MADAME DE POMPADOUR

'Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson, Marquise de Pompadour', also known as 'Madame de Pompadour' (December 29, 1721 – April 15, 1764) was a well known courtesan and the famous mistress of King Louis XV of France.

Contents

Early life

Political role

Position at court

In popular culture

See also

References

External links

Early life

Madame de Pompadour was born ''Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson'' on December 29 1721 in Paris. It is suspected that her biological father was the rich financier Le Normant de Tournehem, who became her legal guardian when her official father was forced to leave the country in 1725 after a scandal. Her younger brother was Abel-François Poisson de Vandières (who would later become the Marquis de Marigny). She was intelligent, beautiful, and educated; she also learned to dance, engrave and play the clavichord.
She was married in 1741 (at the age of 19) to Charles-Guillaume Le Normant d'Étiolles, nephew of her guardian. With him, she had two children, a boy who died the year after his birth in 1741 and Alexandrine-Jeanne (nicknamed "Fanfan"), born August 10, 1744. Contemporary opinion supported by artwork from the time considered Poisson to be quite beautiful, with her small mouth and oval face enlivened by her wit. Her young husband was soon mad about her and she reigned in the fashionable world of Paris.
Antoinette d' Etiolles caught the eye of King Louis XV in 1745. A group of courtiers, including her father-in-law, promoted her acquaintance with the monarch, who was still mourning the death of his second official mistress, the Duchesse de Châteauroux. In February 1745, Antoinette was invited to a royal mask ball celebrating the marriage of the king's son. By March, she was a regular visitor and king's mistress, installed at Versailles. He also bought her the estate of Pompadour, a marquisate with title and coat-of-arms. In July, Louis created her a marquise and she was legally separated from her husband; on September 14 she was formally presented at court. She was 23.

Political role

Contrary to popular belief, she never had much ''direct'' political influence, but she supported Belle Île and endorsed the Duke of Choiseul to the king. However, she did wield considerable power and control behind the scenes, which was highlighted when another of the king's mistresses, Marie-Louise O'Murphy, attempted to replace her around 1754. The younger, less experienced O'Murphy was arranged to be married off to a lesser noble and out of the royal court's inner circle.
Her importance was such that she was even approached in 1755 by Wenzel Anton Graf Kaunitz, a prominent Austrian diplomat, asking her to intervene in the negotiations which led to the 1756 Treaty of Versailles. This was the beginning of the so-called Diplomatic Revolution, which temporarily lessened the long antagonism between France and Austria. This alliance eventually brought on the Seven Years' War, with all its disasters, the Battle of Rosbach and the loss of New France (Canada). After the defeat of France at Rosbach in 1757, she is alleged to have comforted the king saying this now famous by-word: "''au reste, après nous, le déluge''" ("After us, the Deluge"). France emerged from the war diminished and virtually bankrupt.
However, Pompadour persisted in her support of these policies, and, when Bernis failed her, brought Choiseul into office and supported him in all his great plans: the Pacte de Famille, the suppression of the Jesuits, and the peace of Versailles that lost Canada.

Position at court

Madame de Pompadour was an accomplished woman with a good eye for Rococo interiors. She had a keen interest in literature. She had known Voltaire before her ascendancy, and the playwright apparently advised her in her courtly role. She also discreetly endorsed Diderot's ''Encyclopédie'' project. After the War of the Austrian Succession, when economy was the thing the French state needed most, she drew more and more resources into the lavish court. Her influence over Louis increased markedly through the 1750s, to the point where he allowed her considerable leeway in the determination of policy over a whole range of issues, from military matters to foreign affairs.

Pompadour was a woman of verve and intelligence. She planned buildings like the Place de la Concorde and the Petit Trianon with her brother, the Marquis de Marigny. She employed the stylish ''marchands-merciers'', trendsetting shopkeepers who turned Chinese vases into ewers with gilt-bronze Rococo handles and mounted writing tables with the new Sèvres porcelain plaques. Numerous other artisans, sculptors and portrait painters were employed, among them the court artist Jean-Marc Nattier, in the 1750s Francois Boucher, Jean-Baptiste Réveillon and Francois-Hubert Drouais (''illustration, right'').
Pompadour suffered two miscarriages in 1746 and 1749, and she is said to have arranged lesser mistresses for the king's pleasure to replace herself. Although they did not sleep together after 1750, Louis XV remained devoted to her until her death in 1764 at the age of 42. At the time, she was publicly blamed for the Seven Years' War. Looking at the rain during the leaving of his mistress' coffin from Versailles, the king reportedly said: "''La Marquise n'aura pas beau temps pour son voyage.''" ("The marquise won't have a good weather for her journey.").

In popular culture

★ The 56th (West Essex) Regiment of Foot, a unit of the British Army that existed from 1755 to 1881, was nicknamed "The Pompadours", as the purple facing of the regiment's uniform was allegedly de Pompadour's favourite colour.^[1] Some soldiers of the regiment preferred to claim that it was the colour of her underwear. Its successor, the Essex Regiment, kept the colour and the nickname.

★ The classic pink of Sèvres porcelain is ''rose de Pompadour.''

★ The Pompadour haircut is named after her.

★ "Pompadour heels", (more commonly known as "Louis heels") are named after her.

★ The "Coupe de champagne" (French champagne glass) is sometimes claimed to have been modelled on the shape of her breast, although this is probably not the case.^[2]

★ Madame de Pompadour has been depicted on screen in film and television on many occasions, beginning with ''Madame Pompadour'' in 1927, in which she was played by Dorothy Gish. Other actresses to have played her include:

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★ Anny Ahlers (''Die Marquise von Pompadour'', 1931);

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★ Jeanne Boitell, (''Remontons les Champs-Élyssées'', 1938);

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★ Micheline Presle, (''Si Versailles m'était conté'', 1954);

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★ Monique Lepage, (''Le Courrier du roy'', 1958);

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★ Elfie Mayerhofer (''Madame Pompadour'', 1960);

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★ Noemi Nadelmann (''Madame Pompadour'', 1996);

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★ Katja Flint, (''Il Giovane Casanova'', 2002);

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★ Sophia Myles (as adult) and Jessica Atkins (as child) (''Doctor Who'' — "The Girl in the Fireplace", a science fiction story, 2006);^[3]

★
★ Hélène de Fougerolles (''Jeanne Poisson, Marquise de Pompadour'', 2006).

★ ''Madame Pompadour'', a German operetta with music by Leo Fall and book and lyrics by Rudolph Schanzer and Ernst Welisch that also had successful adaptations in London (1923) and Broadway (1924).

★ She was the subject of several portraits throughout her lifetime. [1] [2] [3]

★ Madame Pompadour is the name of PeeWee's rag doll in the Robert A. Heinlein juvenile novel ''Have Space Suit—Will Travel''.

★ In ''My Name is Kim Sam Soon'', the title character presents an ice cream confection named "Marquis de Glacerie" in honor of Louis XV and Madame de Pompadour.

★ During the musical ''Evita'' by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, she is mentioned by an Argentine senator, comparing Eva Perón to her.

★ In the anime "Le Chevalier D'Eon" she is used as a charecter that monitors the movements of D'eon and his men against the Revolutionary brethren.

★ Domaine Carneros, located in Napa, CA, makes a brut Rosé de la Pompadour in honor of the mistress and her contributions to literature and the arts.

See also

★ List of French royal mistresses

References

1. Redcoat, , Richard, Holmes, HarperCollins, 2002, ISBN 0-00-653152-0
2. Were champagne glasses modeled on the breasts of Madame de Pompadour? Cecil Adams
3. Episode 4: The Girl in the Fireplace, , Andrew, Pixley, Doctor Who Magazine — Series Two Companion,

External links

★ Madame de Pompadour site