Picturing Marie Leszczinska (1703-1768)
type: CreativeWork
about: DefinedTerm
  alternate name: Queens in art
about: DefinedTerm
  alternate name: Kings and rulers
about: https://id.rijksmuseum.nl/310149635
about: https://id.rijksmuseum.nl/320129685
about: https://id.rijksmuseum.nl/320131306
about: https://id.rijksmuseum.nl/320132190
about: https://id.rijksmuseum.nl/330134746
abstract: Portraits of Queen Marie Leszczinska (1703-1768) were highly visible in eighteenth-century France. Appearing in royal chateaux and, after 1737, in the Parisian Salons, the queen's image was central to the visual construction of the monarchy. Her earliest portraits negotiated aspects of her ethnic difference, French gender norms, and royal rank to craft an image of an appropriate consort to the king. Later portraits by Maurice-Quentin de La Tour, Carle Van Loo, and Jean-Marc Nattier contributed to changing notions of queenship over the course of her 43 year tenure. Whether as royal wife, devout consort, or devoted mother, Marie Leszczinska's image mattered. While she has often been seen as a weak consort, this study argues that queenly images were powerful and even necessary for Louis XV's projection of authority. This is the first study dedicated to analyzing the queen's portraits. It engages feminist theory while setting the queen's image in the context of portraiture in France, courtly factional conflict, and the history of the French monarchy. While this investigation is historically specific, it raises the larger problem of the power of women's images versus the empowerment of women, a challenge that continues to plague the representation of political women today.
creator: https://id.rijksmuseum.nl/310150521
language: eng
subject of: Statement
  additional type: http://vocab.getty.edu/aat/300195187
  text: Framing queenship in France -- Incorporating Marie Leszczinska -- Sons and mothers -- Gendering the French monarchy -- The Queen's new image -- Epilogue: memorializing Marie Leszczinska.
temporal coverage: 1700-1799
work example: https://id.rijksmuseum.nl/301250804

PropertyValue
property ID: NL-AmRIJ
value: 250804