Tea at Trianon: "A Souvenir of Velázquez"

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Friday, January 25, 2013

"A Souvenir of Velázquez"


John Everett Millais (British, Pre-Raphaelite, 1829-1896): A Souvenir of Velázquez, 1868. Oil on canvas. Private Collection.


Las Meninas by Diego Velázquez

The small girl in the Millais painting (above) resembles the portrayals by Diego Velázquez of the Infanta Margarita of Spain; it appears to be a pre-Raphaelite re-imagining of the work of the great Spanish artist. The girl in the Millais painting is pensively holding what looks like a branch from a plum tree. If she is supposed to be Margarita, is she thinking that someday she will leave the gardens of Spain for Austria? For the purpose of the many portraits of the princess painted by Velázquez is to keep her future husband (and uncle) informed of her growth. She would become Holy Roman Empress and die at age twenty-one. For more of "Las Meninas" and the Infanta Margarita, go HERE.

The Infanta Margarita

José María Souza Costa said...: Invito - italiano
Io sono brasiliano.
Dedicato alla lettura di qui, e visitare il suo blog.
ho anche uno, soltanto molto più semplice.
'm vi invita a farmi visita, e, se possibile seguire insieme per loro e con loro. Mi è sempre piaciuto scrivere, esporre e condividere le mie idee con le persone, a prescindere dalla classe sociale, credo religioso, l'orientamento sessuale, o, di Razza.
Per me, ciò che il nostro interesse è lo scambio di idee, e, pensieri.
'm lì nel mio Grullo spazio, in attesa per voi.
E sto già seguendo il tuo blog.
Forza, pace, amicizia e felicità
Per te, un abbraccio dal Brasile.
www.josemariacosta.com; January 25, 2013 at 1:23:00 PM EST