Tea at Trianon: The Nemours Estate

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, December 5, 2018

The Nemours Estate

In Delaware. From Creators:

The 77-room Nemours Estate was constructed by Alfred I. du Pont, the great-great-grandson of Pierre, for his second wife, Alicia. It was modeled after Le Petit Trianon , a chateau that was built on the grounds of Versailles during the reign of French King Louis XV and occupied by Queen Marie Antoinette. This mansion also is crammed with precious antiques, artwork and hints of the lavish lifestyle that took place there.

Formal gardens, sunken pools and statuary enhance the sumptuous setting. It includes greenhouses, a maze garden and gates covered with 23-karat gold leaf. The 175-room du Pont mansion, known as Winterthur, displays a collection of more than 90,000 antiques in stunning interiors. The house sits in a naturalistic setting of forests, rolling hills and babbling brooks that provide a backdrop for gardens that present a year-round explosion of color. (Read more.)