Tea at Trianon: Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette Gallery

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, December 10, 2010

Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette Gallery

I have created a new page as a gallery of Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette with the help of Art.com. Some pictures I have recently discovered, such as the one of Marie-Antoinette (below), looking through a crack in the wall of her prison so she can catch a glimpse of her son Charles with his tormentors. There will be a permanent link to the gallery on the left sidebar, and a link to the French museums and Versailles collections. It is a playground for any art historian!

Marie Antoinette in the P...

Alfred W. Elmore

18x24 Gicl...

The Last Morning of Marie-Antoinette

Louis Baader

18x24 Giclee Print

May said...: Beautiful! Isn't it wonderful that one is always discovering new things...; December 10, 2010 at 10:23:00 AM EST
Mrs. Rudd said...: A wonderful resource. Thank you!; December 10, 2010 at 12:14:00 PM EST
tubbs said...: too heart-wrenching to contemplate - For me, only her elevation to the altar could remedy that hurt.; December 10, 2010 at 5:11:00 PM EST
elena maria vidal said...: You all are wonderful! Thank you!; December 10, 2010 at 7:11:00 PM EST
lara77 said...: The first painting of the Queen trying to peer through the crack in the wall breaks my heart in half. I cannot imagine what Her Majesty was feeling and how hopeless she felt in trying to save her son. The part in the Norma Shearer film of 1938 when they come to take the Dauphin always has me in tears. Thanks for sharing this gallery.; December 13, 2010 at 11:03:00 AM EST
Jeanne said...: Marie-Antoinette at Trial, ca. 1901: https://vivelaqueen.blogspot.com/2015/10/marie-antoinette-2-november-1755-16.html#comment-form; February 4, 2019 at 8:21:00 PM EST