How to carry your wife Jesper
Enjoyed what was probably the last warm day of the year!
I’m not blind to my own credibility; I just know that when it comes to politics, I do not carry much weight in the king’s mind. Would it be prudent of me to make scenes with his minister over things about which the king would almost certainly not support me? Without making a show of it or lying, I let the public believe that I have more credit than I actually have, because I would have even less if I didn’t [do so]…
–Marie Antoinette to Joseph II, September 22 1784 [translation: Mary Hudson, The Indomitable Marie Antoinette (S. Bertiere)]
You have no doubt been informed that I have accepted the Constitution, and you know the reasons that I gave to the Assembly, but these must not suffice for you; I wish to make known to you all my motives. The state of France is such that she is on the verge of complete dissolution, which will only be hastened if one wishes to bring violent remedies to bear on the ills that overwhelm her. … Divisions must be made to cease and authority re-established, but for this purpose only two means are possible–union or force.
Force can only be employed by foreign armies, and this means having recourse to war. … Is not the remedy worse than the disease? I have therefore concluded that this idea must be abandoned, and I must try the only other means left to me–the union of my will with the principles of the Constitution. .
.. Will it ever be believed that my brothers do not carry out my orders? Thus you will show me to the nation as accepting [the new Constitution] with one hand and soliciting foreign powers with the other. What upright man could respect such conduct, and do you think to help me by depriving me of the esteem of all right thinking people?
–Louis XVI in a letter written to his brothers after his acceptance of the Constitution of 1791; his brothers, against his orders, were participating in the efforts to create emigre and foreign armies, while also publicly stating that Louis XVI did not accept the Constitution.
Portrait of Princess Polina Shcherbatova, 1911, Valentin Serov
Medium: charcoal,pastel,canvas,tempera
https://www.wikiart.org/en/valentin-serov/portrait-of-princess-polina-shcherbatova-1911
Behind the scenes shot of Kirsten Dunst and Jason Schwartzman as Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI, from what’s likely an un-used promotional shoot from the movie.
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