Louis XV Research Articles

Educating Midwives with the World's First Simulator: Madame du Coudray's Eighteenth Century Mannequin

Madam Angelique Marguerite du Coudray (b.1712-d.1769) taught 10,000 midwifery students in 70 cities and towns in France at the command of Kings Louis XV and Louis XVI of France. Her goal was to reduce the high rates of infant mortality in France through careful teaching of the technical, ethical and moral aspects of midwifery to young women around the country. Her course of study included 40 lessons over two months. To enhance her teaching she developed an obstetrical mannequin and wrote six editions of a textbook. Her first mannequin was highly accurate in its anatomical measurements and had many pieces that allowed the student midwife (or physician) to practice normal birth, breech births, complicated births and births at different gestational ages. One of these mannequins is on view at Musée Flaubert et d'histoire de la medicine in Rouen, France. This remarkable midwife leaves an important legacy.

Atlantic Patriotism: The Seven Years' War and the Transformation of American, British, and French Political Culture

Abstract: The Seven Years' War worked as a catalyst of mutations already present before the hostilities. The case is particularly palpable when we consider the transformation of American, British, and French political culture between 1756 and 1763. In America, William Pitt's colonial policy based on partnership led after the peace to a huge disappointment in America and a growing tension with London. Eventually, it paved the way for the revolt of the Sons of Liberty. In Great Britain, the ideological and political consequences of the war were no less dramatic. Pitt's patriot policy, which was in many respects a mirror of the colonists' political culture based on the same republican principles, brought a decisive contribution to the birth of radicalism after the peace. Last but not least, French political culture was deeply affected by the conflict. A new conception of the political role of the French people emerged during the war, leading to the transformation of the subjects of Louis XV into self-proclaimed citizens willing to offer spontaneously their services for the common weal.

A Comparative Aesthetics Analysis on Song Dynasty Lacquer Dish in the Form of Plum Blossoms with a Red-brushed Pattern of Two Phoenixes

The Chinese artcraft in Song and Ming Dynasty set a standard that is understood as both unique and influential. Through comparative research, the lacquered Artcraft in East Asia and Europe would provide a holistic view of how Chinese lacquer art craft transferred through dynasties. Two Chinese crafts, Ming Yongle red-painted tea flower round plate and the Song dynasty Lacquer dish in the form of plum blossoms with a red-brushed pattern of two phoenixes are illustrated. It then presents a gilt-bronze inlaid lacquer vessel from France in the reign of Louis XV, made by the Japanese and European Lacquer Bureau, and one can see the great difference between it and the two previous ones made in China. It is inlaid on the top surface with figures, carriages, and horses, as well as with figures of mountains, rocks, and trees, with most of the figures concentrated on the left side, while the right side is left relatively empty of white space. It is argued that from several aspects, the comparison is worthwhile.

Neither Duchess of Burgundy nor Archduchess of Austria, but Princess of Asturias: Louis XV of France and the Marriage of his Granddaughter Marie-Louise of Parma

This article analyses the behaviour and interference of Louis XV of France in the face of a possible marriage between his granddaughter, Marie-Louise of Parma, and the Archduke Joseph of Austria, heir to the Empress Maria Theresa. The aim is to discern whether the moral arguments put forward by the French monarch were merely a political excuse to avoid this union or if the fears he expressed were genuine. Other cases of royal marriages prior to this one are examined in order to assess this question, as is the extent to which the sovereign used his role as head of the House of Bourbon to impose his will. The negotiation of the engagement of the princess of Parma reveals how dynastic interests still had a strong presence in eighteenth-century Europe, at a time when the ‘national interest’ prevailed as the dominant political element.

Le Maréchal-duc de Richelieu, l’héritier du cardinal, un homme de pouvoir et de guerre au Siècle des Lumières. Par Émilie Champion

Louis-François-Armand Du Plessis was born in 1696. He was lucky. Not merely was he born into a powerful court dynasty at Versailles, but he was set to inherit two dukedoms and a peerage, and vast estates scattered throughout Aquitaine and the Loire Valley. His family was not as ancient as other court dynasties, but as relatives of Louis XIII’s principal minister and great favourite Cardinal Richelieu they remained a force to be reckoned with in the kingdom. Even so, his father’s gambling debts had jeopardized the family’s finances and forced the sale of some important court offices. On first regard the third duke, with a legendary reputation as a debauched womanizer and best friend of Louis XV, seems neither a sympathetic figure nor a particularly promising life to chronicle. Yet he was to rescue the family’s fortunes and reverse the decline. Émilie Champion, in her sumptuously researched ‘total’ biography, demonstrates that the third duke was a meticulous and shrewd manager of his estates. Indeed, he cherished the large vineyards on his Fronsac fiefs and became something of a representative for French wines, especially great clarets, throughout Europe. Still, he was driven by his friendship with Louis XV and his unrestrained political ambition. He was a soldier by vocation, whose defence of Genoa and the Siege of British Minorca gained him the coveted title of Marshal of France. Despite this his troops were ill disciplined during the 1757 Hanover campaign, pillaging everything in sight and failing to come to the Prince de Soubise’s aid during the disastrous Battle of Rossbach. Such behaviour gained him a decidedly mixed reputation as a commander.

Francisco Mendes de Goes: a diplomatic agent among embroiderers and tailors at the court of Louis XV

Resumo: Em 1726 Francisco Mendes de Goes foi nomeado agente na corte parisiense por dom João V para desempenhar a função de encomendeiro do rei, sendo atribuída a missão de gestor das encomendas feitas pela família real. Utilizaremos, neste artigo, dois conjuntos documentais que acabam por revelar a atribulada estadia de Mendes de Goes. As cartas enviadas ao cardeal da Mota revelam as dificuldades enfrentadas para conseguir responder ao volume de encomendas vindas da monarquia portuguesa. O outro conjunto documental revela que também membros da aristocracia portuguesa sobrecarregaram o agente com encomendas pessoais. Neste conjunto documental o teor das encomendas permite-nos vislumbrar aspetos da cultura material, assim como as relações de sociabilidade estabelecidas por Mendes de Goes. Ambos revelam novas facetas da carreira diplomática que, até então, têm sido pouco exploradas na história da diplomacia.

Circé: cantata for soprano, flutes, strings, and basso continuo by Collin de Blamont, and: Première suite de pièces de clavecin by Gabriel Dubuisson

Reviewed by: Circé: cantata for soprano, flutes, strings, and basso continuoby Collin de Blamont, and: Première suite de pièces de clavecinby Gabriel Dubuisson Devin Burke Collin de Blamont. Circé: cantata for soprano, flutes, strings, and basso continuo. Edited by Graham Sadler. Versailles: Centre de musique baroque de Versailles, 2020. [Intro., p. 3– 12; text and trans., p. 13– 14; score, p. 15– 48; critical notes, p. 49– 51. ISMN 979-0-560-16299-7. $33.] Gabriel Dubuisson. Première suite de pièces de clavecin. Edited by Louis Caste-lain. Introduction by Gaëtan Naulleau. Versailles: Centre de musique baroque de Versailles, 2020. [Intro., p. 3– 14; score, p. 15– 33; critical notes, p. 34. ISMN 979-0-560-16305-5. $30.] This year marks the thirty-fifth anniversary of the founding of the Centre de Musique Baroque Versailles (CMBV). Vincent Berthier de Lioncourt and Philippe Beaussant established the CMBV in 1987 in the wake of the early music revival, and since then the center has become indispensable to both scholars and performers of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century French music. The two editions reviewed here represent a sampling of recent publications from the CMBV's editions catalog, which includes over two thousand works published in more than three hundred fifty editions. Their catalog comprises eight different series: works for solo voice-vocal ensemble, choral works, works for choir and orchestra, solo instrumental pieces, chamber music, orchestral works, opera, and aria collections. In addition to these series, the CMBV publishes critical editions of composers' complete works and anthologies of exemplary French music. Beyond its score publications, the CMBV also regularly releases new books and audio and video recordings. These releases frequently contain work that began with or benefitted from the various symposia and seminars that the CMBV organizes. Researchers and performers often learn from each other in these events, and the resulting collaborative relationships are among the defining strengths of the CMBV's work. This review discusses recent editions from two different CMBV series (solo voice-vocal ensemble and solo instrumental pieces). Both editions are standalone works of musical and historical interest, yet one has been recently discovered while the other is more familiar to scholars and performers of French music. Both editions feature introductory and critical notes in French and English, with the critical notes appearing after the score in each case. The critical notes are easy to interpret and are presented in the CMBV's standard tabular format. Parts for the editions with orchestra are sold separately from the score. Graham Sadler's edition of Collin de Blamont's cantata Circéfor high voice and orchestra marks the first appearance of this work in a modern edition. During the 1720s and 30s, Blamont (1690–1760) established himself as one of the most important composers in France, and he represents the type of composer whose engaging and historically significant works might merit little attention today were it not for the efforts of the CMBV. From 1719, when he bought the post of Surintendant de la Musique de la Chambre, until the mid–1740s when illness required him to relinquish most of his professional obligations, Blamont enjoyed high esteem at Louis XV's court. He built his reputation on both his accomplishments as a composer and his skills as a [End Page 437]pedagogue, particularly in the training of singers. One of the values of this edition is that it illuminates both Blamont's skills in composing dramatic music and the development of his musical language across his career. As a composer, Blamont had the most impact in the genres of opera and the orchestral cantata. A decade before Jean-Philippe Rameau's Hippolyte et Aricieupended the landscape of French music, he invented the genre of the ballet héroïquewith Les Fêtes greques et romaines(1723); other operas and divertissements achieved great success as well. Within these works, he introduced several innovations including his use of an increased number of ariettes and his expansion of the orchestral palette. Both innovations anticipated Rameau, and yet Blamont's sparer style meant that Rameau's partisans unfavorably associated him with Lully when the querrellebetween the...

Men, plants and gardens between Mauritius and the Petit Trianon in the XVIIIth century1

Remarkable studies have been conducted on the movement of plants from the Indies to France and the Jardin du Roi at Paris (today Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle). Researchers have seldom focused in detail on the links between the Île de France (now Mauritius) and the Gardens of Trianon during the reign of Louis XV. 2 Scholars interested in bio-prospecting have established how France’s colonial ambitions informed this trade; however, less attention has focused on alternative networks of botanists, collectors, and members of the medical community who pursued their passion for plants. Botanical enthusiasts at the court of Versailles, inspired by the Louis XV’s patronage of his own botanical garden at the Petit Trianon, collaborating with the king’s gardeners, pursued a botanical exchange with planters in the Île de France. Focusing on a diverse set of documents, this essay reconstructs the networks of travelers and naturalists who were sufficiently enthusiastic about exotic plants to have sponsored a collection of them in expensive greenhouses, and examines their collective wish to enrich the royal collection with seeds and plants drawn from the first plant collection gardens set up in Mauritius at the time of the French East India Company.

Painting in Casanova’s Paris

Although Casanova’s memoirs appear to tell the story of his erotic adventures, this article argues that Part 3 Chapter 13 of the Histoire de ma vie is organized around an interrogation of esthetics. Specifically, in the last chapter recounting his first stay in Paris, Casanova evokes different paintings and painters to develop his own ideas on representation. In explaining his relationship to portraits of Louise O’Murphy (a mistress of Louis XV) and the duchesse de Chartres as well as to the painters Sanson and Francesco Casanova (a brother of the author), the writer questions the painter’s goal of producing a realistic representation. Valuing paintings not only for their truth but also for their beauty, Casanova at the same time redefines the aims of writing, offering the reader a way to appreciate his autobiography less as an accurate relation of his life but as an artistic creation.

Les inexplicables silences de L’« Encyclopédie» envers le mot « porcelaine»

The “Encyclopédie” of Denis Diderot and Jean d’Alembert was printed between 1751 and 1772. It consisted of 74 000 entries distributed in 17 volumes chronologically published accordingly to the alphabet. The word “porcelain” comes up in volume VI in 1756. The article was entrusted to chevalier de Jaucourt who edited it alongside 15 000 other entries. Jaucourt does not appear to be the most capable author for this task. He seems to have indeed satisfied himself in unsuccessfully rewriting the two of François Xavier and most obscure letters sent from China in 1712 and 1722. This research tries to list all the other capable personalities, living at this time, who could have been asked to edit this entry. The reason why the porcelain of Sèvres, at its apogee by then and object to a great and indisputable success under Louis XV, is not mentioned and will be discussed.

Шахерезада из Бельвю или французский будуар «а-ля тюрк» XVIII столетия

Introduction. The boudoir as a concept of a peculiar female room originated at the beginning of the 18th century, when the Turkish was just beginning to enter European fashion. Among the factors that influenced this fashion, more than anything else is the publication of the first French translation of the fairy tales «One Thousand and One Nights» (1704-1717). France was a trendsetter in those years, and the development of fashion greatly helped by letters from travelers. Materials and methods. The intensification of FrancoTurkish diplomatic relations also contributed: after the arrival in Paris of the Ottoman Embassy of the Sultan Ahmed III (1720-1721) Turkish at the peak of popularity in various fields: in music and in the stagearts, in literature and painting. One of the manifestations of the «à la Turk» fashion was the «Turkish» decoration of boudoirs that came into fashion in the early reign of Louis XV, together with the fashion for a private rather than ceremonial lifestyle. Results. This problem, which has not previously come to the attention of domestic Turquerie researchers, addressed through a study of the earliest known boudoirs «a la Turk» by Louis XV's favorite, the Marquise de Pompadour, at Bellevue (1748-1750). Conclusion. The author comes to the conclusion that it was the Turkish boudoir that was the heart of Bellevue. Here, the marquise, like the fabulous Scheherazade, entertained the king and his friends, "terribly suffering from unbearable boredom." Such boudoirs in the conventional Turkish style will become more common in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, when many European aristocrats will have the opportunity to try on the role of an oriental beauty. The boudoir of the Marquise de Pompadour, whose well-known strength was the ability to surprise, each time finding something new in the ordinary, became one of the first, opening a series of relatively oriental specific female interiors.

Entre justice et administration: la cour des aides de Montauban contre l'intendant lors des crises de l'Ancien Régime français

The relations between the sovereign courts and the intendants contain a tormented and unsuccessful history, marked since the Grand Siècle by the difficult passage from the traditional jurisdictional management of the kingdom, considered inefficient, to an organisation that supports the triumph of the absolute and administrative monarchy. In these southern lands of the kingdom of France, torn apart by the Protestant reformation and the wars, the institutional upheaval which prepared the modern state and the Napoleonic granite masses, was carried out through strong embarrassments which opposed the intendant of the generality to the court of aids in Montauban. As soon as they were created, the magistrates of the jurisdictional company multiplied the manoeuvres against the intendant to safeguard their contentious attributions and the control of the municipal funds. Their particularistic actions were denounced by the intendant, who was there to make the king present everywhere in the kingdom and was zealous in his service. Since then, all the elements were in place for the outbreak of a noisy quarrel – the lawsuit against the intendant Gaspard Lescalopier – which worried the government at the turn of the reign of Louis XV, in the middle of the tax war in 1749, when King Louis XV, whom the subjects looked upon as a charming prince, became „Louis the Unloved”. These tumults prevented the modernisation of the French monarchy and led to the troubles of the Revolution.

Незавершенный Лувр: общее место как способ присвоения

In contemporary public culture, there is a stereotypical interpretation of the history of the Louvre Palace as multiple successive attempts to achieve a ‘Grand design’ that dates back to the 16th century. However, this vision of the history of the Louvre does not emerge until the 19th century, although the narrative of its unfinishedness has existed for much longer. This article analyses the origins and transformation of this narrative throughout the 17th and 18th centuries. Despite the linguistic continuity associated with the stability of the very expression achever le Louvre (to finish the Louvre), the meaning that was invested in the idea of completion underwent significant changes. Originating in the context of the establishment and glorification of Louis XIV’s strong royal rule, the narrative was subsequently borrowed by critics of his great-grandson Louis XV’s reign and played a significant role in establishing the royal palace as a national treasure. By the 1760-s, in public discussions about the Louvre its completion becomes an allegory of a process of civilisation carried out in the name of the national interest. The changes that took place contributed greatly to the subsequent interpretation of the history of the Louvre and facilitated an ambitious project to merge it with the Tuileries Palace.

Счетные жетоны из старобурятских погребений Приольхонья

The history of the accumulation of materials on counting jetons of the 17th–18th centuries obtained from the burials in the Olkhon region (western coast of Lake Baikal from Cape Elokhin to the Buguldeika village, including Olkhon Island) is considered. Based on the study of literary sources, available archival and collection materials stored in the funds of the Irkutsk State University (excavations of V. V. Pavlutskaya in the 1980s), 8 burials from the Old Buryat cemeteries were identified, in which counting jetons were recorded (more than 244). For the first time, counting jetons from the accompanying inventory of the burial ground Todakta IV are introduced into scientific circulation in full. A generalization and analysis of all currently found counting jetons of the Olkhon region are carried out and their general classification is proposed. To determine the images on some counting jetons and establish the names of the masters who made them, A. A. Pushkarev’s research was used. It was possible to identify 129 jetons with varying degrees of completeness. Among them, according to the plots on the front side, the portrait theme (chest profiles of monarchs) occupies a leading place. There is a variety of plots on the reverse side of the jetons: heraldic signs, an ancient warrior, a park with a fountain, a three-masted ship, a tree under the sun. Most of the counting jetons are marked with the seal of the master Johann Christian Reich (109). There are also works of Johann Friedrich Weidinger (7), Albrecht Hoger (4), Johann Jakob Ditzel (4), Johann Adam Vogel (3) and Cornelius Lauffer (1). Taking into account the periods of activity of these masters, it is possible to outline the chronology of the use of certain plots for decorating jetons. In the first half of the 18th century (along with heraldic signs marked in the 17th century) images are often found: a sailing ship and a tree under the sun; in one case, an ancient warrior was recorded (in combination with the image of Louis XV). The themes of coats of arms and ships were encountered in the second half of the 18th century. In the Old Buryat burials of the Olkhon region, counting jetons originating from different workshops are found together. The latest of them were made in the workshop of Johann Christian Reich, which is probably associated with the intensification of the export of jetons to Russia and Siberia in the second half of the 18th century.

Sapiehowie i Wielkie Księstwo Litewskie w rękopiśmiennej pracy Nicolasa-Louisa Le Dran „Histoire de la vacance du trône de Pologne en 1696 après la mort du Roy Jean Sobieski, et des Diettes tenues pour l’election de son successeur”

Nicolas-Louis Le Dran was an official-archivist whose remit was to look after and compile documents relating to French foreign affairs for the royal court. He is known for his work in building and expanding the French foreign affairs archive. He also played a key role in the system of archival services of the reign of Louis XV. The analyzed manuscript covers not only the years 1696–1697, but also the events of January of the following year. The French archivist had a specific goal in mind when creating his work on the interregnum of 1696–1697, probably linked to the need to present the complicated process of electing the King in the Republic and all the difficulties involved. In his work, the greatest amount of information, due to his position in the state, concerns the Sapiehas and other persons connected with the French party, which has been particularly emphasized and analyzed, although many of them we are not able to verify in detail due to the sources at our disposal.

Hrabina du Barry jako faworyta Ludwika XV (1768-1774)

COUNTESS DU BARRY AS A ROYAL FAVORITE OF LOUIS XV (1768-1774) Jeanne Bécu, countess du Barry, was the last favorite of King Louis XV of France. As a woman of the people, with no property, no name and an unclear past, she became the heroine of numerous satires and pamphlets. Contemporaries presented her as a debauched, vulgar, vain and spendthrift person. These accusations are repeated by many historians to this day. This article is an attempt to show the origins of these negative opinions and uncover the real picture of her life at the Versailles court between 1768-1774.

Edmond Jean François Barbier, Chronique de la Régence et du règne de Louis XV, ii: 1727–1734. Édition de Pierre Bonnet, Henri Duranton, Fadi El Hage et Denis Reynaud

This second instalment of Edmond Barbier’s chronicle of Louis XV’s reign is excellent. Like the first volume (see FS, 75 (2021), 392), it is a significant augmentation of the anonymous edition of the Chroniques published in 1857. The academics who have produced this tome are to be complimented for their meticulous overhaul of the text. These pages are bountifully footnoted, with prodigious erudition. Of particular interest is the appendix, containing over 100 pages of parlementaire edicts, episcopal pastoral letters, satirical songs, and spoofs — testament to the budding public sphere of early eighteenth-century Paris. Satires collected from the Régiment de la Calotte are noteworthy. These pranksters and satirists were brilliant, and cutting, in lampooning the great affairs of the day. The Chroniques cherish their writings, and it does feel like the author has gathered his favourite clippings from Private Eye. Barbier was a voracious consumer of current affairs and gossip. Still, it is unclear why he decided to compile this odd mix of high politics, religious controversies, curios, and military affairs. The editors, perhaps uncharitably, state Barbier had few genuine interests outside of the world of the Parlements and Versailles (p. 12). This may be true, but we can hardly blame him for not being Voltaire. In the end, he was a legal expert who wrote about what he knew best: the insular world of the lawyers who inhabited the Île de la Cité. Despite this limitation, he is an insightful, often witty (less often stylish), recorder of the concerns and scandals that rocked the Parlement during the 1730s. The years, recorded in these pages, saw the controversies surrounding Jansenism. Although this heresy was condemned by the Apostolic Constitution Unigenitus in 1713, Paris’s population and its Parlement remained committed to its austere spirituality. Barbier, genuinely appalled at events, discusses in detail the Council of Embrun which condemned Bishop Jean Soanen, the Crown’s despotic attempts to enforce acceptance of Unigenitus, and finally the billets de confession crisis (when suspected Jansenists were refused the sacraments). He was bewildered by the emergence of a cult in the cemetery of Saint-Médard. Here, the remains of a Jansenist holy man, François de Pâris, became the object of mass veneration. Many experienced not only miracles but also ecstatic convulsions. Unwisely, the royal authorities rounded up Jansenists and exiled their parlementaire supporters. The Crown’s heavy-handed attempts to stamp out Jansenism fanned the flames of discontent. An obscure religious controversy was thus transformed into open opposition against French absolutism. Volume ii ends with the forgotten War of the Polish Succession (1733–35). Barbier received anonymous letters from officers on the Italian front, and was fascinated by the performance of France’s armies. Yet, this volume is not all politics and war, and there are light-hearted moments too. A favourite must be the card-playing dog who entertained the crowds of the Paris markets. The secret behind this canine’s abilities baffled Barbier. This new edition of the Chroniques goes from strength to strength; its editors are to be praised for their passion and erudition.

Franco-Ottoman Diplomatic Relations and the Secret du Roi, 1756–1774

The Secret du Roi was Louis XV’s secret foreign policy from approximately 1745 until his death in 1774. This article analyzes Franco-Ottoman diplomatic relations from 1756 to 1774 by using the Secret du Roi as a source. By examining the Secret du Roi, this article shows France’s hostility towards Russia and elaborates on France’s preference for having close diplomatic relations with the Ottoman Empire instead of Russia. The second half of this article elaborates on France’s confidence in the Ottoman Empire’s political and military capabilities, and why they thought the Ottomans would do well against Russia in 1768.

Cardiology is Born in 1749 Under the Pen of Jean- Baptiste Sénac

In the year 1749, in Paris, a work entitled “Textbook on the structure of the heart, its action and its diseases” [1] was published. It is written in French. Its author is Jean-Baptiste Sénac, personal physician to the King, Louis XV.

Bronwen McShea. Apostles of Empire: The Jesuits and New France.

Bronwen McShea’s book proposes multiple reading angles. It can be regarded as an in-depth analysis of the Jesuit mission to New France—the area that France colonized in North America—the first covering its entire period from the early seventeenth century to the late eighteenth century. It also tells the story of the long relationship between the Society of Jesus and the French Crown from the time of Henry IV until Louis XV’s suppression of the society in France. McShea’s study also explores the expansion of the Bourbon-era French empire from some of its fringes (French North America, in this case), giving prominence to—according to the author—a so far scholarly neglected pre-Revolutionary French colonialism. All these possible readings find connecting threads, the main being the “apostles of empire,” that is, the Jesuit missionaries in New France, and the Jesuit series Relations des Jésuites de la Nouvelle-France, published annually in Paris from...