Inspired Tuesday: Marie Antoinette and princesse de Lamballe advertise for Petrole Hahn

Inspired Tuesday: a day to share anything and everything inspired by Marie Antoinette and her world.

Petrole Hahn is a French-based company that has been in operation for over 100 years. Their primary claim to fame is hair-based products, including shampoos, conditioners and other rinses. Like many businesses at the time, Petrole Hahn employed postcards and trading cards as part of their outreach advertisement campaign. These two cards depicting the princesse de Lamballe and Marie Antoinette were from a particular collectible set featuring notable French royals, aristocrats, and even revolutionaries.

 [source: my scan/collection]

 

 [source: my scan/collection]

Madame Elisabeth Prayer Cards

Although she is often overlooked in popular culture, Madame Elisabeth played an integral role in the lives of Louis XVI and his family--particularly during those final years in captivity. Her religious devotion was a source of strength not just for herself, but for her brother, her sister-in-law, and their children. Madame Royale wrote that once she was old enough to appreciate such things, she saw nothing in her aunt but "religion, love of God, horror of sin, gentleness, piety, modesty, and a great attachment to her family, for whom she sacrificed her life[.]"

I recently received several religious items related to the unfortunate princess, which I'd like to share now.

Below is a scan of a beautiful prayer card featuring one of the most well known prayers of Madame Elisabeth, presented in an elegant font and surrounded by religious and royal imagery.

credit: my scan/collection

The second item is a small booklet, released sometime in the 1920s, featuring a small portrait on the front, a short biography of the princess along with a few religious quotes from her letters on the inside (not pictured); and the same prayer quoted above on the back.

credit: my scan/collection

There's a particularly interesting note at the bottom of the page: "People who obtain graces of God through the intercession of Madame Elisabeth are requested to provisionally notify the Carmel de Pie IX of Meaux."

The Carmelites of Meaux were the first known association to campaign for the beatification of Madame Elisabeth. Princess Henriette of Belgium was the most famous patron in their cause. There have actually been several movements to petition the Church to beatify Elisabeth since the 1920s, including a modern Association of Madame Elisabeth founded in 2008; so far, none of these efforts have been successful.

 credit: my scan/collection

The final item I received is nearly identical to the earlier booklet, except it is from the late 1930s or early 1940s and is much more simple. The interior pages (not pictured) contains a short biography and the back, like the earlier release, has a transcription of Elisabeth's prayer.

And finally, an English translation of the prayer featured on all three of these publications:

I do not know what will happen to me today, o my God. All I know is that nothing will happen to me but what You have foreseen from Eternity. That is sufficient, o my God, to keep me in peace. I adore Your infinite designs. I submit to them with all of my heart. I desire them all: I accept them all. I make the sacrifice to You of everything. I unite this sacrifice to that of your dear Son my Saviour, begging You by His Sacred Heart and by His infinite merits for the patience in my troubles and the perfect submission which is due to You in all that You wish and permit.

My own little larkspur

I was browsing the garden section of the supermarket this past weekend and I came across packet of flower seeds that looked very familiar--larkspur! Larkspur, known in France as delphinette, was one of Marie Antoinette's favored flowers; in addition to being specially planted in the French garden of Versailles, it was featured in numerous portraits of the queen, typically as sprigs in vases.

My fledgling garden certainly won't be able to touch the grandeur of Versailles, but I have hopes that my larkspur will bloom into something beautiful in the upcoming months!

For further enjoyment, I've cultivated some lovely vintage larkspur seed packets from The Label Man, a website which specializes in vintage labels and advertisements.

 

'Shade of Louis' by Frank Nankivell

The Halloween season is one of my favorite times of the year. The costumes, the decorations, the abundance of pumpkin-themed food items... October is a very season! This year, I thought it would be fun to have a weekly Halloween post--every Thursday until the big 3-1!-- to share in the fun, unique and sometimes spooky Halloween spirit.

This week:

Puck was a weekly humor magazine which ran from 1871 to 1918. Puck would feature caricatures, illustrations and other satire about the hot button issues of the day. The front cover of Puck would almost always feature political cartoon or illustration.

 

This 1905 cover by artist Frank Nankivell is a rather macabre satirical illustration of the 'shade' of Louis XVI warning Nicholas II of Russia. The illustration was likely referencing both the events of "Bloody Sunday" and the imprisonment of Maxim Gorky, a writer associated with Marxism who had been imprisoned in the Peter and Paul Fortress of St. Petersburg. The fortress was typically reserved for political prisoners or prisoners of high standing--giving rise for some to nickname the fortress "The Russian Bastille."

At the bottom of the illustration, the thin hands of the people can be seen pleading and holding out a petition for Nicholas II. To the top left is the warning Louis XVI has for the Russian emperor: listen to the petitioners or you are on the path towards death.

Quick Treasure: Another Versailles Autochrome by Jules-Gervais Courtellemont

I've really fallen in love with these romantic autochromes of players/actors at Versailles, taken by Jules-Gervais Courtellemont. This next scan is of a print made from an autochrome, but is still lovely nonetheless.

 

image: players reenact life at the Temple of Love

credit: my collection

Quick Treasure: A watercolor postcard of the Temple of Love

A picture is worth a thousand words! In the next few weeks I'll be sharing a series of Quick Treasures, such as portrait details, vintage postcard scans, and more.

Today I'd love to share one of my favorite postcards from my collection, a watercolor postcard of the Temple of Love at the Petit Trianon. I'm usually wary of the "painted" postcards that became popular in the 1930s-50s--some of them tend to have an odd traced-over look about them. But the soft, romantic feel of this particular postcard is why it is currently framed and sitting on my bookshelf.

 

image: my collection