The story of Renette Poisson, better known as Madame de Pompadour, was one of hardship that led to great influence. From a young age she was told she would join the royal court through her talents and education. She married at 19 but was introduced to King Louis XV in 1745, becoming his official mistress. Madame de Pompadour helped establish French porcelain manufacturing and had exquisite tastes in fashion, interior design, and the arts. Though her intimate relationship with the King later subsided, they remained friends until her death from tuberculosis in 1764.
1. Story of Renette
The story of Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson (born December 29,
1721) is a very interesting one, and laced with many troubles
and hardships along the way. From the age of nine, her life
took a dramatic turn, as a gypsy predicted that she would
one day be part of the royal court. From that day forward,
her life changed, and she dedicated much of her time and
energy to the study of different performance arts. She
attended many different convents, which helped hone her
skills that would later be useful for a noble woman of the
royal court. She was married at the age of 19, to a man
named Charles-Guillaume Le Normant d’Étiolles, with who
she had a very rocky relationship. This marriage continued
on for many years, and produced 2 children, however at the
age of 24 she was introduced at a royal masked ball at the
palace of Versailles, and within days she was an official
mistress of the royal court. While one would think it would
have ended her marriage that did not come to pass for many
months after. Her tastes were exquisite, and she was never
one to shy away from entertaining her king.
Many events were put on strictly for his benefit, from the ordinary dinner party to the
extravagant balls. Her passion for fashion was also apparent, and she was never one to stick to
the current trends, always utilizing new designers, architects and craftsmen in order to meet her
taste for the newest looks. She had convinced the King to help establish a porcelain industry in
France, and used that to decorate her many castles and residences. Everything she had a hand in
oozed class and taste, and things in her own personal collection carried her personal seal. Her
personal library that held over 3000 different volumes each carried her seal in gold on red bound
leather. In her final years, her intimate relationships with the king subsided, however she felt it
was her duty to find the kings suitable replacements for her. After 1750, their relationship was
different, but they remained lifelong friends. In the end, her death came quietly in 1764 when she
succumbed to tuberculosis. The weather was dreary, and the King reportedly commented that the
marquise would not have good weather for her journey. While she was missed dearly by those
whom cared for her, others blamed her for many events of that time including the Seven Years
War.
2. A peek inside Madame
Pompadour’s Closet
People have wondered what items Madame Pompadour hid in
her closet and now her secret has been revealed. Her
collection of garments included a variety of silky corsets, and
a strange little contraption called the panier. That device was
used to frame a female’s hips, and led to a woman appearing
curvier then they already were. Towards the back of her
closet it was discovered that she had not worn since her childhood, which was the sacque dress.
This dress had a very loose shape, and it hid any waistline that any woman would have. The
drama and adventure did not stop there, for as one continued through the century her clothing
continued to evolve with her. As her renown and popularity grew, her clothing
became more dramatic with the inclusion of Watteau pleats to the back of her
gowns. As she considered herself a type of royalty of sorts, the more
audacious her dress was the better, but she could dress down for an occasion
as well, and those dresses were called robe a la Anglaise. She was not
doomed to be bound in uncomfortable dresses forever, for in her latter years,
the use of slimmer hoops and fewer frills were embraced known as the
polonaise gown. The types that were discovered in her closet were a tad bit
mischievous because of the shorter hemlines found in order to show off her
ankles. Truly a scandal at this time, she was never one to follow the rules, and
heavily embraced the robe a la circassiene. She was an innovator of fashion, and was always at
the forefront of accepting and embracing the newest and most risqué of styles.
On the other side of the bedroom
Men as well, had to look their very best when having a night out on the town, and King
Louis XV was no exception. He was never one to shy away from a ruffled frill on his shirt,
or an overly feminine jacket. One could say that if you did not look closely you would
confuse his dress with that of a woman, because of the similarities they shared. Originally
he donned the habit a la francis, which were very long and flowing, but as he aged his tastes
matured as did his fashion. He was known to wear in his later years the outer coat known
as the frac habille, or an entirely matching ensemble known as the ditto suit.
4. Characteristic of style
The Sèvres Porcelain
There was a certain taste for Chinese style
porcelain and a Saxon alchemist discovered
the secret of its production and Europe of
the 18 century flourished with the
th
manufacturing of these. Madame Pompadour
had many castles and places such as summer
homes, in which she spent a lot of time on their décor. She was very
interested in the decorative arts and encouraged Louis XV to
transfer the manufacturing at Sèvres 1756, where it became
Royal Manufactory which was the place of the finest china. It was conveniently close to Madame
Pompadour’s home and the King’s palace at Versailles. In a few years all royal porcelain was made
here and it soon developed and increased its production with table sets and vases. The porcelain
production differed for the French because of the lack of the material to make hard paste, instead
they used soft paste porcelain being compatible with a variety of colors, allowing glazes to be richer
and vivid, these lead to the creation of new colors such as “pink Pompadour” and “Royal blue”.
Unglazed porcelain biscuits were also great successes. The King would hold an annual New Year’s
Day fair in his private quarters at Versailles so that noblemen bought the porcelain pieces to please
him and invest in his monopolized industry.
Eyes of the Rococo
The colors of the Rococo period were a hot topic by people of all walks of life. The colors that
Ms. Pompadour found most attractive were those exhibited in her dressed and accessories, and
were documented by her many paintings. These color palettes range from green and blue to light
gold and pink. In this period of time however, pink
was not a unique color in its own right for it was only seen
as a shade of red. This was true for many of the different
colors of this time period, as we notice that colors
st
traditionally seen in the 21 century have different hues and
saturation of pigments. This combined with the type of cloth
used led to colors appearing softer and more feminine. This
also led to many of the garments appearing feminine in
general. This fashion however was embraced by Ms.
Pompadour and it has been stated that she would not have
dressed in any other way, even if she would have had the option of brighter and flashier fabrics at
her disposal.
5. Interesting Facts:
- She was the first royal mistress from the middle class. All previous royal mistresses had
come from the nobility.
-The Dauphin called Madame de Pompadour “Mama Putain” which means whore.
Obviously, the Dauphin did not like her that much.
- At the age of 9 a fortune teller told the young Madame that one day
she would be the king’s mistress.
- In 1750 her sexual relationship with Louis XV stopped
-The king changed her name to match her estate which needed a title
-She helped influence the "diplomatic revolution"
- 1752: Louis XV made her a duchess
-She helped pick out Louis XV's mistresses and kept them in "Stag Park" a room made for
them.
-In 1752 she moved to the same floor as Louis XV which showed how close her
relationship with the king had progressed throughout the years.
And her legend lives on…
When we were wrapping up our conversation with Ms. Pompadour, I asked her if she
thought her name would ever come up again in a few hundred years from now. She responded
with an enthusiastic “Yes! Of course, I am not sure how,
but I did not work this hard to get where I am today to let
my legacy die.” Little did she know how very true that
was, her name has been used on all sorts of things, from
hairstyles to fine china. Her likeness has also been
portrayed many times on the large and small screens, in
many different movie and television roles. The King,
Louis XV, even managed to commission a cut of
diamond so he could always be reminded of her small
and delicate mouth. When asked for a reaction to this she
simply stated, “It is nothing less than I deserved!”
References
6. Tiffany Parce, Vanna McCarthy, Tara McKinney, Rebecca Pena
.
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