Tea at Trianon: Chairs for Bagatelle

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

Monday, August 24, 2020

Chairs for Bagatelle

Four chairs, made for the Comte d'Artois and his private residence, the Bagatelle, were recently sold. Artois was the future Charles X and the brother of Louis XVI. Marie-Antoinette was his sister-in-law, not his step-sister. From The Daily Mail:

Four antique chairs made in 1778 for French Emperor Louis XVI's younger brother, Charles X have sold for more than £1 million - despite missing their seats, backs and upholstery. He ordered them to furnish his famous bedchamber at his opulent Chateau de Bagatelle in Paris. His bed is exhibited at the Louvre today. The frames sparked a bidding war when they went under the hammer with auctioneers Artcurial.
They were expected to fetch £450,000 but achieved over double the estimate, selling for £1.06m including fees. The chairs were confiscated during the French Revolution in 1789 before being sold off four years later.
They have changed hands several times in the two centuries that followed and were consigned by a private collector who had owned them for the past 20 years.
The chairs were fashioned from gilded and patinated wood, with carvings of laurel branches and a fire mark B under a crown for the Comte d'Artois at Bagatelle. They were crafted by master furniture maker Georges Jacobs and the sculptor Jean-Baptiste Rode. The suite is said to illustrate the extravagant charter and taste of Charles, who had a close relationship with his step-sister, the Queen Marie Antionette.
A spokesperson for Artcurial, of Paris, said: 'This exceptional suite was executed in 1778 by Georges Jacobs and Jean-Baptiste Rode for the celebrated bed chamber of the Comte d'Artois and future King, Charles X.
'It is a unique suite still preserved in its original condition and one of the most daring examples of the creativity and excellence of the craftsmen at the Royal court's service.
'This suite is leaving France to join another collection owned by great amateurs in love with the French decorative arts, who will take attentive care of them.' (Read more.)

From The Tatler:

The younger brother of King Louis XVI only reigned for six years, from 1824-1830, during the restoration of the Bourbon monarchy. He abdicated due to riots, which led to the July Revolution. He was the last of the French rulers from the so-called senior House of Bourbon. He later died in Austria, just six years after leaving France.
Prior to the French Revolution, he had been close to his brother's wife, Marie Antoinette. She once wagered that his new castle, Château de Bagatelle, could not be completed within three months. He won the bet, employing neoclassical architect François-Joseph Bélanger to design the building, which features manicured gardens, and cost over two million livres. (Read more.)