Tea at Trianon: Marie-Antoinette's Toilette

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

Sunday, February 7, 2016

Marie-Antoinette's Toilette

From Geri Walton:

Marie Antoinette was well-known for her fashion sense and for placing great importance on her wardrobe and toilette. Applying makeup was a daily task and to ensure the Queen looked her best, she had a makeup table or desk that held all the goodies necessary for her to apply her makeup. Her toilette began after she finished her petit déjeuner (breakfast) and took her morning bath in a slipper tub that was rolled into her room. It was then that she got dressed and applied her makeup creating the pale, milky white complexion so popular at the time. One particular piece of furniture believed to have belonged to Marie Antoinette to aid her in this process was an escritoire à toilette (makeup desk). Read more.)