Minneapolis Institute of Art

Marie Antoinette

Engraver: Louis-Jacques Cathelin; after Jean Martial Frédou

Date

1775

Medium

Engraving and etching

Department

European Art

Institution

Minneapolis Institute of Art

This engraving preserves a lost portrait of the young twenty-year-old queen and was issued the year after Louis XVI was crowned king. Initially popular with the French public, the young Austrian princess made a memorable impression at her husband's coronation in her extravagant dress designed by the exclusive Parisian couturière, Rose Bertin, which embraced the latest trends in French fashion, and also for her famous pouf hairdo. Yet rumors still plagued Marie Antoinette's existence at the court, particularly with regard to intimate life with her husband, since after five years of marriage, she had still not fulfilled her primary duty of producing a child, and more important, a male heir to the throne. France, Europe

The authoritative record is held by Minneapolis Institute of Art. LinkedCulture surfaces this object and its connections; it does not alter institutional metadata.