Stump the German

[Eva Elisabeth]

Well, Gene, then I think you might prefer Monsieur Reinhardt (also Frenchman) aboard:

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xxw0gg_...-mer_music

Here's the text for your karaoke performance:

The sea
Confuses the summer sky's sheep
With angels so pure.
The sea
Shepherdess of blue infinity.

Look!
Next to the ponds
Those tall wet reeds.
Look!
Those white birds
And those rusty houses

The Sea
Has cradled them
Along the clear gulfs.
The Sea
Has cradled my heart for life.

[wpbinzel]

Sounds Great! Do they have a karaoke machine and a dance floor'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BE-9GubIZM4

(maybe just the karaoke machine, I think I just threw my hip out)

There are those who can sing, and those who can dance, and then there are the rest of us who should do neither in public....

[Eva Elisabeth]

20,000 leagues under the sea there's no need to worry about too many witnesses.

[Eva Elisabeth]

Who is (was) this gentleman?
   

[L Verge]

My first guess would be John Wilkes, but that gentleman was supposed to be very ugly, wasn't he?

[RJNorton]

Friedrich von Gerolt?

[Eva Elisabeth]

These are two outstanding guesses, Laurie and Roger. I'm sorry this is neither of these two gentlemen.
Hint #1: I should call this a "Stump the European" question. IMO the appearance of this gentleman does hint at his origin, which is not German.

[RJNorton]

Édouard Thouvenel?

[Eva Elisabeth]

Another excellent guess, Roger, but this is not the gentleman either.

Hint #2: Roger's last guess was correct as for the gentleman's origin.

[Rogerm]

Is this the portrait of a French king, Eva?

[Eva Elisabeth]

A very good guess, Roger, but not correct either. Explicitly correct is though that he's a French child.

---

Explicitly correct is though that he's a French child.

= hint #3!

[Eva Elisabeth]

Hint #4: Place The French Child into DC. (I cannot be more precise, so this is my last hint.)

[wpbinzel]

Oh, I know him. He's the one that made it impossible to get around in Washington, DC. Pierre L'Enfant.

[L Verge]

That has to be the one! Good job, Bill. BTW: Wasn't L'Enfant fired from his job of designing the capital city?

[wpbinzel]

That has to be the one! Good job, Bill. BTW: Wasn't L'Enfant fired from his job of designing the capital city?

Yes, Laurie, he was fired, and was only paid a fraction of what he thought he was owed for his tangled web design. As one who has spent the past 35 years exasperated by the effort to get from Point A to Point B in downtown Washington, DC, L'Enfant's portrait has a prominent position in my home -- at the center of my dartboard.