Madame de pompadour biography
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Madame de Pompadour: History’s Greatest Mistress
Power was largely a male preserve in eighteenth-century France. Though women were valued for their beauty and femininity, the realms of politics, war, science, art, and architecture were dominated by men.
Madame de Pompadour, the mistress of King Louis XV, was an exception. Her decisions impacted the king, the royal court, and French society. Rather than limiting her sphere of influence to her lover’s bedroom, her beauty was a stepping stone to power.
The Making of Madame de Pompadour
Unlike other royal mistresses, Madame de Pompadour did not come from an aristocratic family. Her real name was Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson, and she was born into an upper-middle-class family in Paris. Her father, François Poisson, was forced to go into exile following a financial scandal, though he did return to France several years later.
Not much is known about Jeanne-Antoinette’s childhood. But we do know she had a knack for art and per
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The future Marquise de Pompadour, Jeanne Antoinette Lenormant d’Etiolles, born Poisson, met Louis XV at Versailles in She was invited to the great masked ball held to celebrate the marriage of the Dauphin Louis Ferdinand. The King was smitten with her and brought her to the Palace of Versailles that same year, providing her with an apartment just above his own. A secret staircase allowed the monarch to access his mistress's apartment without being seen. In July he presented her with the Pompadour Estate and made her a Marquise, officially presenting her to the Court in September Her bourgeois, non-aristocratic roots (she was the daughter of a director of provisions for the army), however, soon drew harsh criticism from certain members of the nobility. Nonetheless, she succeeded in having her brother, the Marquess of Marigny, appointed Director General of the Royal Palaces.
During the s she ceased to be the King's mistress but retained considerable influence over the monarch. After
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By Tricia Tait:
Throughout history, the traditional roles that subordinated women passed from generation to generation. Although most women faced a life of limited opportunity, a few were capable of surpassing the traditional roles and gaining power and influence. One of these women was Jeanne-Antionette Poisson, who in the eighteenth century, rose beyond her class status and gained title of maitresse-en-titre to Louis XV, King of France. She was able to remain the King's mistress between and , and remained powerful as the King's confidante until her death in
Madame de pompadour was born Jeanne-Antionette Poisson on December 29, in the rue de Clery. Her father was Francois Poisson, a steward to the Paris brothers, and was forced to leave the country after a black market scandal in At this time, her mother, Louise Madeline de la Motte, was befriended by Charles le Normant de Tornehem, who then looked over the family. When Jeanne-Antionette was nine years old, her mot