Tea at Trianon: Happier Times

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

Monday, May 3, 2010

Happier Times

Author Melanie Clegg has collected some pictures from the happier times in the life of the royal family of France. Above is a portrait of Marie-Antoinette with her two oldest children by Charles Leclercq. This painting was owned by the Comtesse de Provence.

Above is a picture the Temple of Love during the Queen's party for the King of Sweden, which has been discussed here before.

Louis XVI, Marie-Antoinette and family taking some recreation. Share

4 comments:

Gareth Russell said...: What fantastic pictures! I particularly like the first one as a personal portrait of Marie-Antoinette and the third one has really lovely colours!; May 3, 2010 at 8:27:00 AM EDT
elena maria vidal said...: Yes, I have never seen them anywhere else, either!; May 3, 2010 at 9:19:00 AM EDT
lara77 said...: Elena Maria, I LOVE the last painting; the royal family on one of the pools at Versailles. I have never seen that painting!!Thank you!!; May 4, 2010 at 8:57:00 AM EDT
Heloise said...: Stunning never seen these before Heloise@diasies and dragonflies; February 1, 2013 at 5:54:00 AM EST