Marie Antoinette

Magazine Antiques, April, 2008 by Miriam Kramer

The Austrian-born ill-fated queen of France has been subject to a number of interpretations. Was she just a flighty and extravagant princess used as a political pawn or was she a scheming agent of her country of origin? On her arrival in France in 1770 the new queen was received with open arms: she was young and beautiful, and brought to the stifling French court a breath of fresh air. Later, however, her reputation began to suffer greatly due to her extravagance, and then to her seeming indifference to the plight of ordinary people. Her subsequent nickname of l'Autrichienne--the Austrian--was not a term of endearment. One view of Marie Antoinette is that she was a victim of circumstances. She was cocooned at Versailles, and her further retreat to the Petit Trianon removed her even more from reality.

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A major exhibition centered on Marie Antoinette is on view at the Galeries nationales du Grand Palais in Paris. It contains about three hundred items gathered from all over Europe to show the various aspects of her life. Conceived as a drama in three acts, the exhibition looks at her life as the youngest daughter of the Austrian royal family, her role as queen of France, and the tragic end of Louis XVI and his family.

Included in the exhibition are works from the collections of the queen's mother, the Empress Maria Theresa of Austria, to whom Marie Antoinette was particularly close, as well as correspondence between the two. Examples of Marie Antoinette's role as an important patron of the arts abound: there is furniture she commissioned from Jean Henri Riesener as well as many pieces of porcelain from Sevres. Among the portraits are works by Elisabeth Vigee-LeBrun.

The exhibition was mounted in cooperation with the Chateau de Versailles et de Trianon, and organized under the direction of Pierre Arizzoli-Clementel, director of Versailles, and Xavier Salmon, the chief inspector of French museums. The accompanying catalogue, in French only, may be ordered by telephoning 33 1 44 13 17 17.

Marie-Antoinette. Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, Paris, to June 30.