32 The Taste of Marie part II Leszczynska Previous page: Detail from Marie Leszczyńska (1703-1768), Queen of France. Alexis-Simon Belle (1674-1734). 1725. Oil on 34 canvas. Versailles, musée national des châteaux de Versailles et de Trianon. © Palace of Versailles (dist. RMN - Grand Palais) / Christophe Fouin Above: Detail from a panel in the Chinese Chamber Marie Leszczyńska (1703-1768), Henri-Philippe-Bon Coqueret (1735-1807), Jean-Martial Frédou (1710-1795), Jean-Philippe de La Roche (around 1710-1767), Jean-Louis Prévost (working between 1740 and 1762), under the direction of Étienne Jeaurat (1699-1789). 1761. Oil on canvas. Versailles, musée national des châteaux de Versailles et de Trianon © Palace of Versailles, Dist. RMN / Christophe Fouin Marie chapter I Leszczynska, An Unknown queen chronological timeline chapter I 23 June 1703 23 February 1745 Birth, in Trzebnica (Poland, Lower Silesia region), Marriage of the Dauphin to Maria Teresa Rafaela of of Princess Marie Leszczyńska, second daughter of Spain. Stanislas I Leszczyński (1677-1766), short-lived King of Poland (reigned 1704-1709 and 1733-1736), and 22 July 1746 Catherine Opalińksa (1680-1747). Death of the Dauphine Maria Teresa Rafaela of Spain. 15 February 1710 8 February 1747 Birth, in Versailles, of the Duc d’Anjou, the future Louis Marriage of the Dauphin to Marie Josepha of Saxony. XV. 19 March 1747 5 September 1725 Death of Catherine Opalińksa. Marriage of the young Louis XV to Marie Leszczyńska in the Chapelle de la Trinité of Fontainebleau Palace. 20 December 1765 Death of Louis Ferdinand, Dauphin of France, at 14 August 1727 Fontainebleau. Birth of the twins, Louise Élisabeth and Anne Henriette. 23 February 1766 4 September 1729 Death of Stanislas I Leszczyński. Birth of Louis Ferdinand, Dauphin of France. 13 March 1767 11 September 1733 Death of the Dauphine Marie Josepha of Saxony. Stanislas is made King of Poland for the second time. 24 June 1768 3 April 1737 Death of the Marie Leszczyńska at Versailles. Her body Stanislas settles in Lunéville. is interred at Saint-Denis, while her heart is taken to Nancy and laid to rest with her parents. 2 May 1738 Treaty of Vienna, under which Stanislas receives the 10 May 1774 duchies of Lorraine and Bar. Death of King Louis XV at Versailles. 26 August 1739 Marriage of Madame Élisabeth to the Infante of Spain, Don Felipe. 36 family tree chapter I LouiseLouise ÉlisabetHÉlisabeth duchesseDuchess ofde Parma Parme (Mme Infante)(Mme Infante) (1727-1759) (1727-1759) AnneHENRIETTE Henriette THE (1727-1752)SECOND MADAME 51727-1752° LOUISe MARIE THELouise THIRD MarieMADAME (1728-1733)(1728-1733° Louis XIV LouisLouis Ferdinand Ferdinand Louis XIV Grand Duke of LouisLouis XV XV Dauphin of France roi de France Grand Duc de dauphin de France King of France Dauphin Burgundy roiKing de of France France (1729-1765) et de Dauphin Bourgogne (1729-1765) and Navarre (1661-1711) (1682-1712) et andde Navarre Navarre Navarre (1661-1711) (1682-1712) (1638-1715) (1710-1774)(1710-1774) (1638-1715) Adélaïde oo Philippe à Fontainebleauat Fontainebleau MadameDuke of Adélaïde Anjou leon 5 5 septembreSeptember 1725 (1732-1800) (1730-1733) StanislasStanislas I LeszczyNski 1725 er KingI Leszczyński of Poland Marie roi(1677-1766) de Pologne Marie PhilippeAdélaïde Leszczyńska (1677-1766) LeszczyNska The ducFourth d’Anjou Madame reineQueen deof then(1730-1733) Madame Adélaïde CatherineCatherine OpaliNska FranceFrance (1732-1800) Opalińska(1680-1747) (1703-1768)(1703-1768) (1680-1747) victoire The FourthVictoire Madame thenMadame Madame Victoire victoire (1733-1799)(1733-1799) sophie The FifthSophie Madame thenMadame Madame Sophie sophie (1734-1782)(1734-1782) Marie-Thérèse Félicité Marie-Thérèse The Sixth Madame Félicité (1736-1744) (1736-1744) Louise The SeventhLouise Madame, thenMadame Madame Louise (1737-1787)(1737-1787) 37 Close-up: Rococo vase with figuratively painted pink ribbons and bunches of flowers Royal Sèvres porcelain manufactory, 1757-1758, soft-paste porcelain 38 Versailles, musée national des châteaux de Versailles et de Trianon © Palace of Versailles, Dist. RMN / © Christophe Fouin exhibition chapter II route Marie Leszczynska, a Polish queen chapter II room 2 room 1 Nothing prepared Marie Leszczyńska for becoming Stanislas the Ist Leszczinski, King of Poland Queen of France. The daughter of Stanislas Leszczyński, Jean-Baptiste Van Loo (1684-1745) 1727, oil on canvas the deposed king of Poland who was forced to cede his Versailles, Musée National des Châteaux de throne to Augustus II, Elector of Saxony, she settled in Versailles et de Trianon © RMN-GP (Palace of Versailles) / Gérard Wissembourg, in Alsace, with her family in 1719. His Blot past glory entitled her father to consider marriage to an important figure for her but after several setbacks, works on display Stanislas I Leszczyński, history took a different turn. It was not just any alliance King of Poland, posed for with royal blood that awaited the young woman, but Jean-Baptiste Van Loo in marriage to the King himself. 1727, standing proud in his ceremonial armour with The death of the Regent in 1723 raised the spectre of the blue riband of the Order the succession of the Orléans branch of the family: if of the Holy Spirit across Louis XV were to die without descendants, the son of his chest and his sword the deceased Regent would become heir to the French and extravagant helmet on either side of him. Exiled to throne. So, it was at that point that Louis XV, the young Chambord, he still claimed the Polish throne, which he thirteen-year-old king, was engaged to the Infanta of held from 1704 to 1709. He did not regain it until 1733, Spain, who was aged just seven. But the engagement was following the death of his rival, Augustus II of Saxony, broken off, at the risk of a diplomatic incident. but his reign lasted just three years. The Duke of Bourbon, the sovereign’s prime minister, set The Russian invasion forced him to flee to Gdansk and about trying to find a Catholic princess of royal blood then, in 1736, he had to bow down to Augustus III of who would be able to produce a dauphin quickly. Thus Saxony (1696-1763), who had been elected to the throne did Marie Leszczyńska, daughter of a deposed king, of Poland. The deposed king thus abandoned Poland end up marrying Louis XV on 5 September 1725, in the for good and received, as compensation, the duchies of Chapelle de la Trinité at Fontainebleau Palace. She was Lorraine and Bar. This is how he ended up settling in twenty-two – seven years her new husband's senior. Nancy in 1738, in the Palace of Lunéville. Louis XV (1710-1774), King of France Throughout her reign, Marie Leszczyńska abided by Artist unknown, XVIIIth century the ceremonial rules, endeavouring always to lead an Around 1728 Oil on canvas exemplary life, free of any scandal. In her private life, she Versailles, Musée National des Châteaux de Versailles et de Trianon lived simply with her family and a circle of close friends, © RMN-GP (Palace of Versailles) / who shared her interests. She spent several hours a day Gérard Blot in her private apartment meditating, praying, working on her needlepoint or painting. According to Madame The King, with his long hair Campan, who knew her in her youth, Marie Leszczyńska falling in curls around his “had an elegant spirit”. shoulders, is wearing the collar of the Order of the Marie Leszczyńska spent 42 years as the Palace of Holy Spirit. Swathed in an Versailles, which makes her longest-serving sovereign of ermine-lined cloak with the court of Versailles. a fleur-de-lys pattern, he is standing on a podium, next to a table on which are gathered symbols of his power: Charlemagne’s Curation Gwenola Firmin, Head Curator at the Musée National des Châteaux de Versailles et de Hand of Justice, crown and sceptre. The large red and Trianon gold curtain, together with the grandiose architectural Marie-Laure de Rochebrune, Head Curator at the Musée National des Châteaux de décor, set the scene in a palatial interior. At the time this Versailles et de Trianon portrait was painted, Louis XV was totally smitten with Assisted by Vincent Bastien Doctor of Art History Marie Leszczyńska, who had already given birth to three princesses for France. 40 The queen's Artistic Preferences chapter II room 2 Marie Leszczyńska (1703- Throughout her reign, Marie Leszczyńska expressed 1768), Queen of France, and the Dauphin Louis Ferdinand her own personal taste, whether in terms of the layout (1729-1765) of her official and private apartments, or the many Alexis-Simon Belle (1674-1734) Around 1730, commissions she gave directly to artists. The Queen Oil on canvas liked to surround herself with works of art, particularly Versailles, Musée National des Châteaux de Versailles et de portraits of her family. works on display Trianon © Palace of Versailles, Dist. RMN / The most talented painters, such as Alexis-Simon Belle, Christophe Fouin Jean-Marc Nattier and Pierre Gobert, were therefore called upon to produce portraits of the ten royal On 4 September 1729, children, born between 1727 and 1737. Marie Leszczyńska – already mother As for the layout of the Palace, from 1725 she set about to three girls – gave redesigning her chamber in the style of the time: birth to the much wood panelling carved by Vassé was installed over the hoped-for dauphin, fireplace, which was replaced by one in Sarrancolin thus ensuring the continuation of the line. The birth marble. The décor between the windows was created was also celebrated by the people. The following year, by the master sculptors Verberckt, Dugoulon and Le Alexis-Simon Belle was commissioned to create an effigy Goupil. The overdoor panels, which are still in place of the heir to the throne.