The charm of such an emblem is that its significance was only known to those already familiar with it. Biblical themes were popular, or a portrait, monogram or device of the wearer or his patron saint.

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Sensational Etruscan Jewellery - Metropolitan Museum of Art New York

900 years before the Christ event someone of unsurpassed literary ability wrote this superb line from the Song of Songs, a book of the Hebrew Bible,  Other evidence that jewelry and love were associated in the ancient world is found in the House of Vetti excavated at Pompeii from September 1894 to January 1896. On the house’s walls a detailed fresco depicts a goldsmith’s workshop in which a group of amorini, or cupids, whose very name means desire, are engaged in making jeweled ornaments intended to wound their victim’s heart. Jewelers had a ready market at Pompeii where the elite in Roman society went for a holiday and to enjoy the company of friends. The cameo technique thrived and they were made of different materials such as rock crystal, sardonyx, agate and glass and they were very popular.

Cupid and Pschye Cameo - British Museum

Subjects ranged from portraits to portrayals of deities and mythological episodes. One of the most famous depicts the family of Emperor Augustus. Down the centuries a naughty mischievous Cupid became an icon shooting his bow to inspire romantic love. Over time he became the personification of love and courtship in general.

In the fashionable world of nineteenth century England young ladies of the classical school of ornament wore Cameos. The fashion for them began soon after Napoleon’s Italian campaign of 1796 when cameos were brought back to France from Italy. Many of these were of Greek or Roman origin. Their beauty and perfection fascinated Napoleon. He had some mounted especially for his own use and, for his sister the very beautiful Paolina Borghese. Cameos were so popular they were set in all sorts of jewels such as tiaras, necklaces, bracelets and earrings, usually mounted in simple gold collets

Lady School of Ornament - Punch 1859

During the last 50 years of the nineteenth century, on the basis of a mounting interest in archaeology any lady of fashion visiting Italy would consider her tour of Rome incomplete if she did not call into the Castellani’s shop near the Spanish Steps to acquire one of the famous pieces of Italian archaeological revival jewellery offered there.

It was 1859 when an article appeared in England’s popular magazine Punch.  A satirical sketch, it had an amusing extract attached that made the point on how just hard it was for fashionable ladies to wear the jewellery inspired by the archaeological remains of ancient Roman culture.

‘You know the Randoms have just returned from their long residence on the Continent. I spent a day last week with Imogen Random, who kindly showed me her jewel casket. The only drawback to her classical arrangements is her small and diminutive stature… the weight of her gladiator’s necklace is positively distressing to the collar bones; her hair is visibly diminished since she took to wearing Greek daggers and Roman pins, both of which are so pretty and so antique, … and her poor little ears, well they suffer martyrdom with the weight of her earrings, exquisite flying figures of Victory, which are supposed to be constantly whispering joyful tidings of new conquests…employ every art with your Papa Maude to induce him to bring you to the Eternal city where we may have the inexpressible happiness of shopping at Castellani’.

When people today talk about jewels, jewellery, gemmology and gems it is clear the vocabulary has become confused. Gemstones are treasured minerals found in the earth. ‘Gems’ are the objects fashioned from them. Jewels are gems ready for mounting into jewellery, and other objects of art. And, jewellery – well it is the finished product that if its designer has succeeded, adorns its wearer well.

Be sure to read our four surveys about the evolution of love jewelry from Cupid to Cartier. They are Rome to Renaissance, Restoration to Revolution, Regency to Revival and Romantics to Retro.

Carolyn McDowall, The Culture Concept Circle 2010, 2011

Related posts:

1. Love Jewellery – Rome to Renaissance
2. Love Jewellery – Romantics to Retro
3. Love Jewellery – Regency to Revival

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1. Costume and Society
2. Costume, a footnote to culture in Downton Abbey and The King’s Speech
3. Dressed for Action

Related posts:

1. Costume and Society

Emmy award winner - Best Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Movie the ever delightful actor Maggie Smith as the Dowager Duchess of Grantham in Downton Abbey,

There are many theories on the origins of costume, which can be viewed as distinct from clothing. One could say clothing has to do with covering the body to protect it for purposes of modesty, extremes of natural elements or a physical reason, such as protective clothing for industry or engaging in warfare. Costume encompasses all that we wear, including objects for personal adornment; jewellery, hats, gloves, shoes, accessories and our previously unmentionable undergarments.  Various aspects of costume share an interesting history and reflect our social growth. They project our beliefs while aesthetically conveying an image for purposes of personal status or to accommodate a desire to be distinguished from others. Fashion is imposed on costume, dictating and reflecting changes and concerns of a society in any one place at any one time. Since economics often determine the development of the societies in question, its study cannot be neglected.

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1. Coco Chanel – Costume & Culture
2. Costume, a footnote to culture in Downton Abbey and The King’s Speech
3. Dressed for Action

I am an Englishman, and naked I stand here,
Musing in my mind what raiment I shall wear,
For now I will wear this, and now I will wear that;
Now I will wear I cannot tell what.
All new fashions be pleasant to me;
I will have them, whether I thrive or thee

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Venus and Adonis by Rubens

This rather erotic love language comes from the Old Testament of the Bible, an edited extract from the Song of Songs, which is Solomon’s. Love! I am sure everyone has experienced that most frustrating, captivating, exquisite, infuriating, but enduring of all human emotions called love.

An important aspect of every human society yet recorded is a belief that gold and gemstones had an enormous effect on the affairs of many. This has not been limited to any age or culture and tokens of human affection have been treasured throughout the ages. If you bring gold and precious or semi precious stones together skilfully and make them symbolise romance and reflect true love then you have a ‘tour de force’, a triumph of Cupid’s D’art! Excavators at Pompeii found a variety of gem stones in one shop, some only partly cut along with the tools for working them.

Amorini, or cupids in a wallpainting in the Casa Vettii at Pompeii

In another shop a note left by a visitor on that fateful day in the year ‘79 saying. ‘I should like my jewel to be ready at three o’clock’.Pompeii was the place where the elite in Roman society went for a holiday and to enjoy the company of friends. A modern day Australian comparison would be Noosa on the Sunshine Coast. Jewellers had a ready market in Pompeii forming an active profession the Aurifes universi, which supported local candidates for political office. The level of business was such that even very special gem cutters and engravers were drawn to the town and made a living there.

Evidence that love and jewellery were associated in the ancient world can be found detailed in a fresco adorning the walls of the House of Vetti in Pompeii. It depicts a goldsmith’s workshop and a group of amorini, or cupids engaged in making jewelled ornaments, intended to wound a victim’s heart. According to first century documenter of Roman times, author, naturalist and natural philosopher Pliny the Elder ‘People nowadays go to buy clothes in China, look for pearls in the depth of the Red Sea and emeralds in the bowels of the earth…moreover, the practice of piercing the ears has been invented. It did not suffice to wear jewels round the neck, in the hair and on the hands; they also have to be stuck in the body!’

When people today talk about gems and gemology the basic vocabulary seems to have become confused. So just for clarification. Gemstones are minerals found in the earth. ‘Gems’ are objects fashioned from them. Jewels are gems prepared for mounting in jewellery or other objects of art. And, jewellery is the finished product that adorns the wearer.

In ancient Greek mythology Aphrodite, the Goddess of  love and desire rose naked from the foam of the sea and was reputed to have stepped ashore at Cythera in the Ionian islands where grass and flowers sprang up wherever her feet touched the earth. Her divine duty was to make love and inspire others to do so.  In an early manifestation as the familiar of Aphrodite you could describe Eros, the God of Love, perhaps as being bittersweet. Greek lyric poets and tragedians stressed his omnipotence and cruelty. What thing is love for (well I wot) love is a thing, It is a prick; it is a sting, It is a pretty, pretty thing, It is a fire; it is a coal, Whose flame creeps in every hole.’

As a companion of Venus in her Roman manifestation, known as Cupid he could be both young and beautiful. Cupids were widely used emblems of prosperity belonging to the worlds of both Venus and the God of Wine, Bacchus. As time progressed he turned into a rather chubby mischievous little boy.

Venus and Cupid by Cranch

A well-known painting of him with Venus 1531 by Lucas Cranch depicts Cupid complaining to his mother Venus. He is suffering loudly from bee stings – a warning of the pain, which so often accompanies the pleasure of love.

The history of ancient Italy does not just reside with the Romans. Long before Rome became the centre of a Roman Empire, Rome was but a town on the coastal plain tucked between the Latin tribes in the hills to the east and south, with in the north, the mysterious and very colourful people known as the Etruscans. They ruled the lands of Etruria, broadly corresponding to the modern region we now know as Tuscany.

The people called themselves Rasenna, it was the Romans that gave them the name Etruscan (Etrusci or Tusci) and the Greeks called them Tyrsenoi, rendered in English as Tyrrhenians, the name of the sea to the west of the Italian Peninsula. They had a reputation in the ancient world as  consumers of good things and were particularly famous as jewellers.

Etruscan Grape Cluster Earring V & A Museum at London

They crafted gold and silver jewellery and engraved gems, which they traded all around the Mediterranean world. Etruscan goldsmiths produced objects technically very difficult to make. Etruscan grape-cluster earrings of the 4th century before Christ are often shown worn by women on Etruscan terracottas and tomb paintings.

Some terracotta heads show they were very large and nestled behind the curls of the wearer,  tucked into the side of the neck.  Shaped from thin sheet gold clusters of gold globules they were attached and the whole decorated with filigree – attached gold wire – and granulation.

The technique of granulation developed by the Etruscan goldsmiths was brought to an extraordinary standard of perfection and was often extremely fine. It reached its height at Etruria in the seventh and sixth centuries before Christ and has never been surpassed.

Young Woman Mummy Portrait from Fayum

It was necessary to produce first tiny pellets of gold, then using a copper solution mixed with vegetable or fish glue diluted with water, the pellets were then applied in selected patterns onto the object. As copper has a lower melting point than gold, the copper, when heated, joined the pellets to the background, In this way fusion of the pellets and background was prevented and the granular effect was not lost. Granulation is often combined with filigree, which was the application of gold wire to the surface.

1st Century Roman Woman wearing an outstanding collection of Jewellery

Mummification continued to be practised during the Roman period after the year 30 BC in Egypt. Painted mummy portraits like our young lady reveal their jewellery preferences. She is wearing a stunning brooch, with complementary earrings and hair jewel. These paintings are among the most remarkable historical and cultural documents of outstanding interest found in the cemeteries of the Fayum district of Egypt by archaeologist Sir Flinders Petrie (1853–1942).

What archaeologists call true Roman jewellery was first made in the first century BCE. Any Greek or Roman travelling through the Medietrranean area at that time would have been confronted by a cultural mosaic composing elements from many different periods.

The preference in the first century was for colourful, though not very elaborate pieces and pearls, gems and glass paste contrasted with the bright yellow gold to produce jewels of great effect and ostentation, beloved by the nouveaux riche.

Our second portrait was also excavated by Petrie who dubbed her Jewellery Girl. ‘In the top of her bun is a pin set with pearls and garnets. The bun is gathered with a gold chain with a central medallion and decorated gold boxes at either side. Above these a long pin is worn across the back of the head.

She has four necklaces, the uppermost matching the pin in the bun with pale stones, perhaps aquamarine in gold settings between small pearls and garnets. Beneath is a necklace of squared emeralds separated by gold beads, and below that a chain of gold beads with a gold pendant. Hanging low on her breast is a plated gold chain with a large oval stone, perhaps an emerald intaglio in a heavy gold setting.  She is also wearing trident earrings with a central pearl set above the bar and three pendant pearls.  Pearls were highly prized, the most valuable usually imported from the Red Sea could fetch exorbitant prices. Drop earrings consisting of two or more pearls were called crotalia, by analogy with the tinkling sound of the simple percussion instruments played at that time called crotali’.

Roman garnet intaglio, c. 1st century AD, engraved with a nude Apollo, his right arm raised holding a bow, his left arm reaching for an arrow from his quiver, a wreath in his hair, in a classic 22ct gold setting. Anne Schofield Antiques, Sydney

Fragment of a 1st Century Cameo

Women during Roman times wore a great deal of ancestral jewellery handed down, so dating them stylistically from mummy boards doesn’t always work for some scholars. As the Roman Empire collapsed between the fourth and sixth centuries after Christ fragments of precious jewels were preserved and today collecting them has become a favourite pastime for many.

Two of the most favoured jewels in ancient society was an Intaglio,  that of an image created by cutting, carving or engraving into a flat surface and the Cameo, where the image is what is left when the background has been cut away to leave the image above the back ground.

The measure of a cameo of great quality is the depth of its carving.

The Ancient Cultural mosaic was shattered between the fourth and sixth centuries AD as the borders of the Roman Empire collapsed and today fragmens of the Greek , Etruscan and Roman cultural mosaic are spread throughout the world. The Lady and the Unicorn (La Dame a la Licorne) is the collective title for six tapestry panels, hung originally in the Castle of Boussac and now in the Museum of the Middle Ages (Museé de Moyen Age) at Paris.

Lady and the Unicorn - Sound

The colours of the clothes, flowers (mille fleurs) and jewellery were rendered in wool and provide a superb documentary record of the style of costume worn in fourteenth century Europe. Costume encompasses all that we wear, including objects for personal adornment such as jewellery, hats, gloves, shoes, accessories and undergarments.

All these various aspects of costume have an interesting history and reflect our social growth. They also project our beliefs both religious and spiritual, while aesthetically convey an image purely for purposes of personal status or, to accommodate a desire to be distinguished from others in a culture and its society.

Henry VIII in a typical power pose

As the feudal system, that had been in place throughout the middle ages disintegrated a burgeoning of luxury in the royal and princely courts of Europe and England began.  At this level costume is subjected to politics; the preening extravagances of exotic charismatic emperors, princes, potentates or dictators was from antiquity right through until today

The Tudor monarchs of England perceived that visitors to the court equated lavish display with national strength and power. No other period in history was to give men more precious adornments to project their beauty and status and Henry VIII (1491-1547) just loved flamboyant display,  apparent in all familiar depictions of him.

19th century reproduction Renaissance Hat Badge by Castellani courtesy V & A Museum London

His chest measured 45 inches in his youth and he wore lavish clothes on which jewels were abundantly applied. By 1540 Henry’s chest had grown to 58 inches and was a perfect display area. (Who would have needed a jewellery shop with a client like Henry. He is a display case in himself). He strived to keep, forgive the pun, abreast of all the latest developments in the arts. When viewing his portraits however, we would have to believe that his elaborate codpiece protected, what he more than likely would have considered, after having had six wives, his most precious jewels of all.

At this time aesthetic and ethical ideas could not be considered a mere imitation of the classical world for it was believed that if the ancients were to be revered and admired at all it was because they were thought to have found their wisdom and art at the same source as that of knowledge and beauty. This was an ideal Henry VIII turned to in his quest for a new life.

One of the most popular adornments he wore was called an Enseigne (hat badge). Made of gold and jewels and worn on the hat or cap of men of prominence, their design was mainly allegorical accompanied by an explanatory motto. These devices, as they became known,  led to a delight in anything ingenious or unusual even if it had no secret meaning.

Artists rendering them in many mediums chose the better known mythology of the ancient world and as a result,  their works were rich in amatory illusion. The intent of any device was to teach an intuitive form of moral truth.

Their real charm however lay in the fact it was only those who could read their visual message that knew their real significance so if you particularly want to understand jewellery design of this period you need to be well versed in your mythology and legend.

15c Italian Gold Signet Ring

The Venetian ambassador to his court described Henry VIII’s fingers as ‘one mass of jewelled rings’. Rings on the finger, and indeed on other parts of one’s person, have been worn continuously since the 3rd Millennium BCE by all civilisations. The ring, being a circle, has no beginning or end so perfectly represents the enduring qualities of true love. A diamond inset into a marriage ring was, by the C15, a symbol of conjugal faithfulness because of its resistance to fire and steel. It was also used in its natural crystalline structure and set, although it did not sparkle like today’s highly polished jewels. Its hardness however was admired and it came to symbolise the durability of marriage and an important aspect of the ritual surrounding weddings. Anne of Cleves when she married Henry VIII had a very optimistic inscription on her wedding ring: ‘God send me well to kepe’.

Jane Seymour by Holbein

Henry encouraged foreign artisans to England. In 1526 German painter Hans Holbein the Younger arrived and by 1536 had become the King’s painter. As well as rendering series of portraits of eminent people of his era Holbein embraced jewellery and metal design, books illustration and decorative schemes.

Early eighteenth century British physician, naturalist and collector Sir Hans Sloane bequeathed 179 of Holbein’s jewellery designs to the British Museum and they provide a fascinating study.

Jane Seymour, who gave Henry his long awaited son and heir, was painted by Holbein wearing some wonderful jewellery given in love by Henry to her. Her selection includes a popular form of pendant made of a large emerald, emblematic of love, together with a ravishing ruby, representing his passion.

The sixteenth centuries luxurious materials, rich heavy stuffs, thick embroideries, sumptuous silks and velvets, as well as fragile lace, provided perfect settings for, or enhanced the wearing of, superb jewellery.

For many it was far more important to have seen Queen Elizabeth 1 (1558 – 1603) in person than to have seen England.

Coronation Portrait Elizabeth 1

At her coronation, which took place on a crisp winter morning with just a hint of snow in the air, ‘she wore her hair as her mother had done, unbraided… hanging loosely about her shoulders’ symbolic of her unmarried state. The congregation in Westminster Abbey went wild with enthusiasm.

She was clothed in a gown made from one of the extraordinary textiles of the time, known as the cloth of gold, holding a bejewelled orb and sceptre her hands as well as the objects being symbols of her authority . Her gown was trimmed with ermine, symbolic of her purity as a Virgin Queen as were the pearls in her crown.

Elizabeth 1 was given a great deal of jewellery as a ‘love gift’, however none more acceptable to her than that from her favourite the Earl of Leicester. She was well aware of what image and marketing, supposed modern concepts, were all about and revelled in the business of courtship, a game at which she excelled. It is evident, from all the writings about her Elizabeth loved the rich gifts of jewels showered upon her as well as the flattery and protestations of the various envoys all striving to outdo each other for her favour.

Elizabeth 1

Baron Zdenek Waldstein of Moravia visited England in the summer of 1600 and prayed for nothing so much as that he ‘might come face to face into the presence of your majesty…the greatest object of my journey ‘the figure of the Queen’ glittering with the glory of majesty and adorned with jewellery and precious gems’.

Erik XIV of Sweden declared he would ‘rush through armies of foes to protect her’ and had a superb portrait of her painted for his personal pleasure. In it, sewn to her very chic red coat and hat are clusters of gems and pearls and the sleeves of the jacket are encrusted with pearls all the way up to the elbows.

Sir Francis Bacon recorded that Elizabeth imagined people … ‘would be diverted by the glitter of her jewels from noticing the decay of her personal attractions’…and surviving contemporary portraits reveal the extent of her ability to influence people’s perceptions of her.

Artists and artisans of the Renaissance in Italy took full possession of their classical heritage and it inspired them toward new creative endeavours.

Bia de Medici (Uffizi, Florence)

The House of Medici was a new type of patron. This prominent banking family was very passionate about the antique and it had the wealth to patronise artists with great creative gifts.

The remaining Treasures of the Medici, although plundered over the centuries were a triumph of the jeweller’s art and for as long as the duchy lasted the creation of beautiful objets d’art was a focus and boast of the Medici Court.

During the Middle Ages Venus had come to represent fear of nudity, luxuria, or sensuality, as well as paganism. During Europe’s rebirth she returned to her original role as universal mother and creator of all living things.

Flemish painter Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) painted her as a contemporary lady and placed her before a mirror, a symbol of truth (it does not lie), which reflects pride (Satan’s image), as well as the two dangers of vanity and lust. Ruben’s Venus is a truly luscious lady wearing, well nothing at all really, except a stunning gold bracelet decorated with arrows.

This is a sign that Cupid, now reduced to a winged youth or chubby infant flying about on golden wings randomly shooting arrows to make his targets fall in love, or setting their hearts on fire with his torch, has been around endeavouring to use the power of love to disarm her strength….continued

This is part one of a four part series.
Love Jewellery – Cupid to Cartier

Read the rest of this series

Author Carolyn McDowall ©The Culture Concept Circle 2010, 2011

Read the 4 Installment Series in Chronological Order

Love Jewellery – Rome to Renaissance

Love Jewellery – Restoration to Revolution

Love Jewellery – Regency to Revival

Love Jewellery – Romantics to Retro

Related posts:

1. Love Jewellery from Cupid to Cartier
2. Love Jewellery – Regency to Revival
3. Love Jewellery – Romantics to Retro

Madame du Pompadour by Francois Boucher

The pleasure of love is in loving*

French painter François Boucher (1703-1770) produced many of the images we have of the enigmatic Jeanne Antoinette, Marquise de Pompadour, Maîtresse-en-titre, or the official Mistress of Louis XV of France. The daughter of a local beauty, Louise-Madeleine de la Motte and her husband François Poisson, Jeanne Antoinette Poisson was born at Paris in 1720. At that time it was really little more than an overgrown village, bearing very little resemblance to the city we know to-day. The narrow streets were noisy and dirty and if it rained you could not walk in the street without getting mud up to your knees. Her father was a jolly fellow and he bore the brunt of all the jokes about their name, which meant fish. A steward to the Paris brothers, who were in charge of the economy of France, he was made the scapegoat in a black market scandal and forced to flee to Germany where he remained in exile for nine years. Her mother, a reputed beauty, was rescued from her misfortunes by M. Le Normant de Tournehem one time ambassador to Sweden, a Director of the Compagnie des Indes, collector of indirect taxes and friend of the Paris brothers.

French Painter Charles-André van Loo - Mme de Pompadour, Actor

Jeanne-Antoinette, together with her brother Abel, was educated by de Tournehem. When she was nine her mother had her fortune told and she learned she was destined to reign over the heart of a king. Following that her family playfully called her Reinette and set about ensuring she received a worldly education under the watchful eye of de Tournehem.  By the time she was in her late teens she could act, dance, sing, recite whole plays by heart and play the clavichord to perfection. She was an enthusiastic gardener and botanist and knew all about the wonderful shrubs pouring into France from all over the globe. Her handwriting was beautiful and legible and she painted, drew and engraved on precious stones. She was last but not least, a superlative housekeeper. Accomplished and beautiful honesty and truth were said to be the mainstays of her character and she was known never to have told a lie. She charmed everyone, her family adored her and her health was the only stumbling block throughout her life as it was very delicate.

Charles Le Normant d'Etiolles

Portrait Marquise de Pompadour by Maurice-Quentin de la Tour

Jeanne Antoinette was exceedingly pretty, although it was her brother Abel who said that not one of her portraits rendered by Boucher was really like her. So she remains to history an enigma in that respect. What we can assume is based on the documented evidence of people who surrounded her and they said she was lovely with eyes that sparkled with life. When her father did finally return from exile the two families of Poisson and Tournehem lived happily together.

In 1741 aged 19 both families agreed to marry Reinette off to Tournehem’s nephew Charles-Guillaume Le Normant d’Étiolles because protocol demanded a mistress of the King was married. Although reticent at first after Charles had met her he fell promptly and madly in love. She promised that she would never leave him, except of course for the King, because she completely believed in her destiny. They were gifted an estate at Étiolles (28km south of Paris) as a wedding gift from her guardian. It was sited on the edge of the forest of Sénart where the king hunted.

Her young husband was infatuated with her and she was celebrated in the fashionable world of Paris. Invitations into the best society were available and she founded her own salon at Étiolles where she met many of the great philosophes. They included writer, essayist and philosopher Voltaire, who noted that she was always amiable, charming and very talented. After many miscarriages and the loss of a son she gave birth to a daughter Alexandrine, who became the light of her life.

At Versailles, where gossip thrived, the King, Louis XV soon knew her name and she set out to make sure he would also know her by sight. Louis XV’s hunting lodge was called Choisy, where he went for privacy and fun.  Although the bourgeouis were not allowed to ride in his hunt, the rule was relaxed for near neighbours so they could follow the hunt in their carriages. Reinette not content with riding behind the hunt instead reputedly drove across the path of the king a vision of loveliness and outrageously for a lady,  standing up dressed in pink while driving a blue phaeton or, the next day dressed in blue while driving a pink one.

The strategy worked because the King did not fail to notice her. His present mistress also noticed and she was warned away. However fate was on her side and took a hand when the current mistress died suddenly. The gossip about who would replace her was rife at court and the King, it was rumoured, was bored with temperamental aristocratic ladies.

Tapestry depicting the Ball of the Yew Trees in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles

In February 1745 the Dauphin of France married the Infanta Marie Therese Raphaele of Spain. At a splendid ball in their honour everyone waited for the King to appear when out of his apartment trundled eight people dressed as eight yew trees clipped like those in the garden in the shape of pillars with vases on them.

Louis XV was disguised as one of the yew trees, having fun and travelling incognito.  However during the course of the evening he was reputedly seen unmasked laughing happily with Reinette who was dressed as Diana the Huntress. Bets were quickly laid as to when, if, or when he would bring her to Versailles as his mistress.

The official King’s mistress had enormous power at court.

No one would believe a member of the bourgeouise, as Reinette was, would learn all of its political intricacies, which relied on not only words and deeds but also stifling rituals. But carry it off she did in great style and it was reported that when her husband was told he fainted dead away, but she was never to return to him and he became very bitter towards her.

Jeanne Antoinette as Diana the Huntress

Versailles in the eighteenth century was a pleasure palace and the stiff formality of Louis XIV’s court had given way to an atmosphere of informality.

The great monument to Louis XIV still radiated cheerfulness but life was for pleasure and most particularly for being in, and making love, for gambling, hunting and other official entertainments.

Red morocco binding with Madame de Pompadour's arms.

Love just like everything else was subjected to man made rules, and the game always had to be played according to the rules.

Louis endowed Reinette with the title Marquise de Pompadour and gave her the title deeds to an estate of this name bearing her own coat of arms – three castles on an azure ground.

Pompadour rhymed with amour so her happiness was complete.

She was installed in private apartments at Versailles (recently restored) and began her reign of nearly twenty years.

Her life was about organising his life, which meant it had to revolve around pleasure and she was very happy with him. A private staircase led from his apartments to hers, which was always filled with people, animals, birds, pictures and curiosities of all sorts, stunning small pieces of furniture, plans, lively sketches, maps, her beautiful embroidery, her letters, her cosmetics and with the flowers she loved.  Her vast library contained 3,525 volumes  all bound in leather and gilt with her coat of arms.

He was enchanted, bewitched and fell completely in love.

Snuff Box Mme de Pompadour

This gold and enamel, chiselled, chased and engraved snuff box was made 1764-1765 by Louis-Philippe Demay (active 1758-1772) Goldsmith. It shows miniatures of two paintings by Boucher, which Madame de Pompadour commissioned for herself. On the top is L’Amour désarmé where Cupid implores Venus to return his bow and arrow, and on the bottom the Toilette de Vénus, which she hung in her bathroom. The latter was not even available in engraved form when this box was made, suggesting that either she, before her death in 1764, or her brother on inheriting the two paintings, commissioned this box from Demay.

Jeanne Antoinette loved to acquire houses and then expend energy, taste and knowledge on embellishing them.

The hermitage at Versailles was a rustic one storied pavilion with a wonderful garden arranged for scent so that one heavenly smell led to another. She had fifty orange trees, lemons oleanders, myrtle, jasmine , gardenias and tuberoses, olives, yellow jasmine and lilac from Judea, pomegranates in straight avenues with trellised palisades leading to bower of roses surrounding a marble Apollo.

The interiors were simply decorated with hangings of cotton and simple furniture of painted wood. The King would pretend he was going hunting leaving the palace booted and spurred and spend the whole day there with her, sometimes cooking supper for himself. She had a farmyard with cows, goats, hens and a donkey, supplying milk for her weak constitution.

Marquise de Pompadour by Francois Boucher

She had to be dressed, as though for a ball by eight each morning then attend mass in an unheated chapel, and during the day she would not have one moment to herself.

She was very proud of the nape of her neck and had Francois Boucher record it in what is probably the most stunning painting we have of her in her apartment, wearing her most beautiful sea green silk dress trimmed with copious pink roses.

Reinette paid court to the Queen, received a succession of visitors, handwriting sometimes as many as sixty letters a week and arranging and presiding over supper parties nearly every night. She loved music and enjoyed entertaining Louis and their intimate friends

At least once a week she would arrange a voyage of one or two nights and hold a party to entertain guests in houses often filled with workmen where improvements or landscape gardening was in progress and needed her supervision, and it often proved too much for her delicate constitution.

The Duc de Richelieu, First Gentleman of the Bedchamber organized the palace entertainments, which hardly varied for fifty years, so it was to the Marquise Louis looked to for light relief from the tedium of his life and she did not disappoint him, often organising her own private theatricals. The rigours of her day imposed a great strain on her health as she was seldom in bed before two or three in the morning. All the houses she furnished and embellished for the King had a perfection of taste with a great attention to detail and accounts survive attesting to that fact.

Painted decoration by Christopher Huet

The only original painted decoration surviving today of hers is at the Chateau de Champs – Sur – Marne. The decorations she put in place cost 200,000 livres in a matter of three years the works probably designed by her personal architect Jean Cailleteau (l’Assurance) as in all of her residences, she had a profound influence on style. These panels were painted with beautiful arabesque work by Christopher Huet, the last work he did before he died.

Mme du Pompadour's Chateau Bellevue, recorded in a design for an overdoor by Van Loo

The only house of any size Reinette built for herself was her Chateau Bellevue. Contemporarily it was described as the most perfect example of French domestic architecture.

Designed and built for her under the supervision of  Jean Cailleteau (l’Assurance), who had studied at Rome, by order of the King it had nine windows on the front overlooking the river; marble busts decorated its simple facade, which was classically inspired and embellished with delicate refined rococo decoration.

Inside were sculptures and vases by Pigalle, Valconnet and Adam, the panelling was by Verberckt with superb painted decorations by Van Loo and Boucher.

The walls of her rooms were either bluish white and gold or painted in bright pastel colours by members of the famous Martin family. (vernis martin). She had Van Loo paint four images representing the arts; of architecture, of painting, of music, of sculpture, all of which were used as overdoors.

The garden at Bellevue was a dream of beauty, filled with china flowers that had come from the porcelain factory at Vincennes and smelt like real roses and the King was very taken with them.

The King also gave her the village of Sevres, which was just below her house at Bellevue,  She installed the china factory, which was transferred from Vincennes so she could have it under her own eye and direction.

Collection Sevres Porcelain - Rose Pompadour Ground Images by Boucher

Here it prospered greatly, and many great artists and sculptors of the day worked hard under her guidance.

The wonderful colours, Rose Pompadour, Bleu du Roi, Gros Bleu, Yellow and Apple green were invented; the shapes were original reminiscent of silver, with delicate biscuit figures by Pajou, Pigalle, Falconnet, Caffierie and so on and have indeed never been surpassed.

To French taste the products from Sevres porcelain factory were far superior to those at the German factory of Meissen.

Once a year a china sale was held at Versailles and in a room in the Kings apartments, where he would often act as salesmen.  Any bought during the period have proved an incredible investment.

The Marquise loved to engrave precious stones. This charming craft has left us with a record of their life together and are now housed in the Bibliotheque Nationale at Paris where there are seventy of them altogether.

Jean Marc Nattier 1748

Boucher was official painter to Madame Pompadour, Van Loo official painter to the court and she looked after the artists that enjoyed her patronage and saw they were always paid and for that alone they adored her.

From the moment of her arrival she directed and inspired everyone untiring in her efforts and quest for perfection and the result was that the arts reached a high point of excellence and beauty under her direct influence. For a long time she had unlimited credit as the King was happy to indulge her.

He now shared her love for beautiful objects and they were a hobby he could enjoy and discuss in safety.

Secrétaire à cylindre de Louis XV

His rooms were constantly altered and decorated and his visits to her rooms were exciting because there was always some new project on hand, with designs awaiting his approval, and things for him to purchase if he liked them.

Her love of reading influenced Louis and his library in Versailles contained what has become the most famous piece of furniture in the world, his desk. The Bureau du Roi was started c1760 by Jean-François Oeben master cabinet maker of the royal arsenal and finished in 1769 by his successor, Jean Henri Riesener. Covered with intricate marquetry

Jeanne Antoinette knew stories to amuse him and they read the press together; she recited speeches by heart giving him an interest in the theatre in short she turned the dull boring life of the court into one long source of happiness the only sad side was sexual.

Louis XV, the well beloved

Her health could not endure the continual love making which all the Bourbons seemed more than capable of, as it exhausted her. He is said to have ascended the stairs to her apartment sometimes nine times a day.

She worried herself sick with the thought that he would leave her and the death of her daughter at the age of ten was a crushing blow from which she never fully recovered. She had many miscarriages trying to give Louis a child eventually destroying her health, and although he finally drifted away from her bed they remained strong friends and he visited her daily.

He took other mistresses like the notorious Irish Louise O’ Murphy also immortalised by Boucher. However he always discussed everything with Reinette and her greatest faux paux was involving herself in politics, which earned her the hatred of the people,  the scorn of her enemies and many of the unpopular actions of the day were laid at her door.

Jeanne Antoinette and Abel, her brother discussing classical architecture

Mme de Pompadour realized a decorative style change relating to societal change from the frivolity of the rococo to the quiet elegance of neo classical architecture was inevitable and in 1749 when her brother Abel Poisson, the Marquis de Marigny left on a Grand Tour to Italy she gave him strict instructions to study classical ruins. She wanted to prepare him to take over the post of Directeur et Ordonnateur Général des Batiments, Jardins, Arts, Académies et Manufactures Royales, which he did in 1751 at the age of 25 and the department flourished under his management.

Louis XV chose architect Jacques Ange Gabriel (1698-1782), whom he had made Premier architect du Roi in 1742 to design the Petit Trianon in the grounds of Versailles. It was a building that broke right away from traditions established under the baroque and by way of contrast was a simple, prism with unbroken horizontal elements, relying completely on subtlety and restraint rather than a grand manner or effect.

Louis built it as a pleasure palace for himself and his favourite mistress, however death would intervene before it was completed.

Near the end...at her embroidery frame...by François-Hubert Drouais

In 1764 after an illness at Choisy the King brought Reinette back to Versailles where she made her will. He hardly left her room during her last days and not one word of complaint passed her lips. On Palm Sunday while the King was at church she sent for her priest and after hearing her confession he made to move toward the door. She is said to have called to him and said; ‘One moment M. le Cure we’ll go together’ and she died.

She was only 44 and the protocol of the court said that he could not attend her funeral. As the procession left for Paris the King reputedly stood on the balcony without coat or hat in a bitter wind until she was out of sight. It is said that tears poured down his cheeks. That is the only tribute I can pay her he was reputed to have said and, after she had gone a very great dullness fell upon the Chateau of Versailles.

The sale of her objects filled many houses to overflowing, furniture, china, statues, pictures, books, plants, jewels, linen, silver, carriages, horses, yards and yards of stuff, trunks full of dresses, cellars full of wine, over 3000 lots very few of which contained less than a dozen objects, and took two lawyers a year to record

Her books testified to her wide reading interests from the classics to French poetry, popular novels, fairy stories,  history, biographies, music, philosophy and the lives of famous writers. She had been a woman of influence and one of very great style.

Carolyn McDowall, 2010, 2011 ©The Culture Concept Circle

*Francois de la Rochefoucauld (1613-80)

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Costume is all about who we are, where we have been and, where we are going. Today it has become almost impossible for us to make a distinction between styles that will last, trends that will grow and the passing fancies of any season. However costume is, and remains an important footnote to culture. It is both a changing and eternal form of human expression.

In the English series Downton Abbey, which we reviewed, the costumes for both men and women are truly superb. This series is the most expensive English television series ever made and a spokeswoman for the show has confirmed that about half of the costumes on screen were hired because producing everyone from scratch would have made the production ‘totally unaffordable’

Gowns and accessories from the likes of the 2007 movie A Room With A View and the 2004 film Finding Neverland were recycled for the television series, although their use didn’t escape the notice of attentive viewers who wrote to the Daily Mail.

For The King’s Speech many of the costumes were sourced by the costumer through a London prophouse. Both are wonderfully appropriate for the eras in which they are set.

The first series of Downton Abbey, is set in the years 1912 – 1914 during the last gasp of the ‘halcyon days’ from the assassination of the Archduke Ferdinand to the announcement of the advent of World War One. The costumes the distinguished group of actors are wearing are aligned in style with the reign of Edward VII (1901 – 1910), known as the Edwardian era, which was all about refined elegance.

The clothes the girls are wearing are totally associated with the hour glass sillhouette for women, in the days when bone crunching stays were laced tight to achieve it. Many a lady expired on the drawing room floor after dinner unable to breathe.

There is one delicious scene where the youngest daughter Sybil arrives in the drawing room, having kept everyone waiting to have dinner, wearing no stays at all and a new outfit she has designed herself. It has a fabulous set of harem pants with a lace trimmed top with a bejewelled sensational headband to match.

It reflects the arrival of a newfound freedom for women, that would not really take hold until well after the war in England when women finally attained the right vote from 1918, although with conditions of age and property ownership. (Interestingly the first country to grant women the right to vote was New Zealand in 1893).

Sybil’s grandmother is deliciously played by veteran award winning actor Maggie Smith wearing glorious lace trimmed linen garments with pearls, and she is clearly shocked by such a vulgar display. Women wearing pants! What was the world coming to. The first world war would profoundly change the role of women completely in society and the costume they wore. Especially those sensational hats, worn so wonderfully well by Elizabeth McGovern as the Countess of Grantham. During the years of conflict with men at the front, women were forced to drive ambulances, work in the fields or factories, farms or offices and constricting bodices, long skirts and elaborate hairstyles were abandoned in favour of the far more practical and functional shorter dressers and cropped hairstyles. It enabled women to perform their newfound duties with far greater freedom. It is a time when egalitarian ideals were triumphing over aristocratic habits and the automobile replacing the horse was also changing people’s aspirations and ways of life.

The King’s Speech is set in the years leading up to World War II. Bertie wears his military uniforms with quiet dashing style, or joins the rest of their men clinging to impeccably tailored suits. These had been brought into vogue by King Edward when he was a dashing young man on the European fashionable scene. They are still going over a hundred years later, the longest period men have ever stuck to one sort of outfit.

Helena Bonham Carter as Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon leads the ladies brigade, proving her frugality by wearing very simple dresses with pearls, the only lavish detail are her fur trimmed hats and coats when outdoors.

Fashion is a worthy medium for artistic expression. It allows us to creatively communicate our ideas about who we are culturally, what we stand for socially, while reflecting how we embrace change.

Carolyn McDowall, The Culture Concept Circle 2011 – 2012

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