Madame de Pompadour was a woman overflowing with beauty and elegance. A lady from the high finance bourgeoisie entered Versailles for the first time with the magnificent goal of winning the king's heart. He was able to achieve, as was his desire, to be a sexual and intellectual companion of Louis XV.
Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson, with her immense political will, came into conflict with the high French aristocracy, without however leaving her honorable work as the king's sexual companion until her last days.
His childhood
His mother was Louise Madeleine De La Motte and his father, Lenormant de Tourenhem, she was born in Paris on December 29, 1721.
His father must have fled to Germany accused of fraudulent business. But despite the stream of scandals about it, Reinette received a good and exquisite education.
From housewife to royal companion
Forced by her father to marry her cousin in her early 20s, she had a son a year later, and a daughter a few years later. Her husband Charles-Guillaume Lenormand d'Étiolles was hopelessly in love with his wife and deeply enchanted by her dazzling beauty.
The future sexual companion of the most important king, for curious reasons, in the history of the West, began to rub shoulders with the high bourgeois society of Paris. Thus he began to frequent the high halls of the society of his time. The precious lady came to meet well-known historical figures, such as the incredible philosophers of her time, namely the French Voltaire, or the Baron de Montesquieu.
However, the plain bourgeois life seemed to bore Madame de Pompadour and that is how in 1745 her plans changed. In her sensual seduction, she proposed the crazy idea of conquering the heart of none other than the King of France. To tell the truth, it is a mystery how this lady managed to rise up to enter the Palace of Versailles.
Without aristocratic blood, she managed to penetrate that real world, and although it is unknown why, we fervently suspect that her beauty had something to do with it.
Jeanne-Antoinette launched her crazy plan, she had to cross paths with the king on his repeated hunting trips to the Sénart forest.
Louis XV began to pay attention to that mysterious lady and it is in that same year that he achieved a private meeting with Madame d'Étiolles.
Unfortunately the lady's husband, heartbroken, had to legally separate from his wife. The lady who broke his heart now accompanied the King, who gave her the most noble title of Madame de Pompadour.
poissonnades, royal companion
It was then, on September 14, 1745, that Madame de Pompadour was publicly presented at the palace in Versailles.
It was the first time in France that a lady of bourgeois origin had managed to occupy, against all odds, the great position of favorite of the Royal house. As the reader can imagine, the court and the aristocracy in general not only turned their backs on the beautiful lady, but also turned against her.
The children of Louis XV did not speak to their new mistress. Those closest to the king sought to persuade their monarch of the error that his relationship with a lady of bourgeois origin implied for them.
A plurality of satires were made against her and were known as poissonnades, in reference to his last name, Poisson. It is worth saying that it is similar to the word "poison" in English, whose meaning is poison.
But what did Reinette care about accusations and criticism?! With the King's favor, the taunts had no effect on her. She continued to influence her husband decisively, thus becoming not only his lover, but also one of his royal advisors. In this way, he deployed his strategy and began to get rid of those who opposed him and interrupted his brilliant path.
pompadour, intellectual lady
Promoter of Diderot's Encyclopedia, she began to support various artistic projects, standing out as a lady not only highly sensual, but also deeply cultured. She helped produce Boucher's pictorial works or monuments such as the Place de la Concorde in Paris, Jeanne-Antoinette was one of the main patrons of the time.
For the reader's clarity, patronage is the job of sponsoring and financing various talents. In this case, the King's lady-in-waiting, who was already much more than that, contributed to the artistic splendor of 18th century France.
The Marchioness had the Meissen porcelain factory moved to Sèvres and made it the benchmark for decorative and luxury items throughout Europe. There the color known as Rosa Pompadour was created in honor of the royal patron.
In the marvelous Field of God Mars in Paris, Jeanne-Antoine ordered an institution specially dedicated to the education of young soldiers to be built, which would give rise to the Military School of the David building.
From lover to partner
For five years Madame de Pompadour had intimate relations with Louis XV playing his role as sexual companion. Thus, starting from his noble work, he would end up spending nothing more and nothing less than 20 years with him; as a confidant, friend, and ambassador of art, as well as entrepreneur of various projects.
The Seven Years' War and the end of the Marquise
During the time that she was at the king's side, Madame de Pompadour did not stop working as a political adviser. In 1756 the Seven Years' War began where France aligned itself with Austria and Russia against Prussia and England. It was clear opposition Prussian King Frederick II, Madame de Pompadour interceded with the Count of Kaunitz, who was chancellor and foreign minister of the famous Maria Theresa of Austria. was looking for agree to an alliance with this country. However, the Parisian aristocracy, opposed to the Austrians, would never forgive Jeanne-Antoinette's political movement.
His role in the negotiations with Austria was used by the nobility to continue their campaign against the King's companion. However, she always continued with her head held high and getting involved in the matters that interested her, until her last hour.
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