roleplaying:versailles:versaillespompadour
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+ | ====Marquise de Pompadour ==== | ||
+ | | Go Back to ^ [[roleplaying: | ||
+ | (1721-1764) \\ | ||
+ | ~... she had an oval face, very regular features, a magnificent complexion, quite superb hands and arms, eyes which were pretty if on the smallish side, yet which possessed a fieriness, an intelligence and a brilliance that I have never seen in any other woman. | ||
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+ | Another admirer recounted excitedly that he had encountered in the young Madame d' | ||
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+ | ~... she understands music perfectly, sings with all the gaiety and good taste imaginable, knows by heart a hundred songs and takes part in plays [staged in her private residence]. | ||
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+ | Marquise de (marchioness of) Pompadour, Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson, byname Madame de Pompadour, also called (1741-45) Jeanne-Antoinette le Normant d' | ||
+ | ===Early years=== | ||
+ | Her parents were on the fringes of a class gaining in importance, speculators in the world of finance. Some of these people made immense fortunes, but many ended in the gutter if not in prison. Her father, Fran+ºois Poisson, involved in a black-market scandal, had to flee the country in 1725; his beautiful wife and two small children were then looked after by a more fortunate colleague, Le Normant de Tournehem. Both children were clever, and the girl was fascinating; | ||
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+ | By the time Mademoiselle Poisson was of an age to marry, she could hold her own in any society and had made friends with many distinguished men, including Voltaire. Le Normant de Tournehem arranged a match for her with his own nephew, Charles-Guillaume Le Normant d' | ||
+ | Nineteenth-century historians thought that Madame de Pompadour had complete ascendancy over Louis XV. These post-Revolution writers were concerned with portraying the Bourbon monarchs as poor creatures; it is now generally admitted that Louis XV was a much more able man than he has been painted. Shy and introspective, | ||
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+ | She began her reign at Versailles modestly. She was lodged in a few rooms under the roof; she set out to make herself agreeable to all those who counted for anything in the palace, beginning with Queen Marie (Maria Leszczynska). Marie could hardly have been a more unsuitable wife for the handsome, artistic, sensual, and pleasure-loving Louis XV. Eight years older than he, she was preoccupied with the welfare of her father (a deposed king of Poland), with childbearing, | ||
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+ | After five romantic years in her attic, Madame de Pompadour moved downstairs to a regal apartment. Louis XV now began to take other mistresses, but Madame de Pompadour was more firmly established than ever before; favours, promotions, and privileges could be obtained only through her good offices. | ||
+ | ===Artistic and political collaboration with Louis=== | ||
+ | Her collaboration with the King was twofold, artistic and political. The artistic side was wholly successful. On her suggestion, her brother was appointed director of the King's buildings and created marquis de Marigny; the brother, the sister, and Louis XV, working in perfect harmony, planned and built the +ëcole Militaire and the Place Louis XV (now the Place de la Concorde) in Paris, most of the palace of Compi+¿gne, | ||
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+ | The political collaboration between the King and his mistress was much less successful than the artistic, mainly because the French politicians and generals of the day were of such poor calibre. The Duc de Choiseul, by far the ablest of the ministers, was Madame de Pompadour' | ||
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+ | ~I mourn her out of gratitude . . . Born sincere, she loved the King for himself; she had righteousness in her soul and justice in her heart; all this is not to be met with every day. | ||
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roleplaying/versailles/versaillespompadour.txt · Last modified: 2014/03/20 21:41 by 127.0.0.1