Tea at Trianon: The Versailles of Louis XIV

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

Thursday, June 16, 2016

The Versailles of Louis XIV

"Marie Antoinette made things tricky for the makers of the BBC2 period drama..." Actually, Marie-Antoinette should not be blamed for remodeling the original Versailles. Most of the changes occurred during the reign of Louis XV, before she even set foot upon French soil. She redecorated the Queen's apartments but lack of money limited her creative impulses. Even at her Trianon she kept most of the furniture that had belonged to Madame du Barry. But the article is interesting all the same. To quote:

See if you can spot the scenes that really are shot in Versailles...

"The problem with Versailles is the gardens are open seven days a week, and the building is only closed on Mondays," says Chelli. "So we booked Mondays to shoot stuff that is so specific to Versailles, which was usually the Marble Court.

"Carriages would drive into the Marble Court and up to its beautiful gilded door where they'd set down their nobles. So we shot a lot of the arrivals there. It’s big and so beautiful.