Tea at Trianon: Marie-Antoinette by David

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, April 23, 2014

Marie-Antoinette by David

David's sketch of Marie-Antoinette on the way to the guillotine is well-known. These other sketches of the Queen are at the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library.

May said...: He makes her look spoiled and petulant.; April 23, 2014 at 5:11:00 PM EDT
May said...: ...as well as cold and arrogant.; April 23, 2014 at 5:12:00 PM EDT
ImportanttoMadeleine said...: There's much I don't know and every time I look at your blog I learn something new, but I'm almost stunned to know these exist. Thank you so much for sharing. The one of her standing is now one of my all-time favorites, not only because it's poignant and beautiful, but because of the irony of David painting it during that time considering his role in the drama. And I love that his notes are scrawled on it. He managed to make her appear tired and sad, yet regal. Have you ever seen the one of her, head and neck only, that look like she's sculpted in clay? It may have been your blog on which I saw it several years ago... It's lovely. Thanks, again, for posting these.; April 26, 2014 at 10:35:00 AM EDT
Yulian Ekowati said...: Excuse me but I think the second sketch is not Marie Antoinette but a copy of a painting by Jules Adolphe Goupil entitled 'Last Day of Mme. Roland'

Here is the link, you may check this out : http://i58.tinypic.com/kai7t4.jpg; March 28, 2016 at 10:41:00 AM EDT