Jeanne Antoinette Poisson, Marquise de Pompadour, also known as Madame de Pompadour, was a member of the French court and was the official chief mistress of Louis XV from 1745 to 1751, and remained influential as court favourite until her death.
Background
Jeanne Antoinette Poisson was born on 29 December 1721 in Paris to François Poisson and his wife Madeleine de La Motte. It is suspected that her biological father was either the rich financier Pâris de Montmartel or the tax collector (fermier général) Le Normant de Tournehem. Le Normant de Tournehem became her legal guardian when François Poisson was forced to leave the country in 1725 after a scandal over a series of unpaid debts, a crime at that time punishable by death. (He was cleared eight years later and allowed to return to France. )
Education
At age 5 Jeanne Antoinette was sent to receive the finest quality education of the day in an Ursuline convent in Poissy, where she gained admiration for her wit and charm. Due to poor health, thought to be whooping cough, Jeanne Antoinette returned home in January 1730 at age 9.
Career
Jeanne-Antoinette entered the glittering life of the court at the Clipped Yew Tree Ball in 1745. She dressed as a shepherdess, and was determined to meet the magnetic King Louis XV, adorned as the tree. When their paths crossed, their fates were sealed—her carriage was reportedly seen outside of his apartment the next morning.
Louis XV was moody, sometimes languishing in the shadow of his great-grandfather, Louis XIV, the "Sun King. " He was fond of his Polish queen (with whom he would have 10 children); he had been through several mistresses by this time, but "Madame de Pompadour"—a title that Jeanne-Antoinette was soon given, along with an estate—became his chief mistress within a year. Her "office" came with castle apartments beneath the king's own, as well as an annual income.
A talented seductress, actress and singer, Madame de Pompadour dazzled Louis XV with lively theater productions that she organized and performed in. She also adored the king, so even after their sexual liaison had run its course, she continued to be his loyal companion, and was accorded unprecedented political influence.
So devoted was the king to Madame de Pompadour, he became the stepfather of Fanfan, rushing doctors to her side when she fell ill. Sadly, the little girl died before turning 10; Fanfan's grandfather, who adored the child, died shortly afterward. Madame de Pompadour is said to have never recovered from the dual loss.
Louis XV and Madame de Pompadour shared an appreciation for architecture and other decorative arts, and of animals, amassing a menagerie that included monkeys, birds and more domestic constant companions: her little dog and his white angora cat. Madame de Pompadour's romantic ardor waned first, and her maid reported that she lived on a diet of "vanilla, truffles and celery" to stimulate passions for the king.
Madame de Pompadour eventually provided substitutes for herself in the boudoir while engaging Louis XV's passions in other areas; she had her brother appointed director of buildings and, together, the trio planned and built chateaux, pavilions and palaces, including the Petit Trianon in Versailles. Each construction included extravagant detail and decoration by France's premier artists, such as painter Francois Boucher. Madame de Pompadour also kick-started the Sèvres porcelain factory, and employed the Rococo style copiously in art and decor; a deep pink popular in this décor became known as "Pompadour Pink. "
Additionally, Madame de Pompadour became a patron to men of science and letters, encouraging the king to hire Voltaire as the court historiographer, and championing the first French encyclopedia. Her personal library held more than 3, 500 volumes.
Eventually, Madame de Pompadour was involved in everything from designing the Place de la Concorde in Paris, to court affairs and foreign policy. Careers rose and fell with her favor and she maintained her lofty position, despite many enemies at court, until her death in 1764.
Achievements
Madame de Pompadour was the official chief mistress of Louis XV from 1745 to 1751. She took charge of the king’s schedule and was a valued aide and advisor, despite her frail health and many political enemies. She secured titles of nobility for herself and her relatives, and built a network of clients and supporters. She was particularly careful not to alienate the Queen, Marie Leszczyńska. On February 8, 1756, the Marquise de Pompadour was named as the thirteenth lady in waiting to the queen, a position considered the most prestigious at the court, which accorded her with honors. She was a major patron of architecture and decorative arts, especially porcelain. She was a patron of the philosophes of the Enlightenment, including Voltaire. Hostile critics at the time generally tarred her as a malevolent political influence, but historians are more favorable, emphasizing her successes as a patron of the arts and a champion of French pride.
Views
Quotations:
"One may tolerate a world of demons for the sake of an angel. "
Personality
The Madame has the cutest personality. She was one of the smartest woman ever associated with the French crown.
Quotes from others about the person
"When the time came for Pompadour herself to die, she confessed, was given her viaticum, and was from that time forth forbidden to see her lover. And when her body was borne away from Versailles, Louis was thought to have behaved rather badly because he watched the sad procession from a balcony. Let no one suppose that these people lived lives that were any more free from religious and neighbourly censure than the adulterers in our smallest Canadian villages. Even wealth and privilege could not wholly insulate them from that frost. " (by Robertson Davie)
"The King had every privilege except that of being at ease. Pompadour provided the atmosphere in which that final luxury was possible. She did not do this, as anyone who thinks about the matter for twenty seconds will know, by twenty years of rapt contemplation of the ceilings of Versailles. Indeed, Pompadour was not a physically ardent woman, and love-making tired her. After about eight years of their association Louis XV did not sleep with her. .. But it was to Pompadour that he talked, and it was to Pompadour that he listened. " (by Robertson Davies)
Connections
At the age of nineteen, Jeanne Antoinette was married to Charles Guillaume Le Normant d'Étiolles, nephew of her guardian, Charles Lenormand de Tournehem, who initiated the match and the large financial incentives that came with it. The couple had a son who died in infancy and a daughter, Alexandrine Le Normant d'Étiolles.
Mother:
Madeleine de La Motte
She was born in 1699 and died in 1745.
farher:
François Poisson
He was born in 1684 and died in 1754.
Wife:
Charles Guillaume Le Normant d'Étiolles
He is best known as being the husband of Madame de Pompadour or Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson, the illustrious mistress of King Louis XV of France.
spose:
Charles Guillaume Le Normant d'Étiolles
He was born in 1717 and died in 1799.
Daughter:
Alexandrine Le Normant d'Étiolles
She was born in 1744 and died at the age of nine.
guardian:
Le Normant de Tournehem
He was a French financier, a fermier-général, or tax-farmer.
