Tea at Trianon: Inside Edwardian High Society

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, July 30, 2025

Inside Edwardian High Society

two portraits of a finely dressed man and woman hanging in gold frames on a green wall

a painting of a woman standing in a black dressed with tulle white sleeves, there is a pillar behind her

From ArtNet:

Edward VII, his wife Queen Alexandra, and their successors King George V and Queen Mary, were two of Britain’s all-time most fashionable royal couples. As well as throwing endless parties, concerts, and sporting events, they expressed their elevated tastes through the acquisition of hordes of art, fashion, and jewelry. Each gallery practically glitters with all of the expected treasures, including tiaras and bedazzled opera glasses, sumptuous ball gowns, gilt porcelain, silverware, and adorable Fabergé animals cut from an array of precious stones, like lapis lazuli, sapphire, and ruby. Ceremonial and other handcrafted items from across the globe are included courtesy of king and queen’s international tours to British colonies, including Malta, the Cook Islands, New Zealand, and India....
One hundred years after Sargent’s death in 1925, he remains a firm favorite among art lovers, as evidenced by one celebratory blockbuster show currently on view at the Met and set to travel to the Musée d’Orsay this fall. King Edward VII was certainly a fan, describing Sargent as “the most distinguished portrait painter in England.” His brush was so coveted and his list of commissions so exhausting that, in around 1907, Sargent retired from painting large-scale portraits. This 1908 image of the King’s sister-in-law, Louise, Duchess of Connaught, was one of his very last. Its sense of character and richly opulent fabrics are hallmarks of the Sargent’s style. (Read more.)