Saturday, September 14, 2013

Bouquet Royal


credit: Bibliothèque nationale de France, département Estampes et photographie

When I saw this unique engraving, my mind went at once to the painting which was presented Marie Antoinette when she was a young dauphine, which depicted her as the center of a rose among a bouquet of flowers.

This engraving, published in 1815, puts the returning Bourbons at the center of a 'royal bouquet.' I find it interesting that the duchesse d'Angouleme is placed in the second tier of flowers, just below the right hand side of Louis XVII and on the same level as as the comte d'Artois--who was now heir presumptive. Perhaps the engraving, which was no doubt created to promote joy in return of the Bourbon monarchy, was intending to capitalize on the memory of the French. They would remember their "princess in the tower," daughter of the last king and queen, much more than her two cousins.


Can any flower aficionados identity the flowers being used in this unique engraving?

3 comments:

  1. Hello!
    I would just like to point out that the reason that the Duchesse d'Angouleme is on a "higher lever" than her two cousins is because she was of a higher rank. She was the daughter of a King, while they were nephews of a King. However, when Louis XVIII passed and Charles rose to the throne, Louis-Antoine, the Duchesse's husband- and cousin, was for the first time of a higher rank than Marie-Therese.
    This passage is very nicely written on the book "Madame Royale: the last Dauphine", and it is where I gathered this information. I highly suggest anyone to read it.
    Please correct me if I said anything wrong!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you for the input! I hadn't thought about her rank when I made the post, but that would also likely push her "higher" (so to speak) in the picture.

      Delete
  2. I believe the top flower is a lily the one on which our princess in the tower rests is quite clearly a rose and on the row beneath her and to the left is a poppy. I am not quite sure what the other two are. If you want I could try to find out or I could give some more information on those three flowers symbolism.

    ReplyDelete