Tea at Trianon: The Apartments of Mesdames

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

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

The Apartments of Mesdames

Now newly restored and opened to the public. From the Versailles website:

Under the reign of Louis XV, the apartments of Mesdames were, after those of the king, the most sumptuous of the Palace of Versailles. Located on the ground floor of the central section, they were occupied for twenty years, from 1769 until the Revolution, by the princesses Adélaïde and Victoire, Louis XV's daughters. These apartments have now recovered their furniture and fittings made for the royal household and the objets d’art that decorated them: a veritable unrecognised treasure that has emerged from the storerooms of Versailles. (Read more.)

lara77 said...: No nation ever brought together that combination of decor; elegant, sumptuous,regal and absolutely beautiful. The furniture looked like art; simply magnificent. I must commend the French in their recognition and pride of 18th century French decor.; May 1, 2013 at 7:59:00 AM EDT