The Hameau de la Reine part 2

The Queens garden in the back of the Queens house. All of the cottages have gardens planted in the back.

This is part two of a series of post about the fabulous Hameau de la Reine on the grounds of Versailles. Today I’m taking you back to the 18^th century to the House and Hamlet of the Queen. As I said in the earlier post  Marie Antoinette was better suited  as a bourgeois house wife instead of a Queen. Marie Antoinette was happiest at the Hameau compared to the stuffy court of Versailles.  It was at her lovely Hameau that she played this role well. Away from the peering eyes at Versailles where her every move was watched, her every word was heard and often taking out of context, and used against her. At Versailles Marie Antoinette had to eat in public, dress in public even wakeup in public. Eyes always watching her. On the grounds of her Petit Trianon and the Hameau Marie Antoinette could be her self.  

The interior of the Grand Salon in the Queens house. Not open to the public because of the condition of the building. I was fortunate to go inside of the Queens house some years ago with the Marie Antoinette Association. It is since being restored. This room was original hung with wool tapestries in the Swiss style.  

A 1920 photo of the Queens Grand Salon shows the early 19^th century Empire decorated painted paneling done over by Marie Antoinette’s niece and Napoleons 2th wife Marie-Louise of Austria   

 

The Queen's House. The banisters of the staircases, galleries and balconies were adorned with blue and white earthenware pots of Saint-Clement containing hyacinths, quarantaine flowers, wallflowers or geraniums.

By Order of the Queen guests at her estate were instructed not to stop talking and not to rise from their seats when their Sovereign entered the room.

Etiquette ruled Versailles but the Saint of the Petit Trianon and the Hameau was the free thinking Enlightenment of Rousseau!  She was fascinated by Rousseau's "back to nature" philosophy, as well as the culture of the Incas of Peru and their worship of the sun, about which she had books in her library. The place was completely enclosed by fences and walls, and only intimates of the Queen were allowed to access it. Marie Antoinette was the only Queen to impose her personal taste on Versailles, sweeping away the old court and its ancient traditions.  Marie Antoinette dressed her children in a relaxed modern fashion. At the time the clothing of the children of the aristocracy resembled that of there parents in almost every detail. Marie Antoinette outfitted Madame Royale in the sample free flowing muslin gaulles that she had made popular herself.  The young princes in sailor suits.

To the left, another building housing the billiard room is connected to the Queen's house by a wooden gallery decorated with trellises and twelve hundred St. Clement faience pots, marked in the blue figures of the Queen.

Louise Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun, Marie Antoinette à la Rose, 1783.

Dauphin Louis Joseph Xavier of France in a Sailor suit

Built between 1783-1787 in a pretty spot not far from the Petit Trianon. Marie Antoinette’s village the Hameau was a place where Marie Antoinette and her family could have a type of free lifestyle in nature among the perfumed fields of wild flowers. Flocks of sheep & cows. The could feed the birds in the dovecote and henhouse and eat freshly picked cherries and strawberries from the gardens behind the cottages and drink fresh milk from Royal Sevres porcelain cups supposedly  molded from the Queens own breasts.

A niche de chien for the the Queen's dog to keep snug and warm on a cold rainy day. It was made by Claude Sené.

The Queen's house and billiard room

 The twelve cottages constructed in the hamlet can be divided into two groups: five were reserved for use by the Queen; the other seven had a functional purpose and were used effectively for agriculture. Marie Antoinette had her own house, connected to the pool. Nearby was her boudoir. The mill and the dairy received frequent visits from the Queen. To set the desired tone of humbled poverty to the Village. The painters Tolede and Dardignac decorated the dozen little houses with painted imitation cracks, splits and false half-timbering and bricks and rotten wood painted on to the exterior stucco.  Nine of the original 12 buildings are still standing today

The Queen's house and billiard room

The Queen's house and billiard room is located in the centre of the hamlet. Consisting of two floors, the upper level comprises the petit salon, also known as the "room of the nobles", an anteroom in the form of a "Chinese cabinet" and the large living room with wood paneling hung with tapestries of Swiss style in embroidered wool. From the room's six windows, the Queen could easily control the work fields and activity of the hamlet. Access is via the staircase of the round tower. At the center of the room is a harpsichord which Marie Antoinette loved to play. On the ground floor, paved with single slabs of stone, the building includes a backgammon room and a dining room. The lyre-backed chairs in mahogany lined with green morocco, were created by Georges Jacob. To the left, another building housing the billiard room is connected to the Queen's house by a wooden gallery decorated with trellises and twelve hundred St. Clement faience pots, marked in the blue figures of the Queen. Upstairs, a small apartment which seems to have been inhabited by the architect Richard Mique, has five rooms including a library. Despite the rustic appearance of facades, the interior finish and furnishings are luxurious and have been created by the carpenter Georges Jacob and the ébéniste Jean-Henri Riesener.

The Queen's house and billiard room

If you click on this photo you can see the detail of the painters Tolede and Dardignac. They decorated the dozen little houses with painted imitation cracks, splits, blocks of stone and false half-timbering and bricks and rotten wood painted on to the exterior stucco.

The Queens garden in the back of the Queens house. All of the cottages have gardens planted in the back.

The Queens garden in the back of the Queens house. All of the cottages have gardens planted in the back.

Each building is decorated with a garden, an orchard or a flower garden.

Portrait of Marie Antoinette in hunting attire (a favorite of her mother), by Joseph Krantzinger (1771), Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.

The Queens garden in the back of the Queens house. All of the cottages have gardens planted in the back.

The Queen's house and billiard room

If you click on this photo you can see the detail of the painters Tolede and Dardignac. They decorated the dozen little houses with painted imitation cracks, splits, blocks of stone and false half-timbering and bricks and rotten wood painted on to the exterior stucco.

The Queen's house and billiard room

If you click on this photo you can see the detail of the painters Tolede and Dardignac. They decorated the dozen little houses with painted imitation cracks, splits, blocks of stone and false half-timbering and bricks and rotten wood painted on to the exterior stucco.

Dauphin Louis Joseph Xavier of France in a Sailor suit

Louise Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun, Princess Marie Thérèse Charlotte of France, Madame Royale, and her younger brother Louis Joseph Xavier of France, Dauphin of France, 1784.

The Mill, built and fitted from 1783 to 1788, was never used for grinding grain, contrary to what is often argued. The wheel is driven by a stream derived from the Grand Lake and is only a decorative element. No mechanism or wheel were installed in the factory. The interior decoration was simple and neat.

If you click on this photo you can see the detail of the painters Tolede and Dardignac. They decorated the dozen little houses with painted imitation cracks, splits, blocks of stone and false half-timbering and bricks and rotten wood painted on to the exterior stucco.

Louise Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun, Marie Antoinette in a rustic robe à la polonaise, vers 1780-1785.

The Polonaise style dress made famous by Marie Antoinette had a much higher hemline that that of the robes worn at court. It exposed the wearer’s feet and ankles; a feature that allowed for more freedom on romps through Trianon’s rolling fields.

The Hameau of the Queen contained a meadowland with lakes and streams, a classical Temple of Love on an island with fragrant shrubs and flowers

A part hosted by the Queen in 1777 to celebrate the completion of the Temple of Love cost 400,000 livres. Marie Antoinette had built a temporarily constructed village & square that had fairgrounds and marketplace supplied with food and drink stands. Drinks were poured by ladies of the court, while Marie Antoinette served lemonade. At night 2,300 lanterns glowed from the gardens. The Royal Guard dressed in Chinese costume  played music for dancing.

The statue of Cupid fashioning a bow from Hercules' club under the dome of the Temple of Love

"Cupid carving his bow from the club of Hercules" after the original by Edmé Bouchardon 1750 (Louvre) or the copy by Laurent Guiard 1786

Cupid carving his bow from the club of Hercules

Cupid carving his bow from the club of Hercules

Count Axel von Fersen close friend to Marie Antoinette & Frequent guest of the Petit Trianon and the Hameau

Lock of Marie Antoinette's hair

Marie Antoinette in 'gaulle,' a simple muslin dress

One of Marie Antoinette’s favorite dresses to ware at the Trianon and Hameau was a white muslin shift known as the gaulle. This dress was copied by Bertin Marie Antoinette’s dressmaker from the Creoles and the French colonialists wives fashion as they were not able to wear silk in the Caribbean heat.

This simple white dress has a ruffled neckline with puffy sleeves held up by colorful ribbon and a wide ribbon sash at the waist. Toped by a white bonnet of wide brimmed strawhat.

Louis Joseph Xavier François, Dauphin de France by Adolph-Ulrich Wertmuller in Sailor suit

The Queen's hamlet seen from the Tour de Marlborough

Tour de Marlborough 1809 by French artist John Claude Nattes

The Petit Trianon

One primary purpose of the hameau was to add to the ambiance of the Petit Trianon, giving the illusion that it was deep in the countryside rather than within the confines of Versailles.

The Hameau of the Queen contained a meadowland with lakes and streams, a classical Temple of Love on an island with fragrant shrubs and flowers

The rose is the Traditional Hapsburg symbol

Louise Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun, Marie Antoinette, 1785.

Not far from the Hameau is Marie Antoinette’s Grotto also known as the “Queens Rock”

Marie Antoinette was in this Grotto in 1789 reading when she got word that the mob from Paris was approaching Versailles. She would leave the grounds of the Hameau never to return.

Inside of the Grotto also known as the “Queens Rock” was a place to sit carved into the stone. The place where Marie Antoinette was reading a book when she heard news of the mob approaching Versailles. { I have photo’s of me sitting here} Inside of this small man-made Grotto there are openings where one can look out and not be seen, theses natural looking openings in the rock allows fresh air to flow in as well as sunlight. A waterfall within keeps the mossy interior cool during the Summer months.   

The place where Marie Antoinette was reading a book when she heard news of the mob approaching Versailles.  

Marie Antoinette miniature by Francois Dumont