1721–1764

Royal Mistress

Trained for a Cultivated Life.

The girl that was to mature into France's most important eighteenth-century royal mistress, Jean-Antoinette Poisson, grew up the daughter of a financier, at the time a profession notorious for its shady business dealings. Her father was exiled from France for a time when the young Jean-Antoinette was only four years old for taking part in a shady venture, but once he recovered his position he brought his daughter up to take her place in Parisian society. Interested even at this early age in art and literature, she associated with such important literary figures as Voltaire before she married Normant d'Etioles. She soon had a daughter with d'Etioles, but also felt herself increasingly drawn toward court circles at Versailles. In 1744, when Louis XV's mistress died, she came to the king's attention. She was soon established at court as...