#mme de pompadour

[strawberryteabunny]

[chic-a-gigot]

La Mode illustrée, no. 33, 13 août 1882, Paris. Toilettes de Mme Delaunay, 49, r. Godot de Mauroy. Collection of the Rijksmuseum, Netherlands

Robe en voile double bleu à petits bouquets Pompadour et rhadamès bleu. La jupe, plissée perpendiculairement, est faite en rhadamès; son bord inférieur est garni d'un petit volant plissé de même étoffe, à demi voilé par une grosse guipure posée à plat. Corsage et très-longs paniers, en voile double; les paniers sont garnis de même guipure, laquelle se retrouve sous le contour inférieur du corsage à pointe. Fichu bouffant en mousseline blanche garni de grosse guipure, laquelle se continue devant en forme de jabot. Manches demi-courtes, gants très-longs.

Dress in blue double voile with small Pompadour bouquets and blue rhadamès. The skirt, pleated perpendicularly, is made of rhadamès; its lower edge is trimmed with a small pleated flounce of the same fabric, half veiled by a large guipure laid flat. Bodice and very long panniers, in double voile; the panniers are trimmed with the same guipure, which is found under the lower contour of the pointed bodice. Bouffant fichu in white muslin trimmed with large guipure, which continues in front in the shape of a jabot. Half-short sleeves, very long gloves.

—

Costume en surah rose uni et satin rose à rayures algériennes, olive, bleu, rouge et or. La jupe, faite en surah, est plissée perpendiculairement; ces plis sont fixés à mi-jambe par une grosse ruche faite avec le satin rayé; cette ruche surmonte un volant de dentelle blanche. Polonaise en satin rayé garnie d'une même dentelle et drapée derrière à l'aide de longs nœuds en ruban olive, à double face rouge. Manches demi-longues. Gants très-longs.

Suit in plain pink surah and pink satin with Algerian, olive, blue, red and gold stripes. The skirt, made of surah, is pleated perpendicularly; these pleats are fixed at mid-leg by a large ruffle made with striped satin; this ruffle surmounts a flounce of white lace. Polonaise in striped satin trimmed with the same lace and draped behind with long bows in olive ribbon, with double red face. Half-long sleeves. Very long gloves.

[suzypfonne]

All I'm saying is Aziraphale deserves a kiss rivalling Mme de Pompadour's. That's not asking too much, right?

[chaotic-history]

MME DE POMPADOUR MENTION IN VENUS IN FURS ‼️‼️‼️‼️

[lafcadiosadventures]

Madame Putiphar Groupread. Book Four, Chapter II

“(…) aussitôt un guichetier emmena Déborah dans un cachot qui attendoit sa proie, comme une gueule vide.”

“La vue plongeoit au loin, elle étoit grandiose, mais morne; on ne voyoit que deux ciels ou deux mers, car le ciel est l’image de la mer, car la mer est l’image du ciel.”

A conflagration of (man made)horror and (natural)beauty leads to a textbook Sublime

Isabella, illustrated by J. W. Wright, engraverd by W. H. Mote

{ @counterwiddershins + @sainteverge }

There is a clash in this chapter, or rather a juxtaposition of Nature and Man Made horrors. It’s interesting because to Borel Nature seems to be a neutral force, and Human institutions are frequently evil and act as cages for the characters (victims and victimizers are trapped into diverse types of prisons buildings, but also social roles, education styles etc. function as such). Given this, it’s interesting that Borel animalizes people and institutions, relying on old biblical symbols to ascribe them good or evil roles, Deborah is explicitly called a lamb here, and her cell has Jaws like a wolf, it’s a mouth and a digestive system compound. (so how actually neutral is nature to borel,,,)

But let’s get into the plot: We advance in time (we hear Mme P has arranged for Deborah to be locked in fort-sainte marguerite, the reader knows this, but Deborah ignores what will happen to her and has to rely on her inelligence and observational skills to try and guess her fate. Time will tell if what awaits is a fate worse than being a prisoner in the king’s brothel) However in the same sentence Borel takes us to the past, even before the ending of last chapter to see more of what we heard XV tell Pompadour on their digestive coffee + storytelling meeting. XV brutally complains to the madame of Deborah’s still uncivilized status. Doesn’t he pay her to educate the girls so that he isn’t “forced” to get what he is owed by brute force? The King hates it when his victims “make him” act brutally because in resisting him they raise a mirror revealing him as a kidnapper and serial rapist. The king has little qualms in disciplining his servants though. his actions are not described but the madame is driven to her knees, and his reprimands are “most violent”.(let us remember that time louis xiv broke a bamboo cane on the back of one of his servants, just because he saw him take food from the royal table) The Madame promises to be as violent as the king is towards her. She finds Deborah lying fainted on the floor as an aftermath to her rape, but the madame doesn’t notice or care (resuming the theme of deborah being treated as a thing by the staff, when they sexually abuse her on her sleep, when they dress, bathe her, and move her inside the lodge, etc) and she just starts yelling at her, and shaking her, and Deborah’s inert head falls up and down brutally against the floor. In hearing the racket, Cervière, still sore by Deborah’s victory over him, joins the disciplining, he forces her to stand shoving her body with a stick (she still hasn’t regained conciousness) she is stripped, and shoved into a cellar “acting as a prison”-every castle had cells/dungeons of varying sizes, this merry hunting lodge had to reprurpose/work with what it had.

Deborah had been left to rot in there (some meagre meals where thrown at her from a hole in the ceiling) long enough for her to lose hope of ever being released. Sleeping on straw, almost naked, deprived of light, violently mistreated.

In this perpetual darkness, light is a signal of danger, darkess is safety and routine, light means movement and change-for the worse-. She sees a light of a fantasmagoric quality through the crack of the door, this can mean nothing good, she prays, preparing herself to die (this is pictorically like those enlightenment vignettes of Priests getting terrified of Light, but Light, in true Borelesian/Goyaesque fashion, cannot announce anything good, religion in the dark prays against the Light of killers)

it’s even as if the light physically harms her:

“Ces flammes phantasmagoriques grandissoient et rapetissoient et vacilloient de l’aire à la voûte, et passoient sur elle et la zébroient de lames de feu.”

(lames de feu give her more of a christian martyr aura)

Cervière is the light bearer, he lightly kicks her and orders her to rise. The torch blinds Deborah, but she recognizes Cervière’s voice. She tries to rise but her legs are too weakened. So she is taken again against her will, like a rag doll, to a carraige, waitng for her at the gates of the serrail. There, her arms are tied up behind her back. (what little bodily authonomy she had is annuled) she asks to be dressed, this is denied to her, the sunlight will warm her up soon enough, she is cynically told. (a freezing breeze was blowing) At the crack of a whip, the carriage is closed and driven away. She obvserves her captor’s faces, ready made for jail or the police force (ready made/fait express… this phrase is dangerously close to determinism, and even if by made borel doesn’t mean by nature but by social action, it implies a certain, specific ugliness intrinsec to cops and criminals/the lumpenproletariat. The crime world and police forces being analogous is not lost on me, but as always, likening ugliness to a lack of morals, to a certain social class is a pretty disgusting ideology) these faces fit for the gallows frighten the obiously physically beautiful and noble Deborah, she pretends to only speak in Irish. This is of no consequence, the jailers rape her all the same. The torture only stops when they arrive to Antibes, their final destination. Borel uses the Greek names to remit to its colonial origin, The City Infront (of Nice, across the penisule) The Fort of Saint-Marguerite is still standing, it had served mostly as a military fort, and of course it had its own prison cells. However, by 1751 the state of the fort was so deteriorated, it could only be maintained to work as a prison, as the fort could literally protect no one:

Dans un mémoire du 15 juillet 1751, l'ingénieur territorial Légier du Plan constate le mauvais état du fort et constate qu'il «n'a d'autre utilité que celle de renfermer des prisonniers, il ne protège aucune habitation, ny port… et l'on a de la peine à comprendre quels ont été les motifs de son établissement…».

Borel highligts how beautiful this region is, (and indeed it is, please look it up) Cold and clean and pale. The carriage stops at the shore where Deborah is forced to embark, her observation skills lead her to conclude she is going to be drowned in the high seas, since the boat isn’t fit for a long journey. She was calmly resigned to this fate, religion and trauma making her apathetic. However the boat sails on and the landscape unfolds before her eyes revealing the fort from between the mountains..It’s important that the landscape and scenery is radiant, it’s all green and bright blues… this is not the gothic surroundings of Cockermouth castle. This is fertile and sunny and beautiful, and Borel’s language gets particularly evocative and poetic. the horror of Deborah’s situation is not accompanied by any kind of bad weather or natural menace,,, quite the contrary. Deborah is taken inside the fortress, a ravenous cell welcomes her into its jaws where she will be slowly digested. It is a cold stone room, with rancid furniture that crumbles under her touch. There is an opening on the ceiling, the only source of light. Deborah climbs on the table and looks out. She is faced with the Deadly Beautiful Sublime (that which provokes a mixture of pain and pleasure and brings rational capacities to their limit). As the monk in the shore in the Caspar Friedrich painting, she is confused as to what she is even seeing, an enormous infinite vastness of blue:

“La vue plongeoit au loin, elle étoit grandiose, mais morne; on ne voyoit que deux ciels ou deux mers, car le ciel est l’image de la mer, car la mer est l’image du ciel.”

[perfectmuseum]

La Simplicité (Simplicity), par Jean-Baptiste Greuze, 1759, Kimbell Art Museum.

Commandé à Greuze en 1755 pour les appartements de Mme de Pompadour (maîtresse de Louis XV) à Versailles.

[hashbrownsoncrack]

zira deserves a kiss rivalling mme de pompadour's

that's not asking too much, right?

[vigilskeep]

France had the Maîtresse-en-titre which was the king's official mistress. He'd have other mistresses too but she would be the acknowledged one and would get special perks. Idk that it came with a courtesy title since they were usually nobles in their own right. But in cases where they weren't like with Mme de Pompadour and Charles II's mistress Nell Gwyn, they were given titles by the king. Idk if the Orzammar caste system allows for the provision of titles willy-nilly, but even if there isn't usually a courtesy title for concubines, I bet Bhelen could just say he wants everyone to call Rica 'my lady' and they'd do it bc he's kind of a despot, if an enlightened one.

taking notes thank u!

i might have to look outside of western europe for historical references just because of the difference in status implied by the legitimacy of concubines’ children as heirs but this is a good start

[rfsnyder]

Presentation of the Young Mozart to Mme De Pompadour at Versailles in 1763

[coulisses-onirisme]

"Les Bijoux indiscrets", de Diderot : cris et chuchotis

[strawberryteabunny]

for the lolita fashion ask: 1, 11, 19 💗

Thank you for the asks!! ૮꒰ྀི >⸝⸝⸝< ꒱ྀིა

1: how and when did you first get introduced to the fashion?

I don’t know how I first learned lolita existed- probably through anime tbh- but I remember getting into it through 2 things; I was browsing Pinterest for historical costuming ideas and I kept seeing these Rococo and Victorian dresses, except they were super short for ballgowns which really confused me (I didn’t figure out that they were lolita but I thought they were so pretty) and second- I saw a girl wearing lolita on my college campus! I wore casual jfashion at the time (Liz Lisa, etc) but even though I knew what lolita was it felt super out of reach and like something only girls in Japan could wear. But there she was, in real life! It was a magical moment. I wish I could remember what exactly she was wearing or that I’d gotten a chance to meet her again but she completely changed my life! I put two and two together and realized I could wear these Victorian-esque dresses myself 🥰

11: what's one item you have that you would never sell?

This is tough, I have a lot of things I really love… I think probably my IW Renoir OP though. It’s definitely the dress I wear the most (it layers really well with like half my closet too..) and unlike a lot of other pieces I love I wouldn’t be able to sell it for a lot of money either.

Like, I would never want to sell my usakumya or my Milky Chan JSK but if I was in a bind financially they could be worth a couple hundred dollars each so if I had to it would make the most sense yknow?

I’d never want to sell my parasol either as it was a gift from my mom <3 and I have a couple vintage Gunne Sax pieces I’d never sell because with how popular the brand has gotten I’d never be able to replace them 😅 and I wear my Gunne blouses constantly too…

19: do you remember the first dress you ever saw? do you still like it?

Angelic Pretty’s Pompadour OP! I remember coming across it and not even realizing it was lolita, just thinking ‘huh someone made a version of Mme de Pompadour’s gown but they cut it so short, I wonder why’ haha. I’d love to own this dress! I’m a huge fan of the original painting and I think the color combo and design is so pretty. It would be a really nice convention/fancy tea party piece.

[chic-a-gigot]

L'École des femmes : modes, travaux féminins, no. 19, 6 novembre 1879, Paris. No. 1. — Toilette théâtre. No. 2. Toilette de Visite. Bibliothèque nationale de France

No. 1.

Toilette de théâtre en velours ciselé et satin noir. La jupe à traîne en satin noir se termine par des plissés de satin. Cette jupe est recouverte d'une première tunique en satin, garnie d'effilé en chenille et de paniers en velours ciselé. Le corsage, également en velours ciselé, est très long et drapé en paniers. Il est garni d'un effilé et d'une torsade satin et velours. Un plastron en satin fait à longue pointe et plissé se termine par deux gros glands. Chapeau Henri II à longue plume, en feutre noir.

Theatre dress in chiseled velvet and black satin. The black satin train skirt ends with satin pleats. This skirt is covered with a first satin tunic, trimmed with frayed chenille and chiseled velvet paniers. The bodice, also in chiseled velvet, is very long and draped in baskets. It is trimmed with a frayed and twisted satin and velvet. A satin plastron made with a long point and pleated ends with two large tassels. Henri II hat with long plume, in black felt.

—

No. 2.

Costume de visite faille et cachemire havane et loutre. Le jupon est en faille. Le premier drapé du devant est en cachemire havane, le reste de la tunique est en cachemire loutre. Le corsage habit est en étoffe laine et soie, fond havane broché pompadour. La basque rapportée est prise dans le travers de l'étoffe. Plastron à pointe, plissé en travers en faille loutre, col et revers en faille loutre, chapeau. en feutre loutre bordé d'un plissé de velours et orné de plumes havane.

Visiting suit in faille and Havana cashmere and otter. The petticoat is in faille. The first drape of the front is in Havana cashmere, the rest of the tunic is in otter cashmere. The bodice is in wool and silk fabric, Havana brocaded pompadour background. The added basque is taken from the cross of the fabric. Pointed plastron, pleated across in otter faille, collar and lapels in otter faille, hat. in otter felt edged with velvet pleats and decorated with Havana feathers.

Modèle de Mme Combes, 53, rue Neuve-des-Petits-Champs.

[reloha]

Crowley lookalike with Mme. De Pompadour (Sophia Myles) on Doctor Who episode, “Girl in the Fireplace.”

There's something about Crowley with a pompadour that I find rather interesting.🤔

There's something very funny to me about Crowley as the originator of the pompadour and then having tacky, wannabe Louis XIV-style furniture in S1, since the humans attribute his hair style to Louis XIV's mistress, Madame de Pompadour (who may or may not have been a certain ginger we all know but at least knew of him.) What, exactly, was Crowley up to with the French court in the 1750s/early 1760s that led to that ripoff throne-level of saltiness? Also very funny that Crowley was tall hair deep in the sex lives of the French royals and then look who suddenly went to night school to brush up on his French wordplay skills in 1760 😂

[lafcadiosadventures]

Madame Putiphar Groupread. Book Four, Chapter I

𝔗𝔥𝔢 ℜ𝔢𝔱𝔲𝔯𝔫 𝔬𝔣 𝔉𝔞𝔱𝔥𝔢𝔯 𝔇𝔦𝔩𝔩𝔬𝔫

(clickbaity title. Did you know Borel’s Irish Priest DILF was a real person, you can see him here and wonder with me about Borel’s taste in men)

Berentz Christian, Still life with bohemian chrystals, cups and a pocketwatch , oil on canvas, 1700-1720

{ @sainteverge + @counterwiddershins }

The King and Pompadour are sitting by the fireplace (in shape of an arc d’amour. this is romanticism, anything that can be symbolic will be so. I choose to believe this is a tacky, slightly pinkish vaginal adjacent architectural creation, because sometimes my brain gets art directed by Ken Russel's team. I looked up the term to see if this is an architectural term, and it still might be, but it also could be a Roman de la Rose reference, a degraded reference to the arc of pure love that appears in the novel’s House of Fortune)

Madame P and her King act like a parody of bourgeois domesticity. She knits, he tries to tolerate a heavy indigestion. they both yawn because yawning is contagoius. We see the King has changed shapes once again, as a character whose physical form relfects his inner emotions, he is back into his grotesque, weak, flaccid, deflated frame. His mistress playfully suggests a requiem might be in order. She chides him for being so uncultured (the King believes music to be harmful for adult males) Mme P is an enjoyer of the Luminaries of the Enlightenment, as we know, on a shallow level, so she chooses to entertain the King with some base gossip instead of a selection of arias in languedoc. Father Dillon, Patrick’s old would be protector, reappears, at least in name only. It’s fun to see him again, this time not through Patrick’s naif vision… why do we see him again though? He is an example of an assimilated irishman, and being so high up in the clergy he is well connected enough that mm p and pharao casually gossip about him and his money. He is not alone but an atom in the circles of aristocratic libertinism, and although this game is harmless and stupid (basically here to illustrate how base the people high up are, and how money mixes up into their sexualized games, mme p fake reads the enlightenment and her partenaire claims music is harmful, and both can only bare talk about sex and money. Once again the supervillains of this novel are as banal as they can be, nothing is remarkable about them-mme p is as least a skilled social climber/a good lover etc-and these mediocre beings are tasked with destroying the lives of the much worthier novel’s heroes)(which honestly makes them very Roman and very contemporary) borel seems to be saying, no one so high up is clean.

But not even Mme P’s boob size contest story can disipate the clouds of annoyance darkening Pharaoh’s brow. She notices this, and her tone shifts to a submissive one -we understand how clever she is in testing the royal mood’s waters- The King confesses he’ll break under the weight of the scepter… He wishes to abdicate, because governing a people is too much work. What caused this crisis? His nightime snack wasn’t served, lunch had been detestable. So, the people he governs are basically, only his servants, the royal scope is as narrow as a long-lens. He governs to be served. Simple as that. The people, he complains, no longer have a vocation of service, and it’s all the fault of those meddling Philosophers who desacralize everything.

To highlight how deflated the King is in his current presentation, Borel displays him completely helpless or unwilling to exert direct violence as we have seen before. He asks mme P to avenge him because the new girl on “the Parc” has affronted him. Deborah’s curse, and unsubmissiveness/resistance to him, have left an impression on the King. Are we to believe most women on the parc choose to be nice to the King, play the game in hopes of a confortable life/social ascent?

Pompadour suggests Deborah cannot stay in the Parc, but, being also unfit for life in society, she must be locked in the most secret royal prison. Madame P assures the King his people haven’t forgotten how to serve him, Deborah is after all, a foreigner, which should explain her uncouthness/ignorance. She is a virago and a savage. She is worth much less than the average french subject. Like a new Scherezade, Pompadour prepares some coffee (distracting the royal baby with the shiny marabout) and resumes her role as a story teller.

[artschoolglasses]

Study of the Left Hand of Madame de Pompadour, Francois Boucher, 18th Century

[esmereldalogos]