Madame de Pompadour: Sex, Culture and Power

by Margaret Crosland (Author)

• Used

  Paperback
  2002

  $3.25

  This biography provides a new interpretation of the life and achievements of Madame de Pompadour (1721 - 1764), the favourite mistress of Louis XV. The book describes how Madame de Pompadour entertained the King with cultural activities that ranged from amateur theatricals to architecture. She protected writers and painters, supported the development of Sevres porcelain and could not resist entering the power game. Her attempt to control the Seven Years War was a failure, but she was largely responsible for enterprises such as the Ecole Militaire. Even when the king turned to younger women for sex, she was the eminence rose . The author sets out to show how Madame de Pompadour's life reveals the extent and limitations of women's power and status in the 18th century.

• Used

  Paperback
  2000

  $5.68

  The royal mistress was an institution in France during the reigns of Louis XIV and Louis XV, and Madame de Pompadour (1721-1764) was the most impressive and creative of them all. This is the rags-to-riches story of how she used all she had to achieve independence at a time when women had no status or rights. Jeanne Antoinette Poisson was born into a bourgeoise family and was probably illegitimate. However, a fortune teller predicted that Jeanne would win the heart of a king. In 1741 she married Le normant d'Etoiles and, in 1745, found herself dancing with Louis XV at a masked ball. The affair that was to scandalize the aristocracy (Jeanne was the first royal mistress from the middle classes) began soon after. An extinct title was resurrected for her and, as Madame de Pompadour, Jeanne dedicated the rest of her life to Louis XV, even resorting to weird and wonderful diets to stimulate better sex (which she did not enjoy). When the affair transformed into friendship, she entertained the King by staging amateur theatricals and even helped to procure her successors. She was a patron of the arts, supporting the development of Sevres porcelain, but could not resist entering the power game - with mixed results. Her attempt to control the Seven Years War was a failure, but her successes include the Ecole Militaire. Though she would never have recognized herself as a feminist, the author asserts that Madame de Pompadour was one of its earliest exponents - using the only means of power available to her: sex. Her life reveals the extent and limitations of women's status power in the 18th century.