Tea at Trianon: Monsieur le Dauphin

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

Thursday, July 19, 2012

Monsieur le Dauphin

Marie-Antoinette presents her first born son to France. It is interesting that even before the Revolution a classical goddess was used to represent France. Share

4 comments:

Karen The Graphics Fairy said...: Hi Mary, I hope you are doing well! Stop by my blog today at 1 PM, I'm mentioning you in my post and I want you to see the graphic that I'm sharing!; July 19, 2012 at 9:57:00 AM EDT
Mrs. Rudd said...: Rubens had personified France as a classical goddess back in the 1620s for his Marie de Medici cycle. I wonder if he was the first?; July 19, 2012 at 10:13:00 AM EDT
elena maria vidal said...: I certainly will! Thanks, Karen!!; July 19, 2012 at 10:25:00 AM EDT
elena maria vidal said...: Mrs. Rudd: I don't know. It could very well be! Great observation!; July 19, 2012 at 10:54:00 AM EDT