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Representing a Queen

Representing a Queen. The Public Presentation of a Private Life. Portraits, Images, Likenesses. A medium of exchange Political public relations – from the Court Media coverage – from outside the Court Commemoratives. Medium of Exchange. Pastel portrait by Joseph Ducreux

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Representing a Queen

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  1. Representing a Queen The Public Presentation of a Private Life

  2. Portraits, Images, Likenesses • A medium of exchange • Political public relations – from the Court • Media coverage – from outside the Court • Commemoratives

  3. Medium of Exchange • Pastel portrait by Joseph Ducreux • Sent to Louis XV to “seal the deal” on the engagement of the Dauphin to Marie Antoinette

  4. Medium of Exchange • Portrait by Joseph Krantzinger (1771) sent to Maria Theresa • One of her favorites • Warned her daughter not to use such portraits as public representations – were reserved for the private realm • Kept this likeness of Marie Antoinette in her boudoir

  5. Portraits, Images, Likenesses • Took many forms • Formal court portraits • Informal familial portraits • Caricatures • Commemorative coins • Engravings on furniture, porcelain • Statues, busts • Royal iconography (ex: monograms)

  6. Official Portraits Louis XIV Louis XV

  7. Official Portraits Marie Leszczyska Louis XV

  8. Official Portraits Marie Antoinette Louis XVI

  9. Queen’s Portrait • Queen’s portrait was intended to be a companion to that of the king • It points not to her own power, but to that of her husband • It highlights the defining quality of queenship – a queen of France existed only in relationship to the king and not in and of herself • The problem of making a public portrait of the queen in how to show the king’s force, not hers

  10. Queen as Companion

  11. Salon of 1784 Salon of 1784

  12. Salon • Salon was the official presentation of paintings • Favored historical and allegorical paintings over portraiture • Was becoming a school of virtue and morality; paintings were judged by their moral effect of their subject matter • Those judged best were paintings dedicated to great men, heroic actions and women sacrificed for their virtue

  13. Salon of 1783 • Portrait by Elisabeth Vigée LeBrun of Marie Antoinette en chemise • Judged scandalous at the time • Deemed inappropiate attire for a queen • Emphasized the queen of the Trianon – a space where the king was excluded

  14. She Was Neither the First Nor the Last to be Judged by What She Wore

  15. Rehabilitation - 1787 • Vigée Le Brun attempted to help Marie Antoinette restore her reputation after the scandal of the “en chemise” portrait • For PR purposes, they decided to play up her role as Mother • Portrait painted included Marie Antoinette and her children

  16. Power of the Pamphlets • Pamphlets succeeded in ruining her reputation precisely because they separated her from her husband • She became the sole target of their barbs • She was no longer his companion; she took on a life of her own which she really did not have

  17. Power of the Pamphlets

  18. Final Portrait • Sketch by Jacque-Louis David • 1793 • Marie Antoinette on her way to the scaffold • Stripped of everything

  19. David’s Sketch • 1793 • Portrait of a public woman vanquished • Stripped of all power • Being punished for her sins, both real and imagined

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