Tea at Trianon: Chaumière des Coquillages

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 11, 2018

Chaumière des Coquillages

A cottage built for the Princesse de Lamballe at Rambouillet. From Geri Walton:

After completion of the cottage’s construction, the salon was filled with custom-built furniture designed to fit the circular shape of the salon. The designer and creator of this furniture was François II Foliot. François took over the establishment (“au duc de Bretagne”) that his grandfather, Nicolas-Quinibert Foliot, had founded. In 1767, Nicolas-Quinibert had been the sole provider for furnishings at the royal residences of Versailles, Trianon, Compiegne, Fontainebleau, and Saint Hubert, so when François took the business over, he had a built-in client of well-to-do and rich patrons, such as the Duke.

A smaller room also exists inside the cottage. This room is rectangular in shape and functioned as boudoir or a changing room. You can enter one of two ways: Either inside from the salon or from outdoors through the smaller exterior door. This tiny room is painted with soft greens and pastels. There are also numerous individual framed moldings, as well as the ceiling, that contain paintings of flower and birds. A unique surprise awaited guests who came to the visit the Princess in the 1700s. At one end of the room, on either side of the large looking glass, there are two cupboards that previously held automatons said to be “negro figures that provided perfume or powder to visiting guests.”

The cottage was supposedly used by the princess to escape and enjoy quiet time. She enjoyed reading Italian poetry and perhaps she read in the cottage or she may have escaped to play her harp or to just be alone or spend time with friends. Later, when Rambouillet was purchased by Louis XVI in 1783, Marie Antoinette may have also entertained in the shell cottage or used it as a private escape on occasion.

When the French Revolution broke out, the chateau (and likely the shell cottage) were emptied of their furnishings and the estate neglected. Later, during the reign of Napoleon I, the Emperor visited the Rambouillet estate several times. Another royal connection to Rambouillet involves Charles X. He signed his abdication here and Rambouillet is where his exile started too. (Read more.)