Nattier made flattering
representations of all of them, sometimes in the costume of
mythological characters. Both Nattier and the great La Tour portrayed
Marie Leczinska, the mother of Louis XV's ten children. Nattier's
likeness shows a smiling, matronly lady with sweet-tempered brown eyes,
seated in a chair, the face softened by a frill and a black lace scarf.
Many of the portraits at Versailles painted by Charles Lebrun, Madame
Vigee Lebrun, Jean-Baptiste and Michel Vanloo, Boucher, Largilliere,
Pierre Mignard, Rigaud, are familiar to us through frequent
reproduction.
In the years following the inauguration of the National Museum,
Versailles was once again the scene of ostentatious fetes in the halls,
gardens and splendid Opera House. When Louis Napoleon succeeded Louis
Philippe as head of the French nation, he came to Versailles with his
bride of three days, the beautiful Eugenie, to see the portraits of
Marie Antoinette, for whom the young Empress cherished a special
admiration.
On an August night in 1855, "the grand court of the chateau shone with
a brilliance resembling day. The profile of the great edifice was
outlined in small lights. In the gardens, arches and columns were
raised and the fountains showered rainbow torrents. The Hall of
Mirrors presented a spectacle whose splendor recalled nights when Louis
XIV strolled here in brocade and ruffles. Garlands hung from the
ceiling, thousands of lights reproduced themselves in the lofty mirrors
and shed scintillating floods upon the handsome costumes of the invited
ones.
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