Marie-Antoinette, Daughter of the Caesars

by Elena Maria Vidal

  The Queen also said: “You come from a province, Baroness, that I thought very beautiful and very loyal when I passed through it. I never can forget that I was there first greeted by the French; that it was there they first called me their queen.”7

  Entertaining heads of state was an expensive enterprise, even when they visited incognito. After treating the imperial couple to an opera and a ballet, Zémire et Azor by Grétry and Jean Fracasse au sérail by Gerdet, and to supper, Antoinette opened her gardens at Trianon; she had musicians playing amid the shrubbery, so that it seemed that the music was wafting through the gardens in an ethereal manner. It was spring; the air was warm and the gardens, fragrant. The shrubbery, the Belevedere and the Grotto were illuminated; everything looked like a fairy land. “How much I should like to live with her!” the Comtesse du Nord exclaimed of the Queen. “How glad I should be if Monsieur le Comte du Nord were dauphin of France!”8

  Madame Campan’s remarks on such occasions are always worth a glance. As recorded in her infamous memoirs:

  Brilliant entertainments were given at Court in honour of the King of Sweden and the Comte du Nord. They were received in private by the King and Queen, but they were treated with much more ceremony than the Emperor [Joseph], and their Majesties always appeared to me to be very cautious before these personages. However, the King one day asked the Russian Grand Duke if it were true that he could not rely on the fidelity of any one of those who accompanied him. The Prince answered him without hesitation, and before a considerable number of persons, that he should be very sorry to have with him even a poodle that was much attached to him, because his mother would take care to have it thrown into the Seine, with a stone round its neck, before he should leave Paris. This reply, which I myself heard, horrified me, whether it depicted the disposition of Catherine, or only expressed the Prince’s prejudice against her.9

  During the course of the Nords’ visit, in which they dined at least once with every member of the Royal Family as well as the Princes and Princesses of the Blood, Maria Feodorovna paid a call on Madame Élisabeth. As one biographer of the Tsarina Maria writes:

  One afternoon Marie Feodorovna paid a visit to Madame Élisabeth the King’s sister, a lady who was renowned for her charm of mind and person, and whose tragic ending has caused her name to be remembered with infinite pity. At the conclusion of the visit, the Countess [Diane]of Polignac, lady-in-waiting to the Princess, was ordered to conduct the Grand Duchess to her carriage. As they proceeded down the corridor together, Marie Feodorovna spoke with admiration of Madame Élisabeth, and praised not only her grace and amiability, but her charming face.

  ‘She has beauty, certainly,’ replied [Diane] de Polignac, ‘but her embonpoint spoils her appearance altogether.’

  This was not only in extreme bad taste on the part of one of her own ladies in the Royal Palace itself, but it was doubly rude, as the Grand Duchess was also inclined to stoutness, though with her fine carriage it was less noticeable. She was consequently much offended, and, drawing herself up in a stately manner, replied drily, ‘I admire Madame Élisabeth immensely. Madame, she could not be prettier, and I did not notice the defect you speak of.’10

  The Comte and Comtesse du Nord eventually took leave of France and visited several other countries before returning to Russia. They had made themselves beloved by the people of Paris through their generosity to the poor, in which they were also fulfilling the wishes of the Empress Catherine, who had commanded that largesse be given in her name.11 Before saying farewell, Antoinette gave the Grand Duchess a diamond-studded fan with opera glasses built into the handle. “I know,” she said to Marie Feodorowna, “that, like myself, you are short-sighted. Permit me to give you this fan, which may be a convenience to you, and which I trust you will keep as a souvenir of me.”

  “I will keep it all my life,” answered the Grand Duchess.12

  In 1796 Paul and Maria became Tsar and Empress at the death of Catherine the Great. Maria Feodorovna’s life was shattered when her husband Paul was brutally murdered in 1801. Not someone to be swept out of the way, she continued to exert considerable influence as dowager Empress and as a patroness of the arts and of many charities. Her combination of beauty, grace and brains even into old age made her a force with which to be reckoned, although she tempered majesty with gentleness, kindness and wit. Empress Maria died in 1828 at the age of sixty-nine at her beloved Pavlovsk, where she had brought up most of her children with the husband whom she found immensely lovable even if no one else did.

  In June of 1784, King Gustavus III of Sweden arrived under the alias of the “Comte de Haga.” Antoinette did not care for him, for political reasons as well as for what she had heard concerning his private life. Gustavus was known for his male favorites; some have suggested that Count Fersen was one of them.13 As Madame Campan relates:

  The Queen, who was much prejudiced against the King of Sweden, received him very coldly. All that was said of the private character of that sovereign, his connection with the Comte de Vergennes, from the time of the Revolution of Sweden, in 1772, the character of his favourite Armfeldt, and the prejudices of the monarch himself against the Swedes who were well received at the Court of Versailles, formed the grounds of this dislike. He came one day uninvited and unexpected, and requested to dine with the Queen. The Queen received him in the little closet, and desired me to send for her clerk of the kitchen, that she might be informed whether there was a proper dinner to set before Comte d’Haga, and add to it if necessary. The King of Sweden assured her that there would be enough for him; and I could not help smiling when I thought of the length of the menu of the dinner of the King and Queen, not half of which would have made its appearance had they dined in private. The Queen looked significantly at me, and I withdrew. In the evening she asked me why I had seemed so astonished when she ordered me to add to her dinner, saying that I ought instantly to have seen that she was giving the King of Sweden a lesson for his presumption. I owned to her that the scene had appeared to me so much in the bourgeois style, that I involuntarily thought of the cutlets on the gridiron, and the omelette, which in families in humble circumstances serve to piece out short commons. She was highly diverted with my answer, and repeated it to the King, who also laughed heartily at it.14

  The Swedish king, however, was charmed with both Louis XVI and Antoinette, in spite of various misunderstandings. He enjoyed their warmth, informality and sense of humor. Gustavus was especially enchanted by the illuminated gardens of Trianon, which he thought resembled the Elysian fields. A Swedish scholar once told me that because of Louis and Antoinette, Gustavus was seriously considering becoming a Catholic; I have not yet substantiated that information, but it would not surprise me. He certainly did all he could to save their lives, especially through his delegate, Count Fersen; his attempts to save them ended only with his atrocious murder at a masked ball. Gustavus said of the French king: “Louis XVI is the best and most benevolent prince in existence. His soul radiates serenity. I am filled with admiration.”15

  Trianon was not just for merrymaking and entertaining. It was also a place for repose. The chapel at Petit Trianon was used by Marie-Antoinette during her stays there. Sometimes she would visit her country house for an afternoon but other times she would remain there for a month. The 1774 altar painting by Joseph-Marie Vien portrays Saint Louis IX and Queen Marguerite de Provence visiting Saint Thibauld, whom they were asking to pray for them to have a child. Saint Thibauld of Marly was a thirteenth century saint of royal blood who joined the austere Cistercian order and was known for his great devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. The picture depicts the saint handing the King and Queen a branch with eleven white lilies; they would go on to have eleven children. What a very appropriate subject for the chapel of a Queen who spent many years praying for a child. The statues on either side of the altar are of “St. Anne” and “Christ in the Garden of Olives” by Jacques-Augustin Dieudonné, added by King Louis-Philippe in the mid-nineteenth century.
The chapel is decorated in a simple style so cherished by Marie-Antoinette, as is the rest of Petit Trianon. There is a tiny onion dome over the chapel roof reminiscent of Austrian architecture. Unfortunately, people referred to all of Trianon as “Little Vienna.”

  The house itself, that is, Petit Trianon, was a simple affair, with clean strong lines, purely neo-classical. The bare, white walls of the vestibule accentuated the exquisite workmanship of the bronze and blue enamel lantern that hung from the ceiling. The black wrought iron banisters had a curling designs of lyres, caduceus and the gilded monogram “M.A.” The antechamber led into the dining room, with its carvings of fruits, nuts and trees entwined with mythological animals and cornucopia, then into the billiard room, with its colored panels portraying sylvan and pastoral scenes. It opened into the large salon. The sea-green panels, on which the white carvings, accented with gold, made a striking contrast with the furniture of red and gold-striped silk. The Queen kept her harpsichord on one side of the room. On the other was a pianoforte, a harp and a music stand. In the next room, the boudoir, the ceiling became very low, as in a true country house. Roses were carved everywhere, entwined with ribbons, doves, quivers and lyres. The Queen’s gilded initials appeared here and there, bordered on each side by two torches, symbolizing the flame of love. The boudoir, known as la petite chambre de la reine, was also called “the cabinet with moving mirrors.” To quote Pierre de Nolhac:

  It contained a mechanical contrivance by which mirrors were slid up from the floor, and concealed the windows. The apparatus was destroyed and the fragments were sold during the Revolution; but the white marble mantel-piece has been preserved, and also the panels which were carved for the Queen. These, with the panels of the Versailles cabinets, are the most perfect remaining from her reign….The narrowest are encircled by rose blooms on their branches; on the others, the shield, bearing fleurs-de-lys, supported by ribbons, appears among lightly—smoking cressets, doves, wreaths and quivers: above these pretty emblems is a lyre, and here and there the Queen's gilded cipher shines in the midst of the roses, between two torches, symbolical of the flame of love. Flowers, as we see, play a large part, suggested by its gardens, in the decoration of Little Trianon. One flower above all has supreme charm for the artist, and on leaving this boudoir, which might be called the rose cabinet, we shall find it, mingled with jasmine and narcissus, in the adjoining room.16

  The boudoir led into the Queen’s bed chamber. Except for the carvings of roses, jasmine and narcissi, it was very simple and plain, with the low ceiling and narrow bed which had muslin hangings embroidered in silk. There was a bronze clock on the mantelpiece, with its Austrian eagles, birds, roses, and shepherds. The King was often with the Queen when she was at Trianon; they were apart only during the time that Antoinette had measles in the late seventies. Here is a quote from one of the royal pages, the Count d’Hézeques:

  Louis XVI had the affection of a kind husband for his wife, and was tender and caressing. Far from avoiding her, he came to see her as often as his occupations permitted. Besides their meeting at supper, he visited her many times a day. When the Queen was at the Trianon, the King spent part of the day there. Scandal never attributed little quarrels to them, such as few establishments are without. Their mutual attachment was only augmented by several years that elapsed without children, and in course of time a charming family came to draw their bonds of union closer. Can it ever be believed that the Queen, being a mother, would impoverish France, and injure her own son for her brother's advantage, by sending large sums to him, as was reported? Surely maternal affection is a thousand times stronger than any other natural feeling.”17

  Trianon became the setting for family gatherings as well as time alone. Although Louis did not usually sleep there all night, he often visited Antoinette in the early hours of the morning, walking or riding over from the château.18 In the summer, they usually had their family suppers at Trianon, including Louis’ brothers and their wives.

  In 1783, Antoinette commissioned the architect Mique to build a village and farm on the grounds of Petit Trianon. The hameau was a working farm, managed by the peasant Valy-Busard and his wife; it was not just a folly for amusement. Horticultural and agricultural experiments were tried there, including the potato, introduced to France at Trianon in 1785, for the benefit of all the people. The “little hamlet” was to provide food for the royal family, thus giving an example of self-sufficiency to other nobles, as well as celebrating the traditional agricultural life of the French people. The Queen invited twelve destitute families to live and work in the hameau. She saw the farm as a way that her children could experience the healthiness of country life, without actually leaving Versailles. Life in the palace had little or no privacy for the Royal Family; Antoinette wanted her children to have one place where they could be themselves. Louis XVI and Antoinette did not want their children to grow up too isolated from the real world. The farm was an environment where they could get an idea of how ordinary people lived, see the livestock, and learn about plants and nature.

  The farm has often been cited as an example of decadence on the part of Antoinette, particularly the dairy with the porcelain milk pitchers. It did provide food for the royal household, however. It must be taken into account that wealthy people all over Europe were building “follies” in their gardens, such as a fake ruined castles, ornate mosques, Chinese tea houses, solely for decoration. At least, Antoinette’s hameau had a practical purpose. Of course, she would not wear an elaborate court gown when spending time on the farm; she would wear a simple cotton dress and sometimes an apron. Therefore she is still accused of “playing dairy maid.” How visiting the livestock with her children and friends can be regarded as extreme frivolity does not make sense; it seems like a fairly innocent pastime. In the main “farm house” there was elegant furniture, a billiard table and such amenities for entertaining in the manner expected of a queen. Foreign guests and ambassadors were occasionally given hospitality at the hameau, although it was mainly just for the family and the peasants who lived there permanently. There was also an orchard, berry bushes, and lots of vegetables in the garden, as well as fish in the lake. Her orange trees produced bushels of blossoms every spring from which was produced fragrant orange-flower water; Antoinette gave bottles of it to Louis and her entire entourage. Everyone needs a refuge, a place to be quiet. In our busy world there seems to be more of an appreciation of Antoinette’s creative way of carving out a retreat for herself and her family, one which patronized and exulted French craftsmanship while simultaneously helping the poor.

  In 2015 Christie’s auctioned a drawing by a teenaged Antoinette.19 As an Austrian Archduchess Antoinette learned how to draw and paint. It seems she was always interested in the work of ordinary people, for she drew a scene of people working at a tavern with a church, a walled town and mountains in the background. In September, 1777 Marie-Antoinette had a farmers’ market in the park at Trianon to inaugurate the opening of her new gardens. The Queen wore peasant attire and served at an outdoor tavern. Pierre de Nolhac describes the market thus:

  A market-place was set up on the lawn...where the baker, the confectioner, and the purveyor of charcuterie dispensed their wares...and even the cook's shop was busy in the open air. All these stalls were connected by a garland of roses....There were shows of all sorts....Actors...gave several performances on an improvised stage....The avenues leading to Trianon were lined with the booths of Paris shopkeepers who had been engaged to come, their expenses being paid. 20

  The Queen always sought ways to celebrate the life of the ordinary French people, particularly the peasants, whose industry fed the nation. Far from keeping her beloved Trianon for herself, she shared it with the public on several occasions, although many then accused her of being too democratic and not putting enough distance between herself and the people.

  The château de Saint-Cloud, a country estate owned by the Orléans family on the outskirts of Paris, was bought by Louis XVI for Antoine
tte in 1785. The king sold properties owned by the crown in the south of France in order to pay for the château. Antoinette thought it was vital to get her children away from the unhealthy environment of Versailles, and Petit Trianon was not far enough way. So many members of the royal family, including Louis himself as a child, had become ill with tuberculosis over the years, and so the Queen wanted to bring her children into cleaner, healthier air. As it was their youngest daughter and oldest son would die of tuberculosis in 1787 and 1789. The King put the château of Saint-Cloud in the Queen’s name, which outraged many French people, since a Queen owning property in her own right and having complete control of it was something that had not happened since the Middle Ages.

  After the Royal Family was taken prisoner in October 1789, they were still permitted at times to go to Saint-Cloud for the country air and some exercise. During the Restoration of 1815-1830, the Royal Family used Saint-Cloud as a summer residence, and it was put in the name Antoinette’s daughter Marie-Thérèse even as it had been owned by Antoinette. Marie-Thérèse would often walk from Saint-Cloud to her sanctuary at Villeneuve l'Étang. During the Commune of 1871, the palace was destroyed, and no longer stands. Only the gardens remain, and the chapel built by Antoinette.

  The château of Marly was built in 1679 as a place for Louis XIV to stay while he was building Versailles. He continued to use it as a retreat from the protocol of the main royal residence, while constructing a fabulous garden that would offer summer recreation to the court for years to come. The machine de Marly was a feat of hydraulic engineering which pumped the waters of the Seine into a grand cascades, fountains, ponds and canals at Marly, with the water flowing on to the park at Versailles a few miles away. Even in the days of Louis XVI and Antoinette, Marly was a place for the court to recreate in grand style and a special costume was required. The château itself was small and so were the surrounding pavilions, which were supposed to make for a casual environment, although plumes, powder and jewels were de rigueur. The King had to pay for the food and entertainments; Louis XVI hated the cost and Antoinette disliked the stiffness of being formally dressed while promenading and playing cards. The arrangement of the gardens sounds like an Incan, Mayan or Aztec shrine to the sun but then Louis XIV always lived up to his name of Sun-King. In the words of Madame Campan: