The main life achievement and secret of Jeanne Poisson, whom the king made the Marquise de Pompadour, was her amazing and at first glance inexplicable "longevity" at court. After all, the favorites of the century are short-lived - a rapid rise was usually followed by an equally quick oblivion. And the marquise did not leave Versailles for twenty years, remaining the closest friend and adviser of the king until her death.

Fortune-telling predicts happiness in life ...

Jeanne Antoinette Poisson was born in 1721. She had no noble roots. The girl's mother, Louise Madeleine, was known as a lady of rather specific behavior, so doubts arise who was Jeanne's real father: Francois Poisson, who at one time served as a footman, then as a supplier of the food department, who stole and fled from justice, leaving his family, or the financier Norman de Turnnam, who kept Jeanne and her mother.

Despite the humble origin, the girl was given a good upbringing and education, since Monsieur Turnham had the funds for this. Jeanne was distinguished by nature with a lively mind and was gifted with extraordinary abilities: she played great music, drew, had a clear voice and a passion for poetry, which she recited beautifully.

She was very fond of books, learned knowledge well, studied for several years at the Poissy monastery. In addition, the girl was pretty. Her contemporary Leroy, Chief Jägermeister of the forests and parks of Versailles, described Jeanne with great sympathy: “... short, slender, with soft, relaxed manners, elegant. Face of an impeccable oval shape. Beautiful brown hair, rather large eyes of indeterminate color, beautiful long eyelashes. Straight, perfectly shaped nose, sensual mouth, very beautiful teeth. Charming laugh."

... When Jeanne was 9 years old, her mother took her to one of the most famous fortune-tellers of that time - Mrs. Lebon. The fortune-teller carefully looked at the fragile girl and uttered a prophecy: “This little one will one day become the king’s favorite!”

But no matter what the fortuneteller came up with, the king was far away, and Jeanne Antoinette was 19 years old. On March 9, 1741, in the church of Sainte-Ostache, she was married to Charles Le Norman d'Etiol, nephew of Monsieur de Tournam. It was not a marriage for love, however, their marriage was quite successful. The husband bowed before Jeanne and was ready to fulfill her every desire. She said that she would never leave him, except for the sake of the king himself ...

Diana the Huntress

Jeanne knew how to brilliantly present herself in high society, and soon they started talking about her. However, this charming girl was not enough to remain in the center of attention of high society. She tried to attract the attention of the king, who at that time was under the spell of the ambitious Duchess de Châteauroux.

The girl began to constantly catch the eye of Louis in the Senar forest, where he hunted, in flirtatious and refined toilets: either in a sky-blue dress and in a pink phaeton, then in all pink and in a sky-blue carriage - in the end, she was lucky to be noticed by him, especially since the king had already heard something about “little Etiol” and she aroused his curiosity. However, the mistress of Louis quickly put an end to the claims of the nee Jeanne Poisson, simply forbidding her to appear in the hunting grounds of the king. And only when Madame de Chateauroux suddenly died, Madame d'Etiol realized that the path to the heart of the king was free.

During a grand masquerade ball, which was given on February 25, 1745 in the Paris City Hall on the occasion of the marriage of the Dauphin to the Spanish princess Maria Theresa, Jeanne had the opportunity to approach the king. At the ball, Louis became interested in a charming lady in the costume of Diana the Huntress. The mask intrigued the king. At his request, the stranger opened her face. She had clearly dropped her scented handkerchief on purpose. The king immediately rushed to pick it up, returned it to her, and this was the beginning of their love affair, which they maintained through the trusted valet Louis Binet.

Soon Madame d'Etiol appeared at Versailles at the performance of the Italian comedy in a box that was near the stage very close to the king's box, and when Louis ordered dinner to be served directly to his study, the whole court had no doubt that his only companion would be "little Etiol". Here she gave herself to him, but after this meeting, Louis's interest in her decreased.

The king told Binet that he liked Madame d'Etiol very much, but it seemed to him that ambition and selfish interest motivated her in many ways. The valet began to assure the king that Jeanne was madly in love with him, but she was in despair, as she was torn between love for the king and duty to her husband, who was full of suspicion and idolized her.

On her next appointment with Louis, Madame d'Etiol behaved more carefully and acted in the role of just a charming and virtuous woman, which the king wanted to see in her. As if in a well-played performance, she spoke with horror about her husband's revenge that awaited her and managed to convince Louis to leave her at Versailles. She also managed to get her husband out of Paris without much difficulty: as a companion of his uncle, he was sent by his representative to the provinces.

While apartments were being prepared at Versailles for de Châteauroux's successor, Jeanne remained at Etiol. The king often wrote her affectionate letters, usually ending with the words "Loving and devoted", and she immediately answered in the same spirit. Finally, in one of the letters she read: "Marquise de Pompadour." Louis issued a decree conferring on her this title, which had previously belonged to a extinct family from Limousin.

At the throne of the king

On September 14, 1745, she was presented at court. Oddly enough, but the best attitude to the new favorite was ... the wife of Louis - Maria Leshchinskaya - the daughter of the Polish king Stanislav. The queen was seven years older than her husband, extremely pious, boring and unattractive. During the first 12 years of marriage, she gave birth to ten children to the king and was completely absorbed in caring for offspring ...

The obvious superiority of the Marquise de Pompadour over the past favorites of the king in every possible way strengthened the position of Jeanne, both at court and under Louis. And she took advantage of this, not being afraid to pass for immodest. Both in the external and in the private, hidden from prying eyes, life, Madame Pompadour ruled her ball.

Jeanne carried Louis into the world of magnificent architecture, quaint palaces, under the vaults of century-old tree alleys, where, however, everything was arranged in accordance with common sense, and each house bore the imprint of a fashionable pastoral. The marquise again and again conquered Louis with her ability to appear before him every time new and unexpected. Exquisite makeup and costumes helped her in this, a whole kaleidoscope of costumes! Either she changed into the dress of a sultana from the Vanloo paintings, or she appeared in the costume of a peasant woman ...

Especially for the king, she came up with another unusual outfit, it was called “neglije a la Pompadour”: something like a Turkish vest that hugged the neck, fastened with buttons on the forearm and fitted the back to the hips. In it, the marquise could show everything she wanted, and only hint at everything she wanted to hide.

However, the position of the Marquise at court was not so stable. Until now, the king chose his favorite from the upper strata of society. The née Poisson broke this rule. Thousands of hostile eyes followed her, and thousands of evil tongues immediately set in motion at the slightest forgetfulness, at the slightest errors in etiquette, at errors in the court language of this Grisette, as the newly-made marquise was contemptuously called behind her back.

First of all, Jeanne had to think about how, in this situation fraught with unforeseen dangers, to obtain the full support of the king in order to strengthen her position. It was the most difficult and extremely important task.

Versailles Scheherazade

Of all the mistresses of Louis, only the Marquise de Pompadour had the ability to dispel his boredom. She tried every time to be attractive in a new way and every time she came up with new entertainments for him. She sang and played especially for the king or told new jokes with her characteristic piquancy. And when some minister bothered Louis with reports, which naturally annoyed the king, she tried to send the speaker out as quickly as possible. For example, if it was Morepa: “In your presence, the king turns yellow directly. Farewell, Mr. Morepa!”

She walked with Louis through the luxurious gardens of summer castles and constantly accompanied him from Versailles to Crescy, and from there to La Selle, and from there to Bellevue, and then to Compiègne and Fontainebleau. On Holy Week, she entertained him with sacred music concerts and liturgies, in which she herself participated. And when she played on stage in the theater of Étiol or Chantemerle with Madame de Villemour, she managed to captivate Louis with her performing arts, and she even created a small theater in Versailles in one of the galleries adjacent to the Medallion Cabinet, called the “Chamber Theater”.

Over time, her position was strengthened so much that she began to receive ministers and ambassadors with condescending arrogance. Now she lived in Versailles, in apartments that once belonged to the once powerful mistress of Louis XIV, the Marquise de Montespan. In the room of the Marquise de Pompadour, where she received visitors, there was only one chair - everyone had to stand in the presence of the sitting favorite.

She listened to Mass in the Chapel of Versailles on a tribune specially arranged for her on the balcony of the sacristy, where she appeared alone during big holidays. Her life was furnished with unprecedented luxury. A young nobleman from an old family carried her train, at her sign offered her a chair, and waited for her to come out in the hallway. She achieved the award of her chamberlain Collin with the Order of St. Louis. Her carriage bore the ducal coat of arms.

The Marquise owned such huge real estate, which neither before nor after her in France was owned by any royal favorite. She bought the Cressy estate in Dreux for 650,000 livres, built a luxurious castle here - construction was generally her strong point - and also re-arranged a huge park. She bought Montreton, but immediately resold it at a profit, bought the Selle a mile from Versailles on the road to Marly, and here, too, rebuilt everything that she did not like in accordance with her tastes. Each such event in itself required huge funds.

Amusements, buildings, dresses of the Marquise de Pompadour absorbed a lot of money: 1 million 300 thousand livres were worth her outfits, 3.5 million - cosmetics, 4 million - theater, 3 million - horses, 2 million - jewelry, about 1 .5 million livres - her servants; She allocated 12,000 francs for books.

“Godmother” of Voltaire, Rousseau, Napoleon…

Louis XV encouraged the development of the cultural life of France, so the Marquise de Pompadour tried to surround herself with poets, scientists and philosophers. Out of competition among them was Voltaire, an old friend of the marquise. Pompadour gave him a clear preference, made him an academician, chief historian of France, chief chamberlain. In turn, he wrote “Princess of Navarre”, “Temple of Glory” for court holidays, dedicated the Marquise “Tancreda” and glorified her in poetry and prose. “Pompadour, you decorate with your special court, Parnassus and the island of Geter!” he exclaimed with admiration and gratitude.

She did a lot for Rousseau, especially when he could not protect his own interests. Marquise staged his "Siberian soothsayer" on stage and had great success in the male role of Kolpen. However, Jean-Jacques considered her not attentive enough to him, since he was not introduced to the king and did not receive a pension. On the other hand, the Marquise arranged a pension for old Crebillon, who once gave her lessons in recitation, which was now poor and abandoned by everyone. Pompadour staged his play Catelina, contributed to the monumental publication of his tragedies in the royal printing house, and after Crebillon's death, the construction of a mausoleum for him.

Her friends were Buffon and Montesquieu. The Marquise also helped the encyclopedists - d'Alembert (for him she secured a pension) and Diderot, whom she repeatedly called for moderation and caution.

Pompadour contributed to the opening of a military school for the sons of war veterans and impoverished nobles. When the money allocated for the construction ran out, the marquise contributed the missing amount. In October 1781, student Napoleon Bonaparte arrived at this school to study ...

Reformer in a skirt

Other equally glorious deeds are associated with the name Pompadour. She actively interfered in the domestic and foreign policy of France, was engaged in patronage, fought with her political opponents, and most often, successfully, because the king was always on her side.

Wanting to create serious competition for the famous and expensive Saxon porcelain, Pompadour moved factories from Vincennes to Sevres, tirelessly experimented, invited skilled artisans and talented artists, sculptors, organized exhibitions in Versailles and publicly announced: “If someone who has money does not buys this porcelain, he is a bad citizen of his country.”

Pompadour has made an invaluable contribution to the cultural heritage of mankind.

Diamonds, cut which is called “marquise” (oval stones), in their shape resemble the mouth of a favorite.

Champagne is bottled either in narrow tulip glasses, or in cone-shaped glasses that appeared during the reign of Louis XV - this is exactly the shape of Madame de Pompadour's chest.

A small reticule bag made of soft leather is also her invention. She brought high heels and high hair into fashion because she was small.

Beautiful delicate roses, her favorite flower, which the Marquise planted wherever she could, were eventually called “Pompadour roses”.

The marquise held the throne for twenty years, although her position was often in danger. She was not a cheerful person, although she wanted to seem like one. In fact, Pompadour had a cold mind, an ambitious character and, moreover, an iron will, which was surprisingly combined with her weak body, tired of a serious illness ...

Last walk

On one of her trips to Choiseul, the marquise fainted, but found the strength to recover, contrary to the expectations of others. Then came a relapse, and there was no more hope. Louis ordered her to be transported to Versailles, although until now, as Lacretel wrote, only princes were allowed to die in the royal palace.

Pompadour died at 43. However, one can only be surprised that with such an anxious life, she lasted so long. In her early youth, she was diagnosed with pulmonary tuberculosis.

When the funeral procession turned towards Paris, Louis, standing on the balcony of the palace in the pouring rain, said: “What disgusting weather you have chosen for your last walk, madam!” Behind this seemingly completely inappropriate joke, true sadness was hidden.

The Marquise de Pompadour was buried in the tomb of the Capuchin monastery. Now, at the place of her burial, there is Rue de la Paix, passing through the territory of the monastery demolished at the beginning of the 19th century. Historian Henri Matrin called Pompadour "the first female prime minister."

3 gourmet recipes in the style of the Marquise de Pompadour and a bit of history

December 29, 1721 was born Jeanne Antoinette Poisson, who went down in history as the Marquise de Pompadour. The famous mistress of Louis XV was strong not only in the art of love, but also in cooking

The daughter of a quartermaster, accused of embezzlement and leaving his family to the mercy of fate, a fortuneteller predicted an almost royal life. But the path to the dream was not easy for Jeanne Poisson. First, she had to marry Charles Guillaume Etiol in order to restore the honor of the family. Madame Etiol meets King Louis XV at a costume ball in February 1745, and in July she receives title of marquise and estate of Pompadour.

For almost 20 years, the Marquise de Pompadour has been the favorite and true friend of the king. In order not to bore her lover, she comes up with more and more entertainment for him. He invites famous playwrights and philosophers to his living room, constantly trying on new images from a rural shepherdess to an oriental odalisque. For example, she introduced into fashion dresses and ribbons made of fabric with a small flower, an apron trimmed with lace, a high hairstyle that opens the forehead. The Marquis does not forget that "the way to a man's heart lies through his stomach."

In the 18th century, cooking became fashionable at the French court. Court ladies try their talents in it. And the royal chefs strive not only for the abundance of dishes, but also for the refinement of taste and quality of products.

The Marquise de Pompadour preferred dishes from expensive products, but simple, refined and exciting.

Among her favorite foods are truffles, celery, chocolate, asparagus.

Here is what he wrote about the properties of celery gourmet Alexandre Grimaud de la Renière:
“Although boiled celery loses some of its healing virtues, we must not forget that the plant is aromatic, good for the stomach, appetizing, hot, and therefore very stimulating. To clear our conscience, we are obliged to warn timid readers about this last property of celery: it is better for them not to eat celery at all, or at least use it with the greatest caution. Simply put, celery is ordered for bachelors ".

According to him, it differs in similar properties and asparagus:
“At the end of April, in Paris, to the delight of those who, bored with potatoes and last year's beans, yearn for greenery, the first asparagus appears.
Asparagus in Paris is always very expensive and available only to the rich: this food is not at all satisfying and slightly exciting, but very tender..

According to one version, Madame Pompadour ate a bowl of truffle soup with celery for breakfast every day. And she preferred white Dutch asparagus, with purple tips.

Festive recipes in the style of the Marquise de Pompadour

TRUFFLE SOUP WITH CELERY

Ingredients:

3 cups celery juice
half a cup dry white wine
half a cup concentrated beef broth
4 yolk
1 a tablespoon of lemon juice
1 thinly sliced ​​truffle Truffles can be bought in Moscow at a price of 650 euros per 1 kg. If you choose a truffle weighing 50 grams for soup, then it will not cost you so much);
Salt and pepper to taste

How to cook:

Combine celery juice, beef broth and wine and bring to a boil.

Beat the yolks, pour the hot broth into them, stirring constantly.

Pour the mixture into a saucepan, add the truffle, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Simmer over medium heat for 5 minutes without letting the soup boil.

Serve immediately after being ready.

ASPARAGUS A LA POMPADOUR

Sauce Ingredients:

1 a teaspoon of flour
100 g butter
2 yolk
4 tablespoons of lemon juice
Pinch nutmeg

How to cook:

Peel and boil a bunch of asparagus in boiling salted water.

Thinly slice the asparagus diagonally into pieces no longer than your little finger. Take only the best parts, dry on a warm napkin.

Prepare the sauce. In a water bath (previously it was recommended to use a silver saucepan for it, but a regular one is also suitable) melt a piece of butter, add flour, a pinch of nutmeg, egg yolks, lemon juice.

Dip the asparagus into the prepared sauce and cover the pan with a lid.

ICE CREAM A LA POMPADOUR

Ingredients:

vanilla ice cream 1 kg
Biscuit 350 g
Liqueur "Cointreau" 250 ml
small strawberry 500 g
White wine 250 ml;
Sugar 2-3 tbsp. spoons
Whipped cream optional

How to cook:

Take a form with a diameter of 22-24 cm, lay the bottom with foil and put it in the refrigerator for a while.

Add a few teaspoons of liqueur to the ice cream and mix, cut the biscuit into pieces.

Remove the form from the refrigerator, put half of the ice cream on the bottom, put pieces of biscuit poured with liquor on top, put another layer of ice cream and biscuit on top.

Cover with foil and refrigerate for an hour.

Rinse strawberries in wine, sprinkle with sugar, soak for 15 minutes in liquor. Put the ice cream from the refrigerator on a dish and decorate with a pyramid of strawberries and whipped cream.

Artist Francois Boucher. Portrait of Madame de Pompadour. 1756

FROM1745 llegendary official mistress of the French king Louis XV. Having surrounded the king with people devoted to her, she determined the domestic and foreign policy of the state. She patronized sciences and arts.

Her father, Francois Poisson, was at one time a lackey, then a supplier of the provisions department, inept and dishonest. The syndic Lenormand de Tourneme took a great part in the fate of Antoinette; maybe he was her real father.

Artist Francois Boucher. Portrait of Madame de Pompadour. 1754

As a child, a fortuneteller, seeing Jeanne, exclaimed: “This is the future favorite of the king!” Thanks to Lenormand, Jeanne Antoinette received an excellent education; she knew music, drew, sang, played on the stage, recited.

Artist Francois Boucher. Portrait of Madame de Pompadour. 1759

Marriage and meeting with the king

At the age of 19, the beautiful Antoinette married the nephew of her patron, Lenormand d'Etiol. With very little interest in her husband, she enjoyed her time in the company of brilliant youth.

Portrait of Madame de Pompadour

Louis XV met her by chance and in 1745, after the death of the Duchess de Châteauroux, made her his official favorite under the name of the Marquise de Pompadour. A whole staff of ladies-in-waiting was at her disposal. Her husband, who was threatened with the Bastille, received a lucrative job and calmed down.

Painter Maurice Quentin de Latour.Portrait of Madame de Pompadour. 1748-1755.

For twenty years, until her death, Pompadour played a prominent role not only in France, which was in her hands, but also in Europe. She influenced the foreign policy of France, patronized science and art.

Artist François-Hubert Drouais.Portrait of Madame de Pompadour. 1763-1764.

Participation in public affairs

Not Louis ruled France, but Pompadour. The depraved, lazy king, fascinated by her at first, after five years lost interest in her, finding that there was little passion in her, and called her an ice statue. Her ability to manipulate people and her knowledge of the king's character allowed her to stay in the king's entourage.

Artist Louis-Michel van Loo. Portrait of Louis XV.

At first she tried to entertain him with music and theater, where, speaking herself on stage, she always appeared to him in a new, attractive form, but soon resorted to more effective means - she introduced young beauties to the court.

Portrait of Pompadour as Diana the Huntress. Artist J.-M. Natya.

Pompadourpersuaded the king to ally with Austria, contrary to the traditional policy of France. She removed Cardinal Burney from the Foreign Office, replacing him with her favorite, the Duke of Choiseul.

Artist Charles-André van Loo.Portrait of Madame de Pompadour. 1754-1755.

OptionalPompadourcommanders-in-chief were appointed in the armies; she nominated the Duke of Richelieu despite his disrepute, appointing him marshal of France. Under her, Finance Minister Machaux tried to reform the distribution of taxes. Quesnay explained to her the foundations of his theory.

Portrait of Madame de Pompadour

PompadourI was acquainted with many outstanding writers of my time. Her friends were Duclos and Marmontel. She rescued old Crebillon from poverty by giving him the position of librarian.

Portrait of the Marquise de Pompadour

Pompadour ardently supported the encyclopedists and the Encyclopedia. Voltaire admired her, although, at the same time, he laughed at her bourgeois manners. It is known that Rousseau was one of the few intellectuals of that time who were not part of her circle of acquaintances.

Spending at the expense of the royal treasury

Country house of the Marquise de Pompadour in Menare.

Amusements, buildings, Pompadour outfits were expensive.For twenty years at court, she spent 350,035 livres on her toilets, she owned over three hundred pieces of jewelry, including a diamond necklace worth 9,359 francs.

Portrait of Mimi, Madame Pompadour's dog

The furnishings in the apartments (“à la Reine” style), buildings, and costumes were named after her.

Madame de Pompadour's close stool in the Cabinet des Dépêches

She created fashion with her ability to dress luxuriously and at the same time "carelessly".

Of all the royal mistresses, Pompadour is considered the most brilliant, talented and immoral. Nevertheless, according to contemporaries, Louis accepted the news of her death with indifference.

Artist Drovais Francozin Hubert.Portrait of the Marquise de Pompadour.