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Video: What the portraits tell about the most influential royal mistress of the 18th century: Madame Pompadour
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
When Louis XV, King of France, first met the woman who would become his main favorite, she was dressed like a domino, and he - like a plant. It was 1745 and Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson, a pretty young woman who would later become the Marquise de Pompadour, was invited to a masquerade ball at Versailles. By the way, the meeting did not happen by chance: the family of the future marquise had been developing a strategy for years to organize this very moment.
About the Marquis
Pompadour's real name is Jeanne-Antoinette Poissot. It was she who was destined to become the main mistress of King Louis XV. There is a legend that once a witch predicted a little girl that she would become the lover of the king himself. It is not surprising that the girl's mother organized a whole complex of her education so that her daughter would become the future queen. The young lady memorized entire plays, learned to dance, sing, paint, play the clavichord, and even engrave.
Subsequently, these skills influenced the fact that Antoinette became an artist herself. She created magnificent prints and drawings and even invited the most talented carver to Versailles to teach her how to work with precious stones. The carver taught the marquis to carve miniature scenes and cameos from semi-precious stones for rings and bracelets, which she later gave out as gifts.
Portraits of Madame de Pompadour
Portraits of Madame de Pompadour were an independent genre and a kind of tool for Antoinette's communication with the king and the French public. They helped her declare her devotion, love and intelligence. According to the Goncourt brothers, she was hailed as the main innovator, “sponsor and queen of Rococo”.
François Boucher is a very versatile French artist. The basis of his work is made up of paintings with mythical and biblical scenes. Boucher painted several ceremonial portraits of the Marquise de Pompadour. In this painting, Boucher portrayed her in the form of the nymph Tetia, greeting the returning sun, Louis XV. The paintings were shown at the Salon in 1753 and caused quite a stir.
This masterpiece was commissioned by the most famous and gifted pastel artist of the period, Maurice-Quentin de La Tour. She has a very lush outfit - a spectacular French-style dress fashionable in the 1750s. The outfit shows a trend towards luxury, while the lack of jewelry and the simplicity of her hairstyle emphasize the elegance of the heroine.
She is depicted as the patroness of the arts, surrounded by attributes symbolizing literature, music, astronomy and engraving. On the table next to her in a magnificent still life are Guarini's Pastor Fido, The Encyclopedia, Montesquieu's Spirit of Love, Voltaire's Henriad, a globe and Pierre-Jean Mariette's Gravel. Finally, there is an engraving by the Comte de Cailus, which Delatour signed "Pompadour sculpsit". This is the author's allusion to the love of the Marquise for engraving. Still in love with Louis XV, she hoped to convey her ideas to him.
The Marquise's goal was to discover the intellectual advancements that revived Paris at the time, but never made it to the palace. At the time, the court was still developing in outdated principles and codes of etiquette. Undoubtedly, the king saw this portrait, but did he understand the deep message of the heroine and the artist? And most importantly, did Louis XV understand the meaning of the works chosen by the marquise? This is a mystery.
In all her portraits, Madame de Pompadour is depicted as an erudite, beautiful and fashionable patroness of the arts. She is either writing, embroidery, or cultural activities. The characteristics of paintings and portraits influenced by Madame de Pompadour contributed to the general style of French Rococo. Artists preferred light, pastel colors, whimsical subjects borrowed from classics and mythology, wavelike compositions and general sophistication.
De Pompadour was not only the heroine of the portrait, but also an active participant in the creation of the works that she ordered. Antoinette took part in the discussion of the composition and technical aspects of the paintings. This set her apart from most of the patrons of the time.
While the painters who were patronized by Madame de Pompadour became very popular, the Rococo painting style she patronized was heavily and publicly criticized by leading intellectuals of the time. They argued that the style was too "feminine" and could not be taken seriously as it lacked historical importance and dignity. However, in hindsight, these remarks had little impact on the legacy Madame de Pompadour created for artists and the Rococo painting that has since been celebrated.
In this last portrait of her, she is represented as a respectable middle-aged woman, confidently looking at the viewer. She is calm and level-headed. Antoinette achieved all her goals and now she can only be content with her position.
Madame de Pompadour's legacy extends to all fields of art. The combination of her erudition, charm and wit has led to her contributions to French culture and art being admired to this day. Madame de Pompadour is a fine example of a woman who thrived on her intellect and talents in a male-dominated 18th century society.
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