02 - Queen
01 december 2004
Marie Antoinette
Queen Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette and her children (at Versailles) - 1787 by Vigée Le Brun
Oil on canvas, 104" x 82", Versailles, France
Self Portrait-1790 by Elisabeth Vigée Le Brun (1755-1842)
oil on canvas, 100 cm x 81 cm, Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy
The painting on the easel is of Marie Antoinette done from memory.
Marie Antoinette was born November 2, 1755 in Vienna, Austria. She was the youngest and most beautiful daughter of Francis I and Maria Theresa, Emperor and Empress of the Holy Roman Empire. Marie Antoinette was brought up believing her destiny was to become queen of France. She married the crown prince of France in 1770. Four years later she became queen when her husband was crowned King Louis XVI (House of Bourbon).
Archduchess Antonia grew up in the highly moral environment of her mother's court. Maria Theresa was a strong leader, beloved by her people. The busy empress supervised her children's upbringing as closely as she could, but Antonia's education was left largely in the hands of a governess who was happy to spoil the pretty, high-spirited little girl. Antonia spent more time playing than studying, although she enjoyed her music lessons and became an excellent harpist and dancer.
Unlike so many royal couples, her parents had married for love and truly enjoyed family life. Although the court was a place of great formality on important occasions, in private the royal family was rather casual. Antonia regarded her mother with awe but was close to her good-natured father. A shadow fell over Antonia's sunny life in 1765, when her father died of a stroke at the age of 56.
A few years later, Antonia's childhood came to an end. Her mother had arranged Antonia's marriage to the dauphin (crown prince) of France to cement an alliance between Austria and France. In 1770, at age 14, Marie Antoinette left her homeland and travelled to the French palace of Versailles to be married.
Her 15-year-old groom, Louis, was fat, awkward, and shy. He neglected his royal duties in favor of hunting and working in his locksmith shop. He also suffered from a medical condition known as phimosis which prevented him from fathering children for the first seven years of his marriage. The public, knowing nothing of this, blamed Marie Antoinette for her failure to bear heirs to the throne -- as she would so often be blamed for things beyond her control.
The court of Versailles was more rigid than Maria Theresa's court, and Marie Antoinette yawned and giggled openly during royal ceremonies. As time went on she became increasingly rebellious. She insisted on going out alone or with a few companions, instead of surrounded by attendants. She picked her own friends and even her own clothes, refusing to wear corsets and stays. When her brother visited the court he commented disapprovingly that she had bad manners and was not doing her job.
Many French people hated the queen for her Austrian blood and her formerly frivolous ways. She was rumored to have had numerous affairs. The most persistent rumor centered on Count Hans Axel Fersen, a Swedish diplomat. He was definitely one of the queen's favorites, but it is doubtful that they were lovers. Yet Marie Antoinette was reviled in pornographic songs, pictures and pamphlets. Someone even published a fake autobiography in which the queen supposedly confessed her sins, calling herself a prostitute.
Marie Antoinette was also called Madame Deficit and blamed for the country's financial problems. It is true that she enjoyed a lavish lifestyle; her mother wrote to warn her that "a queen can only degrade herself by this sort of heedless extravagance in difficult times." But Marie Antoinette was not quite as foolish and spoiled as the public believed. It certainly is not true that she said "Let them eat cake" when told that people were starving. As a woman and a foreigner she made a convenient scapegoat for the nation's problems, and it seemed that no slander against her was too wild to be widely believed.
As she matured Marie Antoinette became less extravagant. She tried to change her image by wearing simple gowns and posing for portraits with her children, but her efforts had little effect on the unforgiving public. The greatest damage to her reputation was created by a scandal in which she played no part at all: the Diamond Necklace Affair.
In 1789 the French Revolution erupted. Its causes were many, but much of the revolutionaries' fury focused on Marie Antoinette. On October 5 a mob of Parisian women marched on Versailles, shouting for the queen's blood. Some members of the mob were actually men in dresses, under the theory that royal troops were less likely to fire upon women.
When Marie Antoinette heard about the approaching mob she remained calm. "I know they have come from Paris to demand my head, but I learned from my mother not to fear death and I shall await it with firmness," she said. When the mob appeared outside the palace, Lafayette advised her to show herself on the balcony. Bravely she stepped out and faced them alone. As voices shouted, "Shoot! Shoot!" the queen bowed her head and curtsied. Then Lafayette joined her, bowed to her, and kissed her hand. He was considered a great hero, and his action impressed the crowd. "Vive la reine," they shouted ("Long live the queen!")
Because the king was apathetic, it fell to Marie Antoinette to negotiate with revolutionaries on the royal family's behalf. She also secretly urged Austria to intercede in France. When France went to war with Austria, Louis and Marie Antoinette were charged with treason. In 1792, the year the institution of royalty was officially abolished in France, the royal family was moved to the Temple Prison. They were treated fairly well and were permitted to live together. In December of that year Louis's trial began. He was found guilty and sentenced to death, and on January 21, 1793 he went bravely to the guillotine.
In October Marie Antoinette, now called "the Widow Capet," was tried and, like her husband, convicted of treason and sentenced to be guillotined. On October 16, 1793 she was taken through the streets of Paris in an open cart. She maintained her dignity to the end. On the scaffold she accidentally stepped on the executioner's foot, and her last words were, "Monsieur, I ask your pardon. I did not do it on purpose."
Posted by jacob at 09:52 am to 02 - Queen | the State | Comments (6)
Main02 - Queen
30 november 2004
Jane Seymour-Anne of Cleves
Jane Seymour, Queen of England by Hans Holbein the Younger (1497/8-1543)
1536 Oil on wood, 65,5 x 40,5 cm Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
Portrait of Anne of Cleves by Hans Holbein the Younger (1497/8-1543)
c. 1539 Parchment mounted on canvas, 65 x 48 cm Musée du Louvre, Paris
Jane Seymour, the eldest daughter of Sir John Seymour, was lady-in-waiting, first to Catherine of Aragon, then to Anne Boleyn. 20 May, 1536, only one day after Anne’s execution, she became Henry’s 3rd wife. She died after giving birth to her husband’s desperately hoped-for male heir, later Edward VI (ruled in 1547-53).
Anne of Cleves (1515-1557) German princess, daughter of John, Duke of Cleves, a noted champion of Protestantism in germany, was chosen as his forth wife, first of all for political reasons. But there was also one more reason and this is where Holbein lost the King’s favor. Holbein was sent as a painter-ambassador to execute the portrait of Anne. It was a difficult task, in fact, he found himself between a rock and a hard place. Henry VIII liked the portrait, but when his bride arrived to the marriage ceremony in 1540 he found her more like a ‘fat Flanders mare’. This cost Holbein dearly in prestige. The marriage was annuled by parliament six months later. Anne of Cleves obtained a handsome settlement from Henry and lived in quiet comfort in England until 1555.
Henry’s two subsequent wives were English.
Posted by willy at 08:35 pm to 02 - Queen | the State | Comments (0)