Tea at Trianon: Portrait of a Queen

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Friday, August 1, 2008

Portrait of a Queen

As readers of Trianon may recall, the novel opens with a scene of Madame Elisabeth Vigée Le Brun painting what became the portrait (above) of Marie-Antoinette and her children. Catherine Delors relates how, according to Madame Campan, it is one of the most accurate portrayals of the Queen, the other being the 1788 portrait by Wertmüller (below). To quote Madame Delors:

This portrait shows Marie-Antoinette in 1788, when she was 33. It was painted by Adolf Ulrik Wertmüller, a Swede who was a member of the Royal Academy in Paris.

Indeed, according to Madame Campan's Memoirs, this is, along with the more famous portrait of the Queen with her children by Madame Vigee-Lebrun, the best likeness of Marie-Antoinette.

Madame Campan, as the Queen's Premiere Femme de Chambre, or First Chambermaid, saw Marie-Antoinette on a daily basis. I trust her judgment on the matter of the likeness.

You can see a shift in the manner in which Marie-Antoinette chose to be depicted, one short year before the Revolution. For one thing, the emphasis is no longer on ornate dresses, giant paniers or shimmering fabrics. Neither is the Queen dressed "en gaulle," in a simple white linen gown. That portrait, beautiful as it is, was the subject of much derision. People remarked jokingly that the Queen had been painted in her chemise.

Here Marie-Antoinette seems to be wearing a simple riding habit. No accusations of immodesty can be made because her kerchief comes up to her chin.

The sobriety and dark colors of the clothing shift the attention to the Queen's face. The features are also different from earlier images. The nose is less small and straight, the lips are thicker, the eyes more prominent than in Madame Lebrun's idealized portraits.

But I read a lot of energy and determination in these eyes, no longer dreamy, in the manner in which the head is proudly held backwards. This is the Queen who will assume a foremost political role during the Revolution. I believe that Madame Campan is right. Here at last we get a glimpse of the real Marie-Antoinette.

As much as I love the work of Madame Lebrun, it is true that in many of her portraits of Marie-Antoinette she was aiming for the misty, dreamy look, rather than an accurate likeness. While the en gaulle portrait (on the sidebar of this blog) is definitely an idealized representation, it embodies the life of simplicity and innocence which the Queen tried to create at Petit Trianon.

Coraje! Coraje no se necesita para morir, coraje se necesita para vivir