Tea at Trianon: A Bertin Creation Recreated

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

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

A Bertin Creation Recreated

A reproduction of one of Marie-Antoinette's gowns from an Italian display a couple years ago.

Anonymous said...: It just doesn't seem right at all. It should wider, the fabric choice for is wrong too. The arms should be brocade, the corsage to. Right now it looks too much... "Coppola".

The wig is really nice though. :); March 1, 2011 at 6:58:00 AM EST
Gabriela Delworth - Adult Learning & Development said...: Hello,

Stunning!

~ Gabriela ~; March 1, 2011 at 8:12:00 AM EST
elena maria vidal said...: Natalia, I agree that the panniers should be much wider. Of course, it would be difficult to find the identical fabric that Mlle. Bertin used, or even fabric similar in quality.

I, too, think it is stunning for an imitation, Gabriela. It helps us to imagine what the original would have been like.; March 1, 2011 at 9:04:00 AM EST
tubbs said...: The only thing missing are Mizz Ellen's curtain rods!

NO YOU IZZIN, NOT WIT MIZZ ELLEN'S PORTIERS.; March 1, 2011 at 1:49:00 PM EST
elena maria vidal said...: Hahaha. Mr. Tubbs, you is BAD!; March 1, 2011 at 1:52:00 PM EST
lara77 said...: I try to imagine the sounds of all that fabric across the parquet floors at Versailles with the scent of perfume and candles burning; what an incredible scene! I guess we will have to rely on Elena Maria to give us the picture that unfortunately is gone from today's world. How absolutely feminine one would feel to wear a dress of such beauty!!; March 2, 2011 at 9:03:00 AM EST