Who are the people looking back at us from their portraits? What do their faces, clothes, and gestures tell us? How would I feel in the role of a well-born girl of marriageable age? What if I were a diplomat in the court of the King of France? Could two sisters really be so different?

Along the way, we’ll be guided by questions, clues, and sensory stimuli – a piece of music from the period, a perfume, an accessory – that will help us imagine past lives and discover what they still tell us today.