The Mistaken Portraits of Sophie Hélène Béatrix de France [Updated June 2023]

A pastel portrait of the child of Louise Hyacinthe de Montesquiou and Anne-François V de Lastic by Elisabeth Vigee-Lebrun, circa 1780-1783.  In the collection of the Chateau de Parentignat.

Note: This post has been updated as of June 2023

This charming pastel portrait has long been identified as Sophie Hélène Béatrix, the second daughter and last child born to Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI.  This identification was first made in a Vigee-Lebrun exhibition catalog published in the 1980s by Joseph Baillio, an expert whose specialty is the work of Elisabeth Vigee-Lebrun. Baillio also identified another Vigee-Lebrun work, a sketch, as depicting the infant Sophie in this same publication.  

“Sleeping Baby” by Elisabeth Vigee-Lebrun, circa 1780s. According to Joseph Baillio, this may be a sketch of Eugène de Montesquiou-Fézensac, whom the artist also depicted in a pastel. 

 

 

 

 

However, after decades of being known as portraits of Sophie Hélène Béatrix, the real identity of the children in the above portraits has become clarified: neither child is Sophie de France.

According to the chateau de Parentignat website, the archives of the Montesquiou-Lastic family indicate that the pastel portrait depicts the first child born to Louise Hyacinthe de Montesquiou and Anne-François V de Lastic.

The couple had three children: Amédée, François and Octavie. Only Octavie (Gertrude Charlotte Marie Octavie) would live past childhood; she was a dame d'honneur to Empress Josephine and had several children of her own.

If it does indeed depict their first child, then the infant in the above portrait would be Amédée. There are conflicting reports regarding his birth and death date; Geneanet.org indicates that he was born in 1782 and died in 1788; according to Baillo, he was born in 1780 and died in 1788. Various books reporting on the genealogy of the Lastic family give differing information: one indicates that Amédée  merely “died young,” and another says “died in infancy.”

The above pastel portrait is remarkably similar to another infant portrait by Vigee-Lebrun, done for the Montesquiou-Fézensac family. This portrait depicts Eugène de Montesquiou-Fézensac (1782-1810).

Image: Portrait of Eugène de Montesquiou-Fézensac by Elisabeth Vigee-Lebrun, circa 1782-1783.

Perhaps both portraits were painted around the same time; or perhaps they requested the artist to paint them in a complementary style. Regardless of whether the "not-Sophie" misidentified portrait is Amédée, François or Octavie, the children in both pastel portraits were cousins. 

Image: Eugène de Montesquiou Fezensac, at the age of five months, asleep on a cushion by Elisabeth Vigee-Lebrun, circa 1783.

The above image is actually featured on the Wikipedia page for Sophie,  and has been shared online interchangeably as either Sophie or an infant Louis Charles. However, like the other portrait, it is depicting someone else entirely: in this case, an infant Eugène de Montesquiou Fezensac
 

With three of the previous “Sophie” portraits now given the correct identifications, we are left with precious little tangible portraiture of Sophie.

The only absolutely confirmed contemporary depiction of Sophie comes from a series of engravings of the royal family, something @tiny-librarian​ discovered and shared. Unfortunately, the image itself is rather small--but it does at least indicate that there was some contemporary portraiture of her, and perhaps a larger version will one day make an appearance.

 

Image: a contemporary illustration of Sophie; from an engraving featuring portraits of the French royal family.

There is also an alleged portrait of all four of Marie Antoinette’s children, attributed to Jean Pierre Chasselat. However, in 2023, this miniature resufurfaced with a new identification and even a new artist: the work has been re-identified as a portrait of the children with Madame Leclerc, along with the son of Bernard, by Jean-Baptiste-Jacques Augustin. It does not depict the children of Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI and thus, the infant depicted here is not Madame Sophie.

 

Image: An alleged portrait of the royal children by Jean Pierre Chasselat,

We may have another faint glimpse of Sophie in this alleged allegorical portrait of Marie Antoinette looking at her children, attributed to Jean-Baptiste André Gautier-Dagoty.

 

Looking closely at the profiles, one can see the faintest outline in the front. Was this meant to represent Madame Sophie? But there is a catch here: Jean-Baptiste André Gautier-Dagoty died in 1786, before the death of Madame Sophie. 

The work does look incomplete, is it possible that the artist died before it was completed, thus leaving Sophie vague and unfinished? 

If this is indeed an allegorical portrait of Marie Antoinette done by Gautier-Dagoty, it is the only practical explanation. But as we’ve seen, there are quite a few portraits of the queen formerly attributed to Gautier-Dagoty which have been later attributed to someone else, so it is possible that it is not his work after all.

Truly, the title of the chapter focusing on Sophie in Philippe Delorme’s Les Princes du Malheur is more apt than ever:

L'éphémère Madame Sophie. The ephemeral Madame Sophie.

And Marie Antoinette Said: "There is nothing new except what has been forgotten."

Marie Antoinette did not say "Let them eat cake!" 

Yet "Let them eat cake!" isn't the only dubious phrase frequently attributed to the last queen of France. A quick cursory search on Google or numerous social media platforms reveals many quotes supposedly said by Marie Antoinette. But did she really say them? Where did these quotes come from? In this post series, 'And Marie Antoinette Said...' we will be taking a closer look at some of the most famous quotes attributed to the queen to uncover their origins and hopefully, shed some light on their veracity.

"There is nothing new except what has been forgotten." 

This quote is another social media favorite; although there is often not any context given, this alleged quote is sometimes connected to Marie Antoinette's passion for fashion.

This attributed quote is particularly interesting because it is only within the past few years that it has become attributed to Marie Antoinette. Until the rise of social media and its love for bite-size quotable posts, the quote was associated not with Marie Antoinette... but with Rose Bertin, her favored marchande des modes.

This association is notable enough to have made Rose Bertin's Wikipedia page, which includes the attribution under its own heading ("Famous quote"):

Bertin is said to have remarked to Marie Antoinette in 1785, when presenting her with a remodelled dress, "Il n'y a de nouveau que ce qui est oublié" ("There is nothing new except what has been forgotten."

This association is confirmed in a varied selection of books from the 19th and 20th centuries.  Conklin's Who Said That? Being the Sources of Famous Sayings by George W. Conklin, published in 1906, echoes the basic sentiment of the quote as attributed to Bertin:

"There is nothing new but that which is forgotten (Il n'y a de nouveau que ce qui est oublie).

Attributed to Mlle. Bertin, a celebrated modiste, to Marie Antoinette (1755-93), replying to the question whether the model of a costume was quite new. The motto of the Revue Retrospective (1833) was 'Il n'y a de nouveau que ce qui a vielli' ('There is nothing new but that which has become antiquated.')"

In at least one book, Famous Sayings and Their Authors by Edward Latham, Marie Antoinette was described as having "asked whether the model of a costume was quite new, for she thought she had seen a drawing of it in some old engravings."

The biography 'Rose Bertin: The Creator of Fashion at the Court of Marie Antoinette" by Émile Langlade repeats the anecdote: 

"Indeed, nothing is new under the sun, in fashions as in other things; it is but the turn of the wheel. 'New things are only those which have been forgotten,' as Rose Bertin said very truly one day to Marie-Antoinette."

But did she actually say it?

 

First, let's take a closer look at the sources cited on Wikipedia. 

 

The earliest source cited on Rose Bertin's Wikipedia page in relation to this quote is the 1820 edition of The Edinburgh Review, Or Critical Journal.

This volume notes:

A proverb of which no nation makes such frequent application as the French, and which, as history relates, was the favourite maxim of the most inventive and academic of dressmakers, Mademoiselle Bertin, is, 'Il n'y a de nouveau que ce qui est oublié;' and we think the history of these didactic inventions affords a striking proof of its justice.

Here, the quote is associated with Mme. Bertin's profession in the fashion industry, as well as her reputation for being inventive with her work. We can determine from this text that Mme Bertin was associated with the phrase at least by 1820.

The second oldest source cited on Wikipedia, The International Encyclopedia of Prose and Poetical Quotations, was published in 1908 and contains this information:

 

The International Encyclopedia of Prose and Poetical Quotations, 1908

This book relates a variety of quotations and while it does not provide a historical source, it does at least further confirm the association of this phrase with Rose Bertin. This particular book also considers "There is nothing new except what has been forgotten" to be a variation of the Old Testament proverb, "There is no new thing under the sun."

 

The second, similar phrase ("There is nothing new except that which has become antiquated") is quoted in several volumes of the Revue Retrospective; the Revue Retrospective attributes the "antiquated" quote to Chaucer. We will return to the Chaucer further on ahead.

 

These particular variations are older than 1908 and can be found in earlier texts such as the the 1899 text, 'Classical And Foreign Quotations, Laws Terms and Maxims, Proverbs, Mmottoes, Phrases and Expressions...' This book also connects the quote to Rose Bertin.

Classical And Foreign Quotations, Laws Terms and Maxims, Proverbs, Mmottoes, Phrases and Expressions (1899)

 

The same phrases can be found in books published both before and after the 1908 book cited on Wikipedia. The fact that these variations can be found sometimes word-for-word in texts from various years suggests a cyclical effect: a book is published which associates the phrase with Rose Bertin, and similar books which collect quotes and anecdotes reuse these associations, sometimes using the exact same descriptions, later on, spreading the idea further.

 

The third source cited on Wikipedia is The Mirror of Laughter by Alexander Kozintsev, which notes in the preface:

'Il n'y a de nouveau que ce qui est oublié'--"There is nothing new except what has been forgotten," Marie-Antoinette's modiste Rose Bertin is said to have remarked when the queen approved an old dress Rose had refashioned for her.

'The Mirror of Laughter' is an examination of theories regarding the relationship of humor and laughter to human behavior. It is not really making a historical claim nor does it provide evidence that she said the phrase, as the preface is merely relating the anecdote.

None of the three cited sources claim that the quote was spoken in the specific year described on Wikipedia--1785. 

What are the origins of the quote?

There are two consistent themes that show up time and time again in the various books which published the "There is nothing new except what has been forgotten" quote during the 19th and early 20th centuries. 

 

One, the fact that the phrase is frequently associated with a similar quote attributed to Geoffrey Chaucer and two, the fact that both of these quotes are frequently lumped together as variations on the proverb, "There is nothing new under the sun," which is derived from this passage in Ecclesiastes. As written in the King James version of the text, which was collected in 1611:

"The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done, is that which shall be done; and there is no new thing under the sun. Is there any thing whereof it may be said, See, this is new? It hath been already of old time which was before us. There is no remembrance of former things; neither shall there be any remembrance of things which are to come, with those that shall come over."

 While researching the origins for the phrase "There is nothing new under the sun," I came across a website which suggested that its first known English variation use was found in Chaucer's 'A Knightes Tale,' but that they were unable to find a reference confirming that claim.

Could A Knightes Tale (A Knight's Tale) be the origin of the Chaucer quote?

In turns out: yes--with a language related caveat that because the original work was written in Middle English, the variations of it

The quote, as written in the original Middle English text of A Knight's Tale:

With hym ther wenten knyghtes many on;
Som wol ben armed in an haubergeoun
And in a brestplate and a light gypoun
And som wol have a paire plates large
And som wol have a Pruce sheeld or a targe
Som wol ben armed on his legges weel
And have an ax, and som a mace of steel
Ther is no newe gyse that it nas old.
Armed were they, as I have yow told,
Everych after his opinioun.

The Harvard University Geoffrey Chaucer website provides this modern translation for the passage:

 

With him there went knights many a one
One of them will be armed in a coat of mail,
And in a breastplate and a light tunic
And one of them will have a set of plate armor
And one of them will have a Prussian shield or a buckler;
One of them will be well armed on his legs,
And have an axe, and one a mace of steel --
There is no new fashion that has not been old.
They were armed, as I have told you,
Every one according to his preference.

 

While the Chaucer quote is not an exact match for the passage derived from Ecclesiastes, it is easy to see how they can be viewed with a similar sentiment. In fact, an English 1877 edition of The Knight's Tale, published this telling citation for the bolded line: "This line seems to mean that there is nothing new under the sun."

So how did we get from Ecclesiastes to Chaucer to Bertin? The presumed connection from the Bertin quote to Chaucer's quote is compactly described in the preface for Le vieux-neuf  by Edouard Fournier, published in 1859:

"There is nothing new except what has become antiquated," said the old English poet Chaucer; "Nothing is new but what has been forgotten," said Marie-Antoinette's marchande de modes 500 years later, rejuvenating indescribable ancient frills. The old word of the poet, refurbished by the milliner, could serve as the epigraph to the work of M. Fournier...

Here, Rose Bertin is described as using the words of Chaucer for inspiration, refurbishing them for her own needs. Once again, the context of the phrase is Rose Bertin reworking old fashion to make it new. Since the original Chaucer quote was distinctly related to fashion--more specifically, practical military attire and equipment--this may reflect an additional underlying connection between these two similar phrases that goes beyond expressing the same sentiment. 

My attempts to find a French translation of Chaucer's work with the exact phrase ("Il n'ya a de nouveau que ce qui a vieilli") were fruitless. Considering that the original work was written in Middle English and was frequently translated into varying forms of modern language over the years, it soon became clear that finding a copy with that exact phrasing would be improbable and turned towards reading the various editions to find out how they had interpreted the line.

 

A French translation from 1857 even omits Chaucer's line regarding "new and old" entirely.

A ses côtés l'on vit maint Chevalier fidèle;
Les uns portaient plastrons, ou cuirasses de fer,
D'autres étaient munis d'une cotte de mailles,
D'écus, de boucliers, ou bien d'un tranche-entrailles,
D'une hache ou d'un gâte-chair ;
Tous instruments de mort, dont sans discourtoisie
Un Chevalier se fert felon sa fantaisie.

At his side were seen many a faithful knight;
Some wore breastplates, or iron breastplates,
Others were provided with a coat of mail,
Of shields, shields, or even a slice of entrails,
An ax or a gâte-chair
All instruments of death, with no discourtesy
A Knight is born according to his fancy. 

This is not an isolated incident, as some other translations (including a 1795 English "Modern Version") also omit the notion of "Ther is no newe gyse that it nas old."

A later 1908 French translation, on the other hand, translates Chaucer's words with additional phrasing that provide context about what the text is referencing when it refers to "new" old things. Namely, equipment.

Il n’y a point d’équipement nouveau qui n’ait été anciennement.
Ils étaient armés, comme vous ai conté,
chacun selon son idée.

There is no new equipment that was not in the past.
They were armed, as you have told,
each according to his own idea.

Verdict:

It is safe to say that Marie Antoinette did not say this quote. It was not associated with Marie Antoinette until the social media era of the 21st century, in which online posts made an incorrect attribution which connected Marie Antoinette, rather than Rose Bertin, with this particular phrase.

It is uncertain but unlikely that Rose Bertin said this quote. I personally believe that she did not say it based on the lack of a contemporary connection. There is no known contemporary evidence to suggest she did, such as letters or individual memoirs, anecdotal or otherwise, which claim she said it from some sort of contemporary source. All we have are third-party, later anecdotal connections between Bertin and the phrase. It was associated with her by1820 and continued to be passed on afterwards as an anecdote.

The phrase "There is nothing new except what has been forgotten" should be viewed as an anecdotal, apocryphal phrase that appears to be spun from similar sayings, such as "There is nothing new under the sun" and Chaucer's "Ther is no newe gyse that it nas old." Chaucer's words were translated into a strikingly similar phrase in both English and France during the 19th century and were frequently connected to the quote attributed to Rose Bertin during this time period.

Sources and Further Reading

• The Edinburgh Review (1820)
•  The Quarterly Review, London (1835)
• The Multicultural Dictionary of Proverbs (Harold V. Cordry)  (1997)
• The Edinburgh Review (1820)
• A Polyglot of Foreign Proverbs (1889) 
• Conklin's Who Said That? Being the Sources of Famous Sayings (1906)
• Famous Sayings and their Authors (1906)
• Rose Bertin: The Creator of Fashion at the Court of Marie Antoinette (1913)
  

The Myth of Mops: Marie Antoinette, Mistranslations and the Pug Who Wasn't There

The Myth of Mops: Marie Antoinette, Mistranslations and the Pug Who Wasn't There

image: A photo of a modern pug by Mark Mingle.

“You can have as many French dogs as you like.”

--Sofia Coppola's 'Marie Antoinette'

Mops. Anyone who has read a book about Marie Antoinette, fictional or otherwise, since the turn of the 21st century will likely recognize the name; or at least, they might recall the image of a round, adorable pug being ripped out of a teenage Marie Antoinette’s arms as she was ceremoniously handed over to the French.

Nothing of Austrian heritage, it was said, could remain as the Austrian Maria Antonia was transformed into the French Marie Antoinette; not her dress, not her undergarments, not even a little lap dog who whined as he was separated from his beloved, equally whimpering owner. However, all was not lost: thanks to some political maneuvering on the part of the comte de Mercy-Argenteau, Austrian ambassador to France, Mops was later fetched back from Austria and reunited with Marie Antoinette, now living in the lap of luxury as the dauphine of France.

The story was immortalized in Sofia Coppola’s ‘Marie Antoinette’; Mops was even used as inspiration for Lynn Cullen's delightful illustrated children’s book, published in 2006 as ‘Moi and Marie Antoinette.' Mops’ tale is often mentioned in newer historical fiction revolving around Marie Antoinette, and it’s not uncommon to find mention of his brief separation from Marie Antoinette in various non-fiction books about dogs, history--or both.

There’s only one problem: Mops didn’t exist. 

Let's Visit! The Laiterie de Préparation at the Hameau de La Reine

Introducing Let's Visit! A new travel-based series that will take us on trips around Versailles, the Petit Trianon and other interesting places from the safety and comfort of our homes. In some cases, we'll visit entire estates and in other cases, we might set ourselves down in a single room for the afternoon.

So let's visit! Don't forget your passport!

Let's Visit! The Laiterie de Préparation at the Hameau de La Reine 

image: a wall of stones marking the former location of the Laiterie de Préparation

[credit: Photo by Starus. Licensed CC BY-SA 3.0, no changes.] 

The hameau de la reine was a country-inspired estate that was both typical and novel of other aristocratic hamlets from the same time period. Like other aristocratic hamlet-inspired estates, the hameau de la reine had a series of rural-inspired buildings that were designed to emulate a quiet, private country life that was in direct contrast to the constraining and etiquette-laden public life of the city and court.

Floral and vegetable gardens, a carefully planned artificial lake, farm animals, and a canopy of trees which provided the illusion of privacy within a vast public palace estate; all of these trappings allowed Marie Antoinette to set aside the weight of her crown and the political social life that many men and women were indulging in towards the end of the 18th century in favor of a private, yet still upper class existence where enjoyment, not etiquette, ruled.

One of the most emblematic elements of Marie Antoinette's famous hameau de la reine is the dairy; and while the image of a muslin-clad Marie Antoinette skipping along to milk beribboned cows is the stuff of exaggerated fiction, Marie Antoinette did blur the lines between royalty and private individual a different way with the dairy at the hamlet.

While it is well known that Marie Antoinette had a dairy at her hamlet, it is often forgotten that there were actually two dairies on the estate, each with their own unique purpose. There was the laiterie de propreté, or Refreshments Dairy which still stands today; and the laiterie de préparation, or Preparation Dairy which was torn down during the reign of Napoleon. We will be exploring the now-gone Preparation Dairy in today's visit.

 image: Detail from a view of the hameau de la Reine in 1786 by Claude-Louis Châtelet. The Preparation Dairy can be seen on the left side, in the background.

Laiterie de Préparation: The Dairy Not Meant for a Queen 

What, exactly, was the laiterie de préparation? The Preparation Dairy was where the dairy products created at the Queen's hamlet were actually prepared by the staff. At the Preparation Dairy, milk fresh from the hamlet's cows would be skimmed and pasteurized; butter would be churned; creams, cheeses and even ice creams would be created. The resulting products would then be stored until they were transferred to various places around the Trianon estate, whether it was to the Queen's House for a private supper or to the nearby Refreshments Dairy where the queen and her entourage could taste the dairy products.

While the Refreshments Dairy was designed to be frequented by the queen and her guests, the Preparation Dairy was accessed exclusively by the staff working at the Queen's hamlet. Marie Antoinette likely never set foot inside the dairy, except perhaps to give her approval of the finished interior in 1785.

The Preparation Dairy was not originally a dairy at all. The hamlet was still a work in progress by the mid-1780s, and in 1783 an undefined farmhouse stood in its place. The original building included two rooms and a small cabinet, along with a stone oven; the building may have been used to make cheese. However, in 1785, the decision was made to transform the existing building into a functional dairy so that Marie Antoinette's hamlet had its own exclusive milk products. The building's cabinet was transformed into an ice box, where fresh dairy products could be stored in coolers; and the interior was completely redone.

Prior to 1785, the milk products enjoyed at the hamlet were brought over from a separate dairy, one which had been originally built for Madame Pompadour. With the construction of the new Preparation Dairy, Marie Antoinette was once again making the decision to cultivate a space that was distinctly her domain, not the domain of 'La Pompadour' or even the domain of previous queens. The products created at the Preparation Dairy would all be designated "à la reine," an extension of Marie Antoinette and her influence on her private domain. The new dairy would allow Marie Antoinette to solidify her status as the reigning mistress of her own countryside estate.The production of clean and fresh dairy products was emblematic of her role as a queen, a mother, and a woman.

image: A portrait of Madame Adélaïde Auguié, lady-in-waiting to Marie Antoinette, in the hamlet's Refreshments Dairy by Adolf Ulrik Wertmüller

[credit: National Museum of Sweden]

 Preparation to Refreshment: Elite Enjoyment

The two dairies at the hamlet served completely different purposes: one was a functioning dairy intended for staff to produce milk and dairy products and the other was an aristocratic space, intended for a reserved group and class of people to engage in a luxury activity.

Despite this crucial difference, the two dairies were not aesthetically all that distinct. The exterior of both buildings matched the same faux-weathered stone, thatched cottage style that permeated the hamlet. And while there are no existing images that show how the interior of the once-bustling preparation dairy truly looked, we can reasonably guess that it was originally not all that different from the initial concept for the Refreshments Dairy. Thanks to existing documentation of later additions that would transform the original Refreshments Dairy into the elegant neoclassical dairy visitors see today, we can see just how much was changed in the dairy intended for aristocratic consumption.
 
When the Refreshments Dairy was built, its original design included relatively simple elements such as a bare ceiling, plain white walls, and no interior fountains. In 1786 or 1787, the royal designers of Versailles repainted the walls so that they imitated fine white marble and installed a luxurious trompe l'oeil ceiling. The reason for this makeover is unknown, but the end result was bringing the Refreshments Dairy a step closer towards the elite space that it was--and a step farther away from the more simplistic Preparation Dairy that it emulated.

Yet it was not until the reign of Napoleon and the hamlet's subsequent First Empire renovation that the distinctive gilded fountain heads and marble basins, along with the highly ornate central table, were installed in the Refreshments Dairy. Without these ornamental additions, almost all of which were not included in the original plans approved by Marie Antoinette, the inside of the two dairies were probably remarkably similar. Perhaps, as Meredith Martin suggests in 'Dairy Queens: The Politics of Pastoral Architecture,' the similarity was too close and the reason for the 1786-1787 additions was to put a firmer line between Marie Antoinette's majesty and the functional dairy.

The above portrait shows Madame Adélaïde Auguié, a lady-in-waiting to Marie Antoinette and sister to Madame Campan, pouring milk from a fine porcelain pitcher into a basin. This portrait showcases an earlier design of the Refreshments Dairy and in doing so, gives viewers a glimpse of what the Preparation Dairy may have looked like.

The portrait also encompasses the intriguing duality represented through Marie Antoinette's two dairies at her hamlet. The Refreshments Dairy was designed to embody the simplicity of the nearby practical Preparation Dairy while maintaining separate distinctions in line with the social class of its esteemed guests. In the Preparation Dairy, the staff at the hamlet processed the fresh milk and prepared it to be stored or transported; but it was in the Refreshments Dairy, poured and tasted in high-quality porcelain saucers and basins by the queen and her guests, that the milk became à la reine,.

 image: detail from an architectural plan for the hameau de la reine; the Preparation Dairy is circled in blue.

 Mapping the Laiterie de Préparation: Physical Closeness and Social Distance

The separation between the practical labor behind the dairy products and the elite enjoyment of those products was not the invention of Marie Antoinette's whimsy; it was standard practice, found at earlier and later hamlet-style estates throughout France and the whole of Europe.

However, Marie Antoinette did forgo tradition with the Preparation Dairy in a subtle way that spoke volumes about her vision for this private yet highly personal domain. This diversion from the traditional design for hameau-style estates also helps to break down one of the biggest misconceptions about Marie Antoinette's dairy: that it was designed to be a faux folly farm where Marie Antoinette would twirl about in her muslin skirts, assuming that pasteurized milks and creams came out of thin air or that some half-hearted churning inside a porcelain vase was really creating pounds of butter.

How did Marie Antoinette break tradition in an estate that was, by and large, a product of existing aristocratic trends? Rather than tuck the Preparation Dairy into a separate space outside of the hamlet estate, hidden away from sight and mind, the Preparation Dairy was kept next door to the Refreshments Dairy and was designed to be a seamless part of the hamlet as a whole.

Access to both dairies was controlled by Valy Bussard, the head farmer employed by Marie Antoinette to run the estate; it would be Valy Bussard who corresponded and talked with the queen about necessary arrangements and changes on the grounds, such as an incident where he complained about the resident male goat who had proved himself unable to procreate. The queen, in her reply, agreed to pay for a replacement--but noted that he should look for a goat with a better temperament and of course, a nicely colored coat.

All of this, the placement of the functional diary and the day-to-day management that existed between Marie Antoinette and Valy Bussard, tells us that the Preparation Dairy was not some secret space for labor that must be kept hidden away, lest it give away the appearance of fancied-labor on part of the queen and her entourage. It was a practical, functional and completely recognized part of the hamlet's well-planned world. Marie Antoinette was conscious of the the role that the working dairy played in the hamlet's world, and rather than keep it hidden from view, she sought to incorporate it into the day-to-day life at the hamlet.

While she did not play milkmaid or hold the mistaken belief that peasants were milking perfumed cows, Marie Antoinette did blur the line between royalty and private citizen at her dairy in a different way with her choice to seamlessly include the labor-based Preparations Dairy as part of the hamlet's world.

A carefully cultivated world, where the gardens overseen by farmers would produce fresh fruits and vegetables for her household; where she could take her children to learn about animals and plants from skilled staff; where she could enjoy the company of friends and family without suffocating etiquette; where she could carve out a role as the private elite mistress of a working countryside estate; a world, above all, in which Marie Antoinette the elite and free individual, rather than Marie Antoinette the constrained queen, was the center.

 image: aerial view of the hameau de la reine, 2013.
[credit: ToucanWings, CC BY-SA 3.0; no changes]

1793 and Onward

In 1789, the royal family was forced to abandon Versailles and take up residence at the Tuileries Palace in Paris. Although she was never to properly return to her hamlet, or ever again enjoy the novel tastings once held at the Refreshments Dairy, Marie Antoinette continued to receive milk and dairy products from her beloved dairy through 1792. For a time, when the royal family was still able to travel to Saint-Cloud, she even had some of the 'hameau' cows transferred to a rented dairy near the country palace. After the family was imprisoned in the fall of 1792, the hameau--and its two dairies--fell quiet.

In 1794, some of the furniture and objects still inside the Preparation Dairy were taken apart and sold during the famous "Petit Trianon" auction. The stone tables inside the Preparation Dairy, once used in the painstaking process of making fresh milks destined for custom-made porcelain basins, were sold for 101 livres. An inventory of the building in 1799 indicated that the Preparation Dairy had been left to deteriorate; the iron pipes which once kept products cool in the cabinet were removed the year before and by 1806, when Napoleon requested an estimate for a restoration of the building, the total amount was almost 1/3 of the entire restoration budget that he had allotted for the entire hameau de la Reine. Due to the expense, and likely due to the fact that it was no longer a functioning dairy, the decision was made to have the building torn down in March of 1810.

During the extensive restoration work funded by Rockefeller in 1933, a small stone wall was erected along the former location of the Preparation Dairy. Over time, the Preparation Dairy has faded into the background; often ignored or given a mention at most, despite its once-crucial role in the day-to-day operations of the world that existed solely inside the hamlet. This stone wall, now almost 100 years old, is all that remains of the dairy that was once employed to create creams, cheeses and milks "à la reine."

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Further Reading

• Martin, Meredith. Dairy Queens: the Politics of Pastoral Architecture from Catherine De Medici to Marie-Antoinette. Harvard University Press, 2011. 
• Duvernois, Christian, and Halard François. Marie-Antoinette and the Last Garden at Versailles. Rizzoli, 2008. 
• Nolhac, Pierre. The Trianon of Marie-Antoinette. T. Fisher Unwin, 1925.