Tea at Trianon: The Last Portrait of Marie-Antoinette

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, May 24, 2011

The Last Portrait of Marie-Antoinette

The subject of many portraits during her lifetime, the Queen of France was sketched during her last moments by Jacques-Louis David. Some say the sketch is more of a caricature than an accurate depiction, in that David might have made the Queen look worse in order to mock her.

Gabriela Delworth - Instructional Designer said...: Hello,

For sure, Marie was stunning! This drawing doesn't look like her at all...

~ Gabriela ~; May 24, 2011 at 9:06:00 AM EDT
The North Coast said...: I've always hated this drawing, while I've admired other work this artist has done. It's a vicious caricature, done by an artist who was notorious for voting for the death of Louis XVI and detested the monarchy.

I'm sure Marie Antoinette was prematurely aged when she came to the scaffold, for she was very ill by that time and likely would have passed on a few months anyway, but she was never anywhere near being ugly.; May 24, 2011 at 3:19:00 PM EDT
Julygirl said...: Definitely a caricature. He ws not a fan of the monoarchy.; May 25, 2011 at 8:32:00 AM EDT
lara77 said...: Jacques Louis David was a pompous painter who obviously had no love for the Queen or the King. I think of his coronation of Bonaparte; such pretentiousness on a vast scale. All the artist did was show his hatred of Marie Antoinette. He truly was a small man.; May 25, 2011 at 8:42:00 AM EDT
elena maria vidal said...: Was it Naploeon who described David as having the "soul of a lackey"?; May 25, 2011 at 9:30:00 AM EDT
Leonard Greco said...: This drawing has long hurt my heart.
Whatever David felt about the regime, to lose a sense of empathy, to so harshly depict this painful moment, this pains me ; David was a gifted painter, bit his soul was hard.
God bless the Queen, for though this is a caricature, her dignity shines through.
If I faced such terror I can only hope to have a fraction of her composure.
Recquiscat in pace MA; May 27, 2011 at 1:34:00 AM EDT