Background
French government guidelines provide that citizens of France must be at least thirty years old, respect French civil law, and must have, "significantly contributed to the enrichment of the French cultural inheritance".
Members are not, however, limited to French nationals. Recipients have included numerous foreign luminaries.
Foreign recipients are admitted into the Order, "without condition of age".
The Order has three grades:
- Commandeur (commander) — medallion worn on necklet; up to twenty recipients a year.
- Officier (officer) — medallion worn on ribbon with rosette on left breast; up to sixty recipients a year.
- Chevalier (knight) — medallion worn on ribbon on left breast; up to 200 recipients a year.
The médaille of the Order is an eight-point, green-enameled asterisk, in gilt for commanders and officers, in silver for knights; the obverse central disc has the letters "A" and "L" on a white enamelled background, surrounded by a golden ring emblazoned with the phrase "République Française". The reverse central disc features the head of Marianne on a golden background, surrounded by a golden ring bearing the words "Ordre des Arts et des Lettres". The commander's badge is topped by a gilt twisted ring.
The ribbon of the Order is green with four white stripes.
Read more about this topic: Commandeurs Of The Ordre Des Arts Et Des Lettres
Famous quotes containing the word background:
“Silence is the universal refuge, the sequel to all dull discourses and all foolish acts, a balm to our every chagrin, as welcome after satiety as after disappointment; that background which the painter may not daub, be he master or bungler, and which, however awkward a figure we may have made in the foreground, remains ever our inviolable asylum, where no indignity can assail, no personality can disturb us.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Pilate with his question “What is truth?” is gladly trotted out these days as an advocate of Christ, so as to arouse the suspicion that everything known and knowable is an illusion and to erect the cross upon that gruesome background of the impossibility of knowledge.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“They were more than hostile. In the first place, I was a south Georgian and I was looked upon as a fiscal conservative, and the Atlanta newspapers quite erroneously, because they didn’t know anything about me or my background here in Plains, decided that I was also a racial conservative.”
—Jimmy Carter (James Earl Carter, Jr.)