Tea at Trianon: Louis XVI's Wardrobe

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

Friday, June 21, 2013

Louis XVI's Wardrobe

From This is Versailles:

Louis XVI did not change much at Versailles but this particular room is an exception. The door is hidden and leads from the King's Bedchamber - it was created on the order of Louis XV in 1738 but was at this time half the size of the wardrobe it would become. The beautiful golden wood-work is the work of Jean-Siméon and Jean-Hugues Rousseau who would finish the room in 1788 (it would be their last work done to Versailles). The architect was Richard Mique. The wood-work includes emblems with symbols relating to the navy, trade, agriculture, science and the arts. The white and gold-style was very popular at this time which is why some of the other rooms looks similar to this one. (Read entire post.)