it that is based on her that totally disappointed Susan.
The Rose character didn’t even make the movie poster…come on now!
Grace circa 1984, via US Navy and wikicommonsGrace, circa 1940s. Don’t smoke kids. via wikicommons
Grace Brewster Murray was born on December 9th, 1906, in New York City to Walter Fletcher Murray and Mary Campbell Van Horne Murray. Papa was an insurance broker, and Mama, while brilliant, had her education end when she was a teenager.
In August 2026, we set off on a new-to-us Field Trip with 36 excited travelers to the Loire Valley in France. Our goal: Six châteaux, one basilica, one cathedral, and the fantastic home of a beloved polymath. We started in Paris, ended back in Paris, and over-achieved our goal in between. It wasn’t all-history-all-the time (we were in France, there’s wine and cheese to be had) but the past came alive for all of us.
In this episode, we’re joined by most of those travelers who share the history they learned and touched, the stories of women who lived where we stood, and other adventures with friends new and old along the way in beautiful France.
Below is a pictoral travelogue of places we all talked about in this episode!
The Paris Olympic 2024 Cauldron was on display…and lit!…in the Tuileries Gardens in Paris. Photo: Nancy R.Our first stop after leaving two days in Paris: Chateau de Blois! Photo Sari G.Inside the main staircase at Blois. Photo, Sari G.After settling into our home base in Tours, we visited the largest of our stops- Chateau de Chambord. This is the iconic double-helix staircase- people can ascend and decend at the same time and never see each other! Photo, Victoria C.Some of us waving from the staircase windows at Château Azay le Rideau. Photo, Suelynne R.Azey le Rideau, credit Beckett G.We had Chenonceau to ourselves! This is the gallery that goes over the river credit, Susan V.Dinner glasswear, Chenonceau, L’Orangerie Credit Beckett G.Chateu de Chenonceau at night after our spectacular dinner in the Orangerie! Photo, Michelle M.From the stunning gardens at Chateuau de Villandry, Photo, a very soggy Nancy R.White eggplant at Villandry credit Susan V.Black peppers, Villandry credit Susan V.Eleanor of Aquitaine and King Henry II’s effigies at Abbey Royale de Fontevraud. Photo, Jerilyn C.
If joining us on a Field Trip sounds like something you would like to do, there are still a few openings for our 2027 trips to Paris in April and San Francisco in September. We will be opening up the final tour of 2027, Japan in October, soon! Visit Like Minds Travel for more information!
Gertrude at 77 in 1920, by William Nicholson (National Portrait Gallery)
Gertrude Jekyll could turn her hand to anything; deeply involved with the Arts and Crafts movement, she mastered dozens of specialties in her quest to explore the relationship between human lives and their environments.
As her eyesight failed, she turned to large-scale endeavors, and changed how the world thought about gardens, turning them from formal displays into living, breathing works of art. She used color, texture, and shape like a painter on a large, ever-changing canvas.
Gertrude’s innovations within her finished gardens – and decades of written work – made her an inspiration for generations of gardeners and landscape architects. And she became one of the most influential garden designers of all time.
One of Gertrude’s maaaaany photographs at Munstead Wood via wikicommonsFirst floor of Munstead Wood via wikicommonsLutyens bench, this one’s about $1400 from Golden Teak, but you can find them in other places as well. Miss Jekyll’s Boots by William Nicholson, 1920 (it’s at the Tate Museum in London)
Registration is open for both our San Francisco Field Trip, and the Dinner Cruise on our final night in September, 2027! For information and to register, please visit Like Minds Travel! We hope to see you there!
Shownotes are under construction, please come back later for all of our media recommendations!
Time Travel With The History Chicks
Books!
Biography by Sally FestingGertrude Jekyll Essays on the life of a working amateur edited by Primrose Arnander and Michael TooleyBy Fenja GunnBy Rosamund Wallinger (This is the one about the couple that restored their Gertrude garden)Just one (maybe our favorite…if we could pick a favorite) by Gertrude Jekyll
You can find links and photos of her remaining (or inspired by) public gardens on GreatBritishGardens.co.uk.
If you would like to see some of her art, photography, and gardens in one place, plus a gardener-centered look at her work, check out this article at Garden Museum UK, or visit them the next time you’re in London. There are also quite a few on GertrudeJekyll.co.uk (The “Official Gertrude site, has quite a bit of information on her.) For some photos of her home, there’s a lot here in this brochure from when it was last for sale in 2022.
The David Austin rose named for her (known for scent and prolific flowers) you can find it wherever David Austin roses are sold, but also on David Austin Rose’s website.
Beckett talked about a couple that had restored a Gertrude Jekyll garden at their home, Upton Grey. You can’t visit anymore, but you can check out their website! The Manor House
Not a Gertrude design, but Gertrude-inspired and owned by the National Trust, so you can visit in Kent UK, Sissinghurst
There is a rose named after Gertrude, here is some information and the source at David Austin Roses
End music: In Your Garden, by Frigga, used with permission
