Tea at Trianon: Rug

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, April 29, 2013

Rug

Above is a rug made by Marie-Antoinette and Madame Elisabeth during their years of imprisonment. It was begun in the Tuileries Palace in 1791; they continued working on it in the Temple prison. (Via Louis XX.)

lara77 said...: I am absolutely amazed that this piece of history was at least not gashed by some revolutionary soldier's bayonet! It is absolutely beautiful and to know who made it makes it even more special. With all that was sold or destroyed I am always amazed at what survived down through the centuries.; April 30, 2013 at 8:56:00 AM EDT
Gette said...: I knew that they kept busy with various little works while in prison, but I had no idea that they could make a whole entire rug!! This is gorgeous!! How did they even know how to do this? I am amazed!

~Georgette; April 30, 2013 at 10:04:00 AM EDT
elena maria vidal said...: Yes, Lara, it is a miracle it has survived. Yes, Georgette, it is remarkable. Marie-Antoinette had become quite expert at tapestry and rug making and any kind of embroidery. She had long been planning the designs herself. She was extremely creative but also well-organized.; April 30, 2013 at 4:46:00 PM EDT
The North Coast said...: What a wonderful work of art. The world will never really know how talented Marie Antoinette was, but we can get an idea from her extant needlework. Yet, I never would have believed that she had made a rug like this.

It would be interesting to trace the journey of this heirloom from her hands in her prison, to the present. I wonder who got custody of it when she went to her last prison and hence to the guillotine, and whose hands it passed through afterwards.; May 1, 2013 at 8:33:00 PM EDT