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Art...
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ArtSleuth
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A child
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another,
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and a third
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with their mother in the centre.
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A painting by Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun.
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Just another saccharine hymn to family values?
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But it isn’t all sweetness and light:
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this may be a palace, but it’s empty and cold
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a sombre curtain shrouds the cradle
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there are shadows creeping in…
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This woman is Marie-Antoinette, last queen of France.
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She has seven years to live:
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When the Revolution triumphs, she will die on the guillotine…
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She knows already that the people hate her.
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This picture is a last attempt at image-building.
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An attempt which fails!
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But how about the picture - is it a failure too?
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Is it mere propaganda - or is it something more?
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Episode 4: Vigee Lebrun
*Marie-Antoinette and her children - From PR exercise to guillotine?*
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Part 1: Painting as PR
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Let there be no mistake,
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this glossy picture is a PR exercise.
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Its aim - to make people forget three damaging visions of the Queen u
nwittingly projected in earlier portraits.
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Mark I: *Frivolous fashion-freak*.
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The bold, actressy pose,
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with stage curtain and smoke as background,
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the knick-knacks, the frills,
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the outlandish wigs...
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all gone!
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With a pedestal-type cushion at her feet,
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Seated on an armchair in austere surroundings,
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and a classical column
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in the background,
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the Queen again becomes a figure of authority.
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Mark II: *Wayward shepherdess.*.
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Tired of her royal duties,
Marie-Antoinette turns her back on the palace
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and escapes to her toy-like village at the* Trianon.*.
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“Straw hat and plain English muslin
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- perfect for a pleasant stroll.
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And just what all my friends are wearimg!”
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Buta queen who shows herself like this in public is insulting the people
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- and France!
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So - back to the splendours of Versailles
and Louis XIV’s *Hall of Mirrors.*
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Crown,
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fleur de lys
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- this is indeed a queen of France.
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Back to the regulation red-velvet dress.**
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The colour of power
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and a discreet nod
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to her simple, pious predecessor.
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Mark III: *Queen of diamonds. *
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She loves jewellery, and everyone knows it.
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Indeed, one schemer has already used her name
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to mount a massive scam
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- the *“Queen’s Necklace Affair”. *.
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The Queen’s innocence is proved, but the mud sticks all the same.
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So, austerity’s the word
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- no necklace, no diamonds.
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A clever move.
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The portrait goes on show in Paris.
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But it’s *too late*:
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the people no longer trust the monarchy.
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The state is backing the Americans in their fight for independence,
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Deeply in debt,
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it is staring ruin in the face.
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Millions, who have lent it their money, fear the worst.
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Known for her extravagance, the Queen makes an easy scapegoat:
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“Madame Deficit”, “the Austrian woman”, is accused of deliberately seeking to ruin France.
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To win back the people’s favour, she tries a new approach**
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-and plays her role as mother to the hilt.
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Part 2: *The might of motherhood*
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A queen as mother
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- nothing new, surely!
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After all, giving French kings an heir is what French queens are there for.
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Her predecessor as queen, is a mere *biological bridge *between:
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her husband, the present king,
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and her son, the future one.
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And her mother embodies the same tradition at the Austrian court,
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as she proudly displays the little princes,
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who are actually shown *as miniature adults *in their own right.
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But there’s something new here:
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for one thing, *the triangular composition *...
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… comes from Italian Renaissance paintings of the Holy Family:
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the* sacred* is back.
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There’s something else too, something more modern:
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a real bond of affection between mother and children ...
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... who are dressed to suit their needs - not a wig or sword in sight.
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The guiding light here is the philosopher, Jean-Jacques Rousseau,
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who urges mothers to abandon their loose-living ways
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- and play a worthy role in society
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by raising their children to be enlightened citizens.
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The reference point here is Cornelia, the virtuous Roman matron,
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who scorned jewellery,
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and declared that her children were her greatest treasure.
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Which helps to explain why this jewel cabinet
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stays firmly in the shadows,
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while the children are presented to the nation.
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Embodying both *sacred *and *civic *ideals of motherhood,
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the Queen *scores twice over*!
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But maternal feeling has its modish side too:
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many ladies of fashion are happy enough to be painted with their children ...
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... but leave all the rest to nurses.
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The public suspect that Marie-Antoinette is one of them,
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and focus instead on one melancholy detail:
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the empty cradle!
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... intended for the little Princess Sophie,
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who died before the picture was finished.
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Will viewers feel for her mother?
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No: the expression doesn’t fit
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- she looks unconcerned,
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and seems to have her mind on something else.
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In short, she is a *bad mother*.
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An argument taken up seven years later by the judges in the revolutionary tribunal,
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who even accuse her of incest.
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So the Queen’s plan collapses: the picture will not save her.
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But what about saving the picture?
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Part 3: *Prosperity - and posterity*
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Of course, the artist Vigée-Lebrun is working to a royal commission,
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and has to play down the very thing
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that has made her fame and fortune
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the all-new package she offers her sitters.
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Not content to retouch their physical flaws,
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she even arranges their costumes and hairstyles herself.
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conventional dress codes are out,
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and an easy elegance lets natural beauty shine through.
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Above all, she encourages them to reveal their *private selves *
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- to smile,
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behave naturally,
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and let their softer side show through.
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And so the picture will live for other reasons
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- reasons which apply in the 19th century
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Long gone the haughty monarchs of the past -
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today’s royal portraits must please the conventional, well-to-do burghers
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and reflect their moral values
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The good mother comes to symbolise political rectitude.
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Queen Victoria, the century’s most powerful woman, is a typical example.
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The French, too, choose a nursing mother
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- Marianne - to symbolise the Republic**
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And, less than a century after they were painted, Vigée-Lebrun’s versions of Marie-Antoinette
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no longer seem at odds with one another.
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The Queen is remembered, not only as mother, but also for her special creation
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- the high life, Trianon-style, blending the refined and bucolic.
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In her day, easy-living luxury was seen as a sign of *depravity *
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- and as such incompatible with motherhood.
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In the 19th century, however, it became part of the duty her successors owed their country’s economy:
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the Empress Eugénie, for example - an exemplary mother, seen here with her ladies-in-waiting
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- helped to boost French fashion sales world-wide.
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And so this portrait marks the start of a new era,
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when public opinion can no longer be ignored
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by royals - or their painters. **
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Next episode: Rembrandt - *The Return of the Prodigal Son*
*Force of the Dark Side*
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Find more information on: www.canal-educatif.fr
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Directed by
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Produced by:
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Written by
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This film exists thanks to
sponsors and volunteers
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and to the support of the Palace of Versailles
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Voicover
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Editing and motion graphics
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Extra editing & sound recording
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Musical selection
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Musics
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Photographic credits
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Special thanks
English subtitles: Vincent Nash
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A CED production