Rococo Lady at The Ball

Country: Spain

Manufactory: Lladro

Date of establishment: 2009

Sculptor: Alfredo Llorens

Size (cm): 31*25

Porcelain Story

Many people are familiar with the expression "After us, the deluge". But not many people know to whom this phrase, which is often used in literature and in everyday life, is attributed. Historians describe how the phrase was first uttered by an official favourite of Louis XV after he had received a report from the front that the French forces had suffered a crushing defeat at Rosbach during the Seven Years' War. The Marquise de Pompadour, who was the king's official favourite at the time, was able to find a way to the king's heart, not only in matters of war. Despite her youth, but with all the influence she could muster, she meddled in all the most important affairs of state. Describing the years of the reign of Louis XV, historians have called the king a worthless, lazy and dissolute, not once stressing that the country at this time actually ruled the energetic Madame de Pompadour.

But at first Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson, daughter of the unlucky financial speculator Fran?ois Poisson, was not all smooth sailing. The father of the future Madame de Pompadour was forced to flee France. Stepfather also chose as a groom for a beautiful and by that time already educated enough girl to his nephew, with whom she soon married in St. Eustathius Church in Paris.

The beauty and lively mind of the young seductress, who had little interest in her husband and spent most of her time in the society of brilliant youth, quickly made her highly visible in Paris. Voltaire himself sought her out. The banker Joseph Parry, who was her guardian, was keen to promote her, and found an opportunity to introduce the beauty to the king himself. Louis had not long before parted ways with his favourite, the Duchesse de Ch?teauroux. And meeting the charming Jeanne Antoinette came at the right time. She soon became the king's official favourite and moved to Versailles. Her rooms were located just above the royal chambers and were connected to them by a secret staircase. Louis gave his favourite the 6 hectares of the Versailles Park, as well as the Pompadour estate in the Limousin region. The latter gift was also accompanied by the title of Marquise.

No appointment to high government posts henceforth passed the Marquise. She appointed ministers, oversaw the building of new palaces, and patronised writers and artists. The French budget for the luxurious life of a royal favorite for 20 years of her stay at court has cost a fantastic sum of 350 035 livres. And that's just the minimum estimate.

Madame de Pompadour is also interesting because, as a patron of the arts, she was personally involved in setting up the first French porcelain manufactories.

The Marquise de Pompadour's favourite style was rococo. Her name was given to the high female hairstyle and fashionable at the time of the furnishings in expensive flats and architectural style of some buildings. She was such an extraordinary woman, Madame de Pompadour.