Biography of a pompadour. Women's secrets of the Marquise de pompadour

The strange illness of the Marquise de Pompadour When the king was informed that the Marquise de Pompadour was seriously ill, at first he did not believe it. Why is she sick, because he had only seen her the day before, and she was, as always, cheerful and talkative. The reason for such ignorance of the king

Death of the Marquise de Pompadour On April 15, 1764, the Marquise de Pompadour was no longer alive. On the same day, the royal chronicler wrote: “The Marquise de Pompadour, lady-in-waiting of the Queen, died at about seven o’clock in the evening in the king’s private chambers at the age of forty-three.” . It is known

In the footsteps of the Marquise de Pompadour Madame du Barry's main concern was not fame or state affairs. She was only thinking about how to keep the aging king with her, and to prolong the associated entertainment and pleasure for herself. The strategy of the Marquise de Pompadour was

Second Madame de Pompadour The returning Napoleon III made it clear to Virginia that separation had not cooled his ardor, frolicked like a young man, and then went to Biarritz to rest. Upon his return, the emperor, still in love, invited the countess to Compiegne. The court was amazed.

Marquise de Pompadour. The Heart of a King They said that the country was ruled not by the king, but by the Marquise de Pompadour. She behaved as if she herself were of royal blood: in her chambers, which once belonged to Madame de Montespan, the all-powerful favorite of Louis XIV, she

Marquise de Pompadour Heart of the King They said that the country is ruled not by the king, but by the Marquise de Pompadour. She behaved as if she herself were of royal blood: in her chambers, which once belonged to Madame de Montespan, the all-powerful favorite of Louis XIV, she

In the 18th century, rare women managed to avoid “duty”, which boiled down to the German “three Ks”: Kuche (kitchen), Kinder (children), Kirche (church). Only the daughters of crowned heads could count on this. All the more surprising is the phenomenon of the Marquise de Pompadour, who
for twenty years she was the uncrowned queen of France, without even having a noble origin!

Little Queen
There is a possibility that Jeanne Antoinette Poisson, born in 1721, still had some noble blood. Her father was officially listed as a former footman who had become a quartermaster. He stole and fled the country, leaving his wife and daughter. Both survived only thanks to financial assistance from a certain Mr. Le Normand de Tournham. It was rumored that he was the real father of the girl. But even in this case, the noble appendage “de” to the surname was most likely simply bought by him - in many sources this gentleman is called a simple syndic - in other words, the chairman of the trade guild.
In general, the future marquise’s pedigree clearly did not work out. However, from early childhood the girl was convinced that she would eventually live in the royal palace! The famous Parisian fortune teller, seeing nine-year-old Jeanne, immediately prophesied: “This little girl will become the king’s favorite!” And from then on, everyone called the girl nothing less than the little queen. The difference between the queen and the favorite will be explained to her later.
De Tournham did everything to ensure that the daughter of Parisian bourgeois received an education worthy of a noblewoman. By the age of 19, Jeanne Poisson drew beautifully, played music and sang - the prima donna gave her lessons Paris Opera. And besides, with the help of the famous playwright Crebillon, she discovered her real acting talent.
The same Mr. de Tournham found her a groom. His nephew Charles d’Etoile was a good match for a commoner and the daughter of a wanted criminal, but the “little queen” delayed her answer for a long time. The fortune teller predicted the fate of her favorite, who in France at that time was not at all considered indecent or unworthy! And Zhanna decided not to wait for “mercies from nature.”

Diana the Huntress
Jeanne frequented the Senar forest, where the king and his court often hunted. The first time he met her on a forest path, Louis XV only slightly held back his horse. But this was enough to make the royal favorite, the Marquise de Chateauroux, seriously worried. Soon, Jeanne's mother was conveyed to Chateauroux's urgent wish to “relieve His Majesty from the annoying attention of the young lady.” Someone else in Zhanna’s place would have given up, but she didn’t even think of giving up. Having accepted Chevalier d’Etoile’s proposal just in case, she did not abandon plans to win the heart of another man. Three years after the wedding, having given her husband a daughter, Zhanna considered her marital duty fulfilled.
In the same year, the Marquise de Chateauroux unexpectedly died of pneumonia, and a real war broke out for the vacant position of royal favorite. Entire court parties were formed, striving at all costs to promote their candidate to the honorary “position”. For several months the king kept the memory of his deceased passion, but then at one of the masquerade balls his attention was attracted by a stranger dressed as Diana the Huntress. Before melting into the crowd, the mysterious mask dropped a scented handkerchief at the king's feet.
Zhanna organized and carried out her “royal hunt” brilliantly. 35-year-old Louis XV was married to the daughter of the Polish king in exile, Maria Leszczynska. She was eight years older than him, gave birth to ten children in the first twelve years of marriage, and was known as a pious and wise woman. Louis' favorites changed one after another, so that by the time he met Jeanne, the king was simply bored. The future Marquise de Pompadour relied on this. Jeanne swore to herself that the king would never get bored with her. And she kept her word for 20 years.

Actress for life
Jeanne no longer appeared before the king's eyes - she forced the man of her dreams to search for the mysterious mask. But she deliberately hid herself not too skillfully. So the royal suitor, already intrigued, completely forgot about the spleen that was eating away at him! — it was not difficult to quickly find the fugitive in her own house. Extremely pleased with himself, the king immediately invited Jeanne to dine with him at Versailles.
The next morning, the king honored the young woman with a cold kiss and prepared for a long siege from his rejected mistress. And in vain - nothing like that followed. The girl left Paris that same day and never came into sight of the king again. She decided to play on the eternal male vanity - and she was right. Accustomed to flattering compliments about his masculine irresistibility, Louis was again intrigued. And even slightly hurt!
The king became even more agitated when the valet he sent reported that Madame d’Etoile’s servants, bribed by him, had spoken. It turns out that she is madly in love with the king. And horrified that she cheated on her husband. She is even ready to die at the hands of a jealous husband, because she never believed that her childhood dream, which she told everyone half-jokingly - to be in the arms of the king himself - would come true...
The king, of course, believed and wished to immediately see Jeanne at home. And in the palace, the actress played out a real melodrama - with secret entry into the royal chambers (nothing complicated - a banal bribe), with falling unconscious on the carpet, wringing of hands, passionate confessions and a plea for protection from a jealous spouse...
In general, this time the royal boredom disappeared as if by hand. That same night, the touched monarch promised his new friend that in the very near future he would “promote” her as an official favorite. And on September 14, 1745, he kept his word.

Best friend
Madame d’Etoile’s jealous husband was “calmed down” with a profitable position and the threat of the Bastille. And in order not to give the favorite any unnecessary complexes about her low origins, the king gave Jeanne the margraviate of Pompadour, which had become vacant on occasion, and the title of marquise.
The court accepted the new royal passion without enthusiasm. If she were a countess or, at worst, a baroness, they would envy her, and then they would still try to be “friends.” And here is some kind of rootless bourgeois, and not exactly a beauty... But the newly-minted Marquise de Pompadour unexpectedly found understanding and protection from the one from whom she least of all expected to meet both the first and the second - the king’s wife! Maria Leshchinskaya, despite all the ambiguity of her position, immediately felt a kindred spirit in the Marquise... Many of Madame de Pompadour’s competitors thought that a “change of scenery” was just around the corner. But days, months and years passed, and the marquise still occupied the heart, bedroom and all the free time of the king.
Many biographers of the marquise relished the details of her intimate life, her crazy spending and constant interference in state affairs. All this, of course, happened. Wars into which the active marquise, consciously or against her will, dragged the country. Ministers and military leaders, whom “Pompadourche” shuffled like cards at social evenings. More than a million livres spent on her outfits, and more than two million on jewelry...
But at the same time, the authors of accusatory works forgot about something else. The entire elite of the then spiritual elite gathered in her salon - there one could meet the caustic writer and philosopher Voltaire, the mannered artist Boucher, and the greatest scientist and economist Quesnay. By order of the Marquise, the Theater of Small Chambers was created. The auditorium was designed for only forty seats. One of them was invariably occupied by the king himself, the hostess of the theater shone on the stage, and there was a real struggle for the remaining 39 seats in the hall. Compiègne Castle and the Petit Trianon Palace in Versailles, the Military School (which the young Corsican Napoleon Bonaparte will soon graduate from) and the famous porcelain factory in Sevres - had a hand in all this (and often own funds) Marquise de Pompadour. Finally, the world owes Jeanne such little things as a special cut of diamonds (“marquise” style), “tulip” glasses for champagne, a handbag made of soft leather, high hairstyles and high heels.

After us - even a flood
The most important achievement of the Marquise, the secret of which has not yet been fully revealed, was her amazing and at first glance inexplicable longevity at court. The age of favorites was never long - a rapid rise was quickly followed by an equally rapid decline into oblivion. And the Marquise de Pompadour did not leave Versailles for twenty years, and until her death she remained the king’s closest friend and adviser. Even when his bed was occupied by other, younger “applicants”. She managed to do something that a woman rarely succeeds in - maintaining friendly relations with her former lover. Not politely friendly, not official or secular, but friendly.
Realizing that she was irretrievably losing her lover, she did not cling to him, make scenes, torment him and herself with jealousy and weave intrigues. Instead, she still tried to cheer up her often bored friend and remained inimitable in this. And for love pleasures, she periodically introduced the king to young and, as a rule, narrow-minded beauties. They did not stay long in the royal bedroom. And the wise marquise remained with the king until her death.
She died in 1764 from pneumonia. She was only 46 years old, twenty of which she, the daughter of a lackey (or merchant), actually ruled France. Her death did not cause universal grief - rather the opposite. A strong and intelligent woman who does not want to submit to social stereotypes and takes her fate into her own hands. own hands... Even today this causes envy and irritation among many. What can we say about the distant eighteenth century?..

François Boucher. The Marquise de Pompadour, 1755.

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

So, Jeanne Antoinette is 19 years old, she is not beautiful, not rich, and not in good health. What are her chances of making a decent match? Oddly enough, a groom for Jeanne was found quickly enough - a certain Charles de Etiol, nephew of Norman de Tournham. Charles, of course, is not a fairy-tale prince, but he is from a good family, and also rich. Another would have grabbed such a proposal with her hands and feet, someone else, but not Jeanne Antoinette. She drags on and on with a final answer. Cause? A prediction made by Madame Le Bon 10 years ago. What kind of Charles is there if there may be a king in the future?

F. Boucher. Marquise de Pompadour.

To become the king's mistress, you first need to be seen by the king. Young Jeanne begins to regularly travel to the Senar forest, where the king used to hunt. The first time the king drove past, the second time he stopped and looked carefully at Mademoiselle Poisson... After which a man came to her mother, conveying the “request” of the Marquise de Chateauroux (the then favorite of Louis) “to relieve the king from the annoying attention of Mademoiselle Poisson.”

François Boucher. Marquise de Pompadour 1750.

This was the collapse of her hopes. Jeanne marries Charles de Etiol, but does not cross the king off the list. After all, the fortune teller didn’t say that she would be a queen, she would be a favorite, which means she needs to be as close to the court as possible.

Nattier Jean-Marc. Portrait of Louis XV.

In 1744, the Marquise de Chateauroux unexpectedly died. The court begins to be in a fever, “parties” are formed in support of one or another candidate for the role of favorite.

In March 1745, at a ball, the king's attention is attracted by a young lady dressed as Diana the Huntress. The charming mask intrigues him and... disappears into the crowd, having previously dropped the scented handkerchief. The king, being a gallant gentleman, picks up the handkerchief, but, unable to give it to the lady in person, throws it through the crowd. Competitors are in mourning - the scarf is thrown...

Madame de Pompadour. Jean-Marc Nattier 1748.

A few words about the character of the man for whom such a stubborn struggle was waged: Louis XV became king at the age of five. By the time he met Jeanne de Etiol, 35-year-old Louis had tried all possible pleasures and therefore... was wildly bored. Jeanne Annoinette intuitively guessed how to hook the jaded king.

Oh, women who sit in the evenings waiting for a phone call from the “one and only”, take an example from the Marquise de Pompadour: if circumstances do not favor you, create favorable circumstances yourself.

What it cost Jeanne to get a seat next to the royal box - history is silent. But no matter how much she paid for it, the dividends were received almost instantly - the king invited her to dinner... That evening Jeanne made her only mistake, which, however, could have been fatal. That evening she gave herself to the king.

Bonnet Louis Marine.

The next day, Louis, accustomed to a certain manner of behavior of the ladies “happy” with him, prepared several polite phrases to once and for all discourage the applicant. Naive, he did not yet know who he had contacted.

Madame de Pompadour as Diana. Jean-Marc Nattier, 1752.

The prudent Jeanne bribed one of the king's confidants. The “face” informed Madame that the king considered her “not entirely disinterested,” and besides, crown prince, who saw Jeanne in the theater, found her “somewhat vulgar.”

Days passed, and Diana the Huntress did not appear. Louis began to be visited by normal male doubts - maybe she didn’t like him in bed?

M.C. de Latour. Madame de Pompadour.

Probably, if Jeanne Poisson had been born at another time, she would have become a great actress. The next meeting between the king and the future favorite took place in the tradition of strong melodrama. Jeanne secretly (with the help of bribed persons) made her way into the palace and fell at the feet of the king. Wringing her hands, she told His Majesty about the insane passion that she had long harbored for him, about the danger that awaits her in the person of her jealous husband (Louis would have looked at the stunted Charles de Etiol in the role of the jealous Othello). And then - “let me die...”

It was a brilliant move - in this situation there was no such thing as boredom. The king promised Jeanne that after returning from Flanders, he would make her an official favorite.

F. Boucher 1759 Marquise de Pompadour.

On September 14, 1745, Louis officially introduced his new girlfriend to the court. The court received her with hostility: she was not of noble birth, so she received the nickname Grisette (by this, the king’s associates clearly made it clear to Jeanne that they did not see the difference between her and street girls). To put an end to the rumors, the king gives his favorite the title of Marquise de Pompadour.

Madame Pompadour in blue.

Oddly enough, the one who reacted best to the new favorite was... the king's wife, nee Maria Leshchinskaya. The queen, very pious, very correct and completely indifferent to sexual pleasures (not surprising - in the first 12 years of marriage she gave birth to 10 children to the king) felt a kindred spirit in Jeanne. She was not mistaken - the intimate side was the most difficult for Zhanna. She tried all sorts of aphrodisiacs to suit her lover’s appetites.

The fact that the new favorite had “temperament problems” very soon became known to everyone. Naturally, many ladies considered this a sign from above and tried to push the marquise away from the royal bed. But, "even the most beautiful girl cannot give more than what she has." And in the arsenal of the marquise there were a thousand and one ways to keep the king - it was enough to cheer him up.

Louis XV. Maurice Quentin de La Tour (1704-1788)

She starts to patronize talented people, in her living room the king meets the outstanding minds of the time. Refined conversations, wonderful company... His Majesty is never bored. The Marquise was a very cynical woman; all collections of aphorisms contain her famous: “After us? Even a flood.”

Alexander Roslin. Portrait of Madame Pompadour.

But this is not the limit of her “contribution” to cultural heritage humanity... Diamonds, whose cut is called “marquise” (oval stones), with 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 breasts. A small reticule handbag made of soft leather is also her invention. She introduced high heels and high hairstyles into fashion because she was short.

Boucher F. Portrait of the Marquise de Pompadour.

In 1751, the first volume of the French Encyclopedia, or “ Explanatory dictionary Sciences, Arts and Crafts”, which opened a new era in the knowledge and interpretation of nature and society. The author of the idea and editor-in-chief of the Encyclopedia is Denis Diderot. She helped another representative of the glorious galaxy of figures of the French Enlightenment, Jean Leron d'Alembert, financially, and shortly before her death she managed to secure a lifelong pension for him. Among Madame Pompadour’s wards, according to some contemporaries, was the famous creator of the monument to Peter I in St. Petersburg, the sculptor Falconet.

M. V. de Parédès Mozart by Madame de Pompadour, "Monde illustré" 1857.

The famous freethinker Jean-Jacques Rousseau, although he was offended by the marquise for not introducing him to the king, was still grateful to her for her help in staging his “The Siberian Soothsayer” on stage, where the marquise performed with great success in the male role of Collin. It was with the assistance of the Marquise of Pompadour that Voltaire gained fame and a worthy place as an academician and the main historian of France, also receiving the title of court chamberlain.

François Boucher. Madame de Pompadour.

It was at the instigation of the Marquise that a Military School was created in Paris for the sons of war veterans and impoverished nobles. When the money allocated for construction runs out, the marquise contributes the missing amount. In October 1781, student Napoleon Bonaparte arrived at the school to study.

François Boucher. Presumable portrait of Jeanne Poisson.

In 1756, the Marquise founded a porcelain factory on the Sevres estate. She took active participation in work on the creation of Sevres porcelain. The rare pink color, obtained as a result of numerous experiments, is named in her honor - Rose Pompadour. In Versailles, the marquise organized a large exhibition of the first batch of products, sold it herself, declaring publicly: “If someone who has money does not buy this porcelain, he is a bad citizen of his country.”

Construction was the marquise's second passion, after the theater. Her last acquisition was the Menard castle, which she never managed to use in its converted version. The principle of elegant simplicity and maximum proximity to the living world of nature was put into the planning of the parks by the Marquise. She did not like large, unregulated spaces and excessive pomp. Thickets of jasmine, entire edges of daffodils, violets, carnations, islands with gazebos in the core of shallow lakes, rose bushes of the marquise’s favorite “hue of dawn” - these are her preferences in landscape art.

The most successful mistress of France aroused jealousy not only among hundreds of other contenders for a place in the royal bedroom. Recognized culinary masters secretly envied the “marquise-nurse” who had invaded their territory. Others admired her. Evidence of this is dozens of culinary masterpieces dedicated to Pompadour. There are legendary lamb chops, pheasant croquettes, young lamb tournedos with Perigue sauce, chopped goose liver aspic, tongue and mushroom aspic with truffles in Madeira sauce, apricot dessert, and small petit fours...

By 1751, the Marquise realized that she would not be able to hold the king’s attention for long - sooner or later he would turn his attention to younger women - Madame de Pompadour took this matter into her own hands. The Marquise de Pompadour was the king's mistress for only 5 years, and for another 15 years she was a friend and closest adviser on many issues, sometimes of national importance.

François Boucher.

The Marquise's cold reason and her iron will told her a way out of the situation. In the silence of two unremarkable Parisian streets, she rented a house with five rooms, hidden by a dense crown of trees. This house, called “Deer Park”, became the meeting place of the king with the ladies invited... by the marquise.

Jean-Marc Nattier. Marquise de Pompadour (1722-1764).

The king appeared here incognito, the girls took him for some important gentleman. After the king’s fleeting passion for another beauty had evaporated and remained without consequences, the girl, provided with a dowry, was married off. If the matter ended with the appearance of a child, then after his birth the baby, together with his mother, received a very significant annuity. Numerous mistresses are selected under the personal guidance of the Marquise. But none of them last longer than a year. The Marquise continued to remain the official favorite of His Majesty.

The Marquise will introduce Louis to Louison Morphy. The relationship will last two years, but one day, deciding that now she can do anything, Louison will ask His Majesty: “How is the old coquette doing?” Three days later, Louison, along with the daughter she gave birth to from Louis, leaves the famous house in Deer Park forever. By 1760, the amounts allocated by the royal treasury for the maintenance of the marquise decreased by 8 times. In the spring of 1764, the Marquise de Pompadour became seriously ill. She sold jewelry and played cards - she was usually lucky. But the treatment required a lot of money, and they had to borrow it. Already being seriously ill, she even acquired a lover. But what is the Marquis of Choiseul compared to the king!

Madame Pompadour as a Vestal by Fran. David M. Stewart 1763.

The marquise, who still accompanied Louis everywhere, suddenly lost consciousness on one of his trips. Soon everyone realized that the end was near. And although only royalty had the right to die in Versailles, Louis ordered her to be moved to the palace apartments.

Madame de Pompadour. DROUAIS François-Hubert, 1763-64.

On April 5, 1764, the royal chronicler recorded: "The Marquise de Pompadour, lady-in-waiting of the Queen, died about 7 o'clock in the evening in the King's private apartments, aged 43 years." When funeral procession turned towards Paris, Louis, standing on the balcony of the palace in the pouring rain, said: “What disgusting weather you chose for your last walk, madame!” Behind this seemingly completely inappropriate joke was hidden true sadness.

The Marquise de Pompadour was buried next to her mother and daughter in the tomb of the Capuchin monastery. Now at the site of her burial there is Rue de la Paix, which runs through the territory of the demolished early XIX centuries of the monastery.

Paris Rue de la Paix.

She revealed a secret that all women in the world are puzzling over - how to keep a man near you for 20 years, if he is not even a husband, and you have not had an intimate relationship for a long time.

Unfortunately, she took this secret with her to the grave.

“No one can fully appreciate what women have done for France,” said the writer and enlightenment philosopher Bernard Le Beauvier de Fontenelle. And someone who has lived in the world for exactly 100 years and witnessed the transformation of this state into the most authoritative and enlightened in Europe can be trusted. There is no doubt that, paying tribute to the weak half of France, de Fontenelle also had in mind the famous marquise, who forced politicians to seriously talk about the era of Pompadour.

Only the power concentrated in the hands of the most influential favorite of Louis XV forced her too zealous opponents not to delve into the details of her origin. And this extremely irritated a woman striving for perfection in everything. Although we have received information that Jeanne Antoinette Poisson’s father was a lackey who became a quartermaster, stole and abandoned his family.

The proud marquise could easily disown such a parent, but then she would have to admit that she was an illegitimate child. The fact is that her father was also called the noble financier Norman de Thurnham. It was assumed that it was he who gave the girl, born in 1721, an excellent education and took part in her fate in every possible way. And not in vain...

Zhanna was clearly gifted with extraordinary abilities: she drew beautifully, played music, had a small but clear voice and real passion to poems, which she was excellent at reciting. Those around her invariably expressed delight, giving Mademoiselle Poisson the necessary self-confidence. The fortune teller, who predicted a love affair with the king for a 9-year-old girl, only confirmed her chosenness and exclusivity. The future marquise paid this kind woman a pension until the end of her days.

At the age of 19, Jeanne walked down the aisle with the nephew of her patron, and possibly her father. The groom was short and completely ugly, but rich and passionately in love with the bride. So the maiden Poisson parted with her unenviable surname and became Madame d'Etiol. Her family life flowed serenely, two years later she gave birth to a daughter, Alexandra, which, however, could not overshadow in her mind the dreams of a king that were lodged like a nail in her pretty head.

Jeanne used her every appearance in the boudoirs of numerous friends, as well as in the living rooms of high society, where her husband’s name and wealth opened the way for her. Rumors, gossip, and sometimes true information - everything went into her ideas about the life of the king and his court.

She already knew that at that time the king was busy with the Duchess de Chateauroux. And then the main traits of her character began to appear - perseverance and determination. She began to regularly travel to the Senar Forest, where the king used to hunt. However, it was not the king who caught her eye, but the ambitious Duchess de Chateauroux, who quickly declassified the purpose of her forest walks. And Zhanna was forbidden to appear in these places. Such a click on the nose sobered up the applicant for a while, but the cards, it seemed, didn’t lie after all. The Duchess de Chateauroux, being twenty-seven years old, died suddenly of pneumonia, and Madame d'Etiol took this as a signal to action.

On February 28, 1745, at the Paris City Hall, which still stands in the same place today, during a masquerade ball, Jeanne met the king face to face for the first time. However, at first she was wearing a mask, but the monarch, intrigued by the stranger’s behavior, asked her to reveal her face. Probably the impression was more than favorable...

Louis XV was called a man with an “extremely complex and mysterious character” and a “early tired” king. It was said about him that his “modesty was a quality that turned into a flaw in him.”

And since Louis felt most relaxed in the company of women, in France the king was considered a “lustful sinner.”

Louis XV was born in 1710. At the age of five, after the death of his great-grandfather, King Louis XIV, inherited the throne. When he was 9, he came to Paris Russian Emperor Peter to conduct negotiations “about wooing the king from our daughters, and especially the middle one,” Elizabeth. Versailles was not delighted with the prospect of Louis marrying the daughter of a portomoi. The origins of the wife of the Russian Emperor Catherine were well known. And the marriage did not take place. The beautiful and lively Lizetka, as Peter called his middle daughter, stayed at home and clearly made the right decision in becoming the Russian Empress.

At the age of 11, Louis was found a suitable bride: Maria Leszczynska, daughter of the Polish king Stanislaus. When the king turned 15, they got married. His wife was seven years older than him, extremely pious, boring and unattractive. According to some reports, during the first 12 years of marriage, she gave birth to ten children to Louis. The king, who had been an exemplary husband all these years, became so fed up with politics, economics, and his own family that he began to focus mainly on what gave him true pleasure - the fine arts and no less graceful women.

By the time he met Jeanne d’Etiol at the masquerade ball, this “ to the most beautiful man in his kingdom,” nicknamed Louis the Fair, turned 35 years old.

Although it is hardly possible to unambiguously characterize the appearance of this woman, so artistically gifted. Here, as the classic rightly noted, “everything is not what it is, but what it seems.” That is why the descriptions of the appearance of the future Marquise de Pompadour varied so much. Much here, of course, depended on the attitude towards her. One of her detractors did not find anything special in her: “She was blonde with a too pale face, somewhat plump and rather poorly built, although endowed with grace and talents.”

But the chief huntsman of the forests and parks of Versailles, Monsieur Leroy, who described the king’s girlfriend as a real beauty, noted a beautiful complexion, thick, lush hair with a chestnut tint, a perfectly shaped nose and mouth, literally “made for kissing.” Particularly admired were his large, incomprehensible-colored eyes, which left the impression of “some kind of vague point in a restless soul.” Poetic. And it completely coincides with the portraits of Francois Boucher, to whom the future marquise provided constant patronage.

It is possible that it was the Marquise’s patronage that influenced the fact that in the portraits by Boucher she appears as a goddess of beauty, and at the same time of fertility, with a fresh, ruddy and rather well-fed face of a peasant girl, while history has brought to us facts indicating that , what poor health this woman was and what incredible efforts it required of her to maintain the illusory glory of a blooming beauty.

One way or another, her “eyes of incomprehensible color” turned out to be opposite the royal ones not only at the masquerade ball, but also at the subsequent performance of the Italian comedy. Jeanne had to work hard to get a seat next to his box. As a result, the king invited Madame d'Etiol to dinner, which was the beginning of their relationship.

Although after the meeting the king told his confidant, bribed by the prudent Jeanne, that Madame d'Etiol was, of course, very sweet, it seemed to him that she was not entirely sincere and clearly not disinterested, and it was also noted that the crown prince, who saw “this lady "in the theater, found her vulgar...

From all this it became clear that Jeanne’s progress towards her cherished goal would not be problem-free. She managed to get her next date with great difficulty. She played her part in this last attempt with the gusto of desperation. The king was offered a simply melodramatic plot: the unfortunate woman made her way into the palace apartments, risking falling at the hands of a jealous husband, only to look at the man she adored. And then “let me die...”

The king did not shout “bravo”; he did better, promising Jeanne that upon returning from the theater of military operations in Flanders, he would make the victim of jealousy an official favorite.

Royal messages were delivered to Madame d'Etiolle, meaningfully signed: "Loving and devoted." Aware of Louis's minute habits and preferences, she answered him in a light, piquant style. The Abbé de Bernis, a connoisseur of belles-lettres, was entrusted to read her letters and bring final shine to them. And then one day she received a royal dispatch addressed to the Marquise de Pompadour. Jeanne finally received the title of an old and respectable noble family, albeit extinct.

On September 14, 1745, the king introduced the newly-made marquise to those close to him as his girlfriend. One might be surprised, but the one who treated her most loyally was... the king’s wife, who by that time was accustomed to literally everything. The courtiers were quietly indignant. Since the time of Gabrielle d'Estrée, who became the first official favorite of the monarch Henry IV of Navarre in the history of France, this place of honor has been occupied by a lady of a good family name. They were also offered to love and favor almost a plebeian. The Marquise was immediately given the nickname Grisette with a clear hint that in their eyes she was not much different from the people who earn their living by sewing cheap clothes and walking the evening streets of Paris.

Jeanne understood that until the king was entirely in her power, the title of favorite could hardly be retained for long. And she could become indispensable for him only if she was able to change the very quality of his life, relieve him of the melancholy and boredom that had become his lately constant companions of Louis. This means that Jeanne had to become a kind of Versailles Scheherazade.

This transformation happened quickly. The Marquise de Pompadour relied on the fine arts, so beloved by Louis. Now every evening in her living room the king found an interesting guest. Bouchardon, Montesquieu, Fragonard, Boucher, Vanloo, Rameau, the famous naturalist Buffon this is not a complete list of representatives of the artistic and intellectual elite who surrounded the marquise. Voltaire had a special place. Zhanna met him in her youth and considered herself his student. Along with the works of Corneille, the Marquise was involved in the publication of his works.

It was with the assistance of the Marquise of Pompadour that Voltaire gained fame and a worthy place as an academician and the main historian of France, also receiving the title of court chamberlain.

Voltaire dedicated “Tancreda” to the Marquise, one of his most famous works. In addition, he wrote “The Princess of Navarre” and “Temple of Glory” especially for her palace holidays, thus glorifying his patroness both in poetry and prose.

When the Marquise died, Voltaire, one of the few, found warm words for the deceased: “I am deeply shocked by the death of Madame de Pompadour. I owe her a lot, I mourn her. What an irony of fate that an old man who... can barely walk is still alive, and a lovely woman dies at the age of 40 in the prime of the most wonderful fame in the world.”

Such an elegant society entertained the king, revealing to him more and more new facets of life. In turn, the guests of the marquise - undeniably talented people - increased their social status in the eyes of society, thereby gaining significant support. From the very beginning of her favor, the marquise felt a taste for philanthropy and did not change this passion all her life.

In 1751, the first volume of the French Encyclopedia, or “Explanatory Dictionary of Sciences, Arts and Crafts,” saw the light of day, opening a new era in the knowledge and interpretation of nature and society. The author of the idea and editor-in-chief of the Encyclopedia, Denis Diderot, a staunch opponent of absolutism and clergy, did not become an outcast in the eyes of the Marquise of Pompadour, she helped him publish his works. At the same time, she repeatedly tried to protect him from persecution, calling on Diderot to be more careful, although her efforts in this direction were completely unsuccessful.

She helped another representative of the glorious galaxy of figures of the French Enlightenment, Jean Leron d'Alembert, financially, and shortly before her death she managed to secure a lifelong pension for him. Among Madame Pompadour’s wards, according to some contemporaries, was the famous creator of the monument to Peter I in St. Petersburg, the sculptor Falconet.

The famous freethinker Jean-Jacques Rousseau, although he was offended by the marquise for not introducing him to the king, was still grateful to her for her help in staging his “The Siberian Soothsayer” on stage, where the marquise performed with great success in the male role of Collin.

In general, theater is the sphere that would have turned out to be her true calling if fate had turned out differently. It was clearly the death of a great and extremely versatile - comedic, dramatic, and grotesque actress, who was also capable of singing and dancing.

A passion for transforming beyond recognition and creating stunning toiletries that define style. an entire era, endless searches and innovations in the field of hairdressing and makeup in all this one sees not only the desire to keep the fickle king, but also the urgent need of the richly gifted nature of the marquise.

She used every suitable opportunity to gain viewers and listeners. As contemporaries testified, she played both in well-equipped theaters and on small stages in the mansions of the French nobility.

The next estate purchased by the marquise was called Sevres. Having no sympathy for anything German and outraged by the dominance of Saxon porcelain, she decided to create her own porcelain production there.

In 1756, two magnificent buildings were built here: one for workers, the other for the enterprise itself. The Marquise, who often visited there, supported and encouraged the workers, and found experienced craftsmen, artists, and sculptors. The experiments went on day and night; the marquise was impatient and did not like delays. She herself participated in solving all problems and helped in choosing shapes and colors for future products. The rare pink color of the resulting porcelain was named "Rose Pompadour" in her honor. In Versailles, the marquise organized a large exhibition of the first batch of products, sold it herself, declaring publicly: “If someone who has money does not buy this porcelain, he is a bad citizen of his country.”

The Marquise conceived and implemented the Chamber Theater in the Palace of Versailles. In January 1747, its opening took place: Moliere’s “Tartuffe” was shown. There were almost fewer actors on stage along with the marquise involved in the play than there were spectators in the hall: only 14 people were invited. Each entrance ticket was obtained at the cost of incredible effort and even intrigue. The success of the performance exceeded all expectations. The king was delighted with Jeanne's performance. “You are the most charming woman in France,” he told her after the end of the performance.

Those who had the pleasure of attending the marquise’s singing performances argued that “she has a great sense of music, sings very expressively and with inspiration, and probably knows at least a hundred songs.”

The obvious superiority of the Marquise of Pompadour over the king's past favorites and ladies of high society in every possible way strengthened her position both at court and under Louis. And she took advantage of this, without fear of being branded immodest. However, this quality was not there anyway strong point her nature. Both in her external and private life, hidden from prying eyes, Madame Pompadour ruled the roost.

She was very scrupulous in matters of etiquette and ceremony. Important visitors - courtiers and ambassadors - were received by her in the luxurious state hall of Versailles, where there was only one chair; the rest of those present were required to stand.

She ensured that her daughter was addressed as royalty by name. The marquise reburied the ashes of her mother with great honors in the very center of Paris in the Capuchin monastery on Place Vendôme. On this site, specially purchased by the marquise, a luxurious mausoleum was built. The marquise's relatives, as well as all those whom she favored, were biding their time: some of them were married to a high-born groom, others were matched with a rich bride, and were given positions, life annuities, titles, and awards.

And in the end - undisguised and sometimes public condemnation of her wastefulness. It was estimated that she spent 4 million on her entertainment ventures, and her “boastful philanthropy” cost the treasury 8 million livres.

Construction was the marquise's second passion, after the theater. She owned so much real estate that any other royal favorite could hardly even dream of. Each of her new acquisitions implied a thorough reconstruction, if not demolition, and always to the taste of the owner. Often the marquise herself sketched out the outlines of the future building on paper. Moreover, in these projects, the attraction to Rococo architectural forms was invariably combined with common sense and practicality.

If the marquise did not have enough money for another construction project, she would sell the already erected building and enthusiastically set about bringing a new idea to life. Her last acquisition was the Menard castle, which she never managed to use in its converted version.

The principle of elegant simplicity and maximum proximity to the living world of nature was put into the planning of the parks by the Marquise. She did not like large, unregulated spaces and excessive pomp. Thickets of jasmine, entire edges of daffodils, violets, carnations, islands with gazebos in the core of shallow lakes, rose bushes of the marquise’s favorite “hue of dawn” these are her preferences in landscape art.

Louis's royal palaces and country residences were also modified to suit her tastes. Versailles did not escape this either, where the marquise, not far from the royal park, ordered the construction of a small cozy house with a park and a temple with a white marble statue of Adonis.

A visit to the famous Institute of Noble Maidens, located in Saint-Cyr, gave the marquis the idea of ​​​​creating a Military School in Paris for the sons of war veterans and impoverished nobles, for which permission was received from the king, who did not show much enthusiasm for this venture.

Construction began in one of the most prestigious areas of the capital - near the Campus Martius.

The building project was commissioned from the first-class architect Jacques-Ange Gabriel, creator of the famous Place de la Concorde. Construction, which began in 1751, was interrupted due to insufficient government subsidies. Then the marquise invested the missing amount from her own savings. And already in 1753, classes began in the partially rebuilt premises of the school. In the future, the tax that Louis imposed on card game lovers helped, which was entirely used to complete the construction.

From 1777 to this educational institution began to accept best students provincial military schools, among which 19-year-old cadet Napoleon Bonaparte arrived for training in October 1781.

Already on her 30th birthday, the Marquise de Pompadour felt that Louis’ love fervor was drying up. She herself understood that the long-standing lung disease was doing its destructive work. Her former beauty had faded, and it was hardly possible to return her.

The cooling of the august person at all times meant the irrevocable departure of the former favorite into the shadows and further oblivion, if not disgrace.

The Marquise de Pompadour was the king's mistress for only 5 years, and for another 15 years he was a friend and closest adviser on many issues, sometimes of national importance.

The Marquise's cold reason and her iron will told her a way out of the situation. In the silence of two unremarkable Parisian streets, she rented a house with five rooms, hidden by a dense crown of trees. This house, called “Deer Park”, became the meeting place of the king with the ladies invited... by the marquise.

The king appeared here incognito, the girls took him for some important gentleman. After the king’s fleeting passion for another beauty had evaporated and remained without consequences, the girl, provided with a dowry, was married off. If the matter ended with the appearance of a child, then after his birth the baby, together with his mother, received a very significant annuity. The Marquise continued to remain the official favorite of His Majesty.

But in 1751, a real danger appeared in the person of a very young Irish woman, Marie-Louise o'Murphy, who shamelessly encroached on the laurels of the Marquise of Pompadour.

Half of Europe watched the development of this intrigue. The papal ambassador reported to Rome that Pompadour’s days were numbered: “Apparently, the main sultana is losing her position.” He was wrong. Louis left the Marquise all her privileges. And more than once she emerged victorious in single combats with young beauties, as well as with her very experienced political opponents. Although the situation worsened significantly after diplomatic negotiations between the Marquise de Pompadour and the Austrian Archduchess Maria Theresa, which led to a change in allied relations between the two countries. In 1756, France, a traditional ally of Prussia, sided with Austria. In addition, Louis, under pressure from his favorite, who vehemently hated the Jesuits, banned the activities of their order in France.

This kind of change too clearly affected the interests of high-ranking officials for the marquise to feel invulnerable. And she understood this. The food prepared for her was carefully checked; of all the ways to eliminate objectionable food, poisoning remained difficult to prove.

The unexpected death of her only daughter, whom the Marchioness had hoped to marry illegitimate son king, brought her, who had rare restraint, to the brink of madness. Suspecting the machinations of enemies, the Marquise demanded an autopsy, but it did not yield any results.

Having a hard time experiencing this grief, the Marquise felt her loneliness more acutely than ever before. Her closest friend turned out to be a spy for her opponents. The king increasingly turned into a forgiving friend.

A mental crisis forced the marquise to think about a possible distance from the court. She even wrote a letter to her husband, asking for forgiveness for the offense she had caused him and clearly groping for a way to return to the long-abandoned family shelter. D'Etiolle immediately replied that he readily forgives her, but there was no talk of more...

By 1760, the amounts allocated by the royal treasury for the maintenance of the marquise decreased by 8 times. She sold jewelry and played cards; she was usually lucky. But the treatment required a lot of money, and they had to borrow it. Already being seriously ill, she even acquired a lover. But what is the Marquis of Choiseul compared to the king!

The marquise, who still accompanied Louis everywhere, suddenly lost consciousness on one of his trips. Soon everyone realized that the end was near. And although only royalty had the right to die in Versailles, Louis ordered her to be moved to the palace apartments.

On April 15, 1764, the royal chronicler recorded: "The Marquise de Pompadour, lady-in-waiting of the Queen, died about 7 o'clock in the evening in the King's private apartments, aged 43 years."

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

The Marquise de Pompadour was buried next to her mother and daughter in the tomb of the Capuchin monastery. Now at the site of her burial there is Rue de la Paix, which runs through the territory of the monastery that was demolished at the beginning of the 19th century.

Lyudmila Tretyakova