#marie antoinette

_{Cast of Marie Antoinette photographed by Annie Leibovitz for Vogue magazine, 2006}

On the 20th of June 1791, Count Axel von Fersen assisted the French royal family in their flight to escape their fate from the hands of the revolutionaries. After the king sent him away, the family was captured and eventually brought back to Paris. For the remainder of his life, Fersen would regret leaving them, wishing over and over that he had stayed to protect them, and his queen, even if it meant his death.

On the 20th of June 1810, 19 years later, Fersen was attacked and beaten to death by a mob on the streets of Stockholm, clear in view of the royal guard. The context was the suspicion of his involvement in the death of crown prince Charles August - an accusation based on nothing but rumours and conspiracies.

In his letter to his sister Sophie a couple of years earlier, after learning of the death of Marie Antoinette, Fersen unknowingly makes a chilling prediction of his own fate, by wishing that he had died by on the 20th of June.

artschoolglasses:

In obvious ways they were strikingly different: Louis beginning to put on weight, Antoinette slim; he steady, she quick; he reserved, she open; he with few close friends, she with many; he awkward, she majestic; he seeing the dark side, she the bright; he a keen reader, she bored by books; he unmusical, she happy with harp and clavichord.

But at a deeper level they possessed traits in common. Both had a lot of heart; they felt for those less fortunate than themselves, they loved their children and were happiest when with them. Both had a sense of duty and wanted above everything to do their job well.

Louis and Antoinette, by Vincent Cronin

vivelareine:

Marie Antoinette Gathering the Brushes of Madame Vigée Le Brun, 1784 by     Alexis-Joseph Pérignon , circa 1854.(via The Met)

tooyoungtoreign:

Are you going to tell me who you are?

Are you?

Happy birthday,  Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun! The prominent French portrait painter was born in Paris on April 16, 1755.  Vigée Le Brun created a name for herself in Ancien Régime society by serving as the portrait painter to Marie Antoinette, seen above with her children. We have Madame Vigée-Lebrun, peintre des grandes dames du XVIIIe siécle (1919) in our collection. Ask a librarian to see anything in our special collections.

amazingeugenie:

My blood alone remains: take it, please.
But do not make me suffer long.

Kirsten Dunst on the set of Marie Antoinette (Dir. Sofia Coppola, 2006).

daniel–ricciardo:

— This is ridiculous.                            
— This, Madame, is Versailles.                            
MARIEANTOINETTE(2006)DIR.SOFIACOPPOLA

Photography  Carl Osbourn Photography
Model  Ashton Lee Parks @ Leni’s Model Management
Styling Rafaella Zannettou using Harriet Parry Flowers & Man Hin Harris
Nails  Effy Nails
Makeup  Tabby Casto
Hair KT Gal hairdresser

I’m working on my doll designs for my crochet hobby. Meet the Marie Antoinette fashion doll, complete with cake, brioche, extensive wardrobe and detachable head

filmreel:

Letting everyone down would be my greatest unhappiness.

MARIEANTOINETTE(2006)
dir. Sofia Coppola

Table mécanique de Marie-Antoinette, ébéniste Jean-Henri Riesener , 1778

— at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

daniel–ricciardo:

— This is ridiculous.                            
— This, Madame, is Versailles.                            
MARIEANTOINETTE(2006)DIR.SOFIACOPPOLA

pariztexas:

Dogs in Marie Antoinette (2006) dir. Sofia Coppola

Ymre Stiekema Vogue Japan

vivelareine:

Genealogy tree leading to Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI, engraving on the occasion of their marriage. 1770. [credit:Bibliothèque nationale de France, département Estampes et photographie]

This is gorgeous! Love it !

daniel–ricciardo:

— This is ridiculous.                            
— This, Madame, is Versailles.                            
MARIEANTOINETTE(2006)DIR.SOFIACOPPOLA