The Private Realm of Marie Antoinette

by :  Marie-France Boyer (Author), Francois Halard (Author, Photographer)

This book turns aside from the official portraits and the great historical events to rediscover the private places and objects that reflect Marie Antoinette's personality and reveal her more directly to our modern gaze. In retreat from the stifling protocol of the French court and in pursuit of her own tastes (influenced by her free and happy childhood in the Austrian court), Marie Antoinette created her own personal domain - and cultivated a new royal 'style'. At Rambouillet, Versailles and Fontainebleau, her apartments, her pavilions, cottages and dairies set in 'rustic' landscapes, were exquisitely designed and furnished by the most gifted artists and craftsmen, among them the cabinet-makers Riesener and Sene, and the architect Miqu