DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61284#0178
MADAME DU BARRY
81
gallery (badly in want of spring cleaning) wherein vases, busts, marble
statues, and many other art treasures were jumbled together, so that “ one
might have fancied that one was staying with the mistress of several
sovereigns, all of whom had enriched her by their presents.” Nearer
the river than the Chateau is the famous “ pavilion ” built under Madame
Du Barry’s own directions; the doors, chimneypieces, and fittings, the
furniture and bric-a-brac of which, in those far-off days, were of the most
expensive and, according to the taste of the time, most “ elegant” char-
acter. The windows of this luxurious house overlooked what Madame
Lebrun calls “the most beautiful view in the world”—rather an exaggera-
tion, perhaps, even in those days, from a woman who had been through
Italy and Switzerland, and had seen many of the glories of English scenery,
but excusable as the impression of any one under the immediate influence
of the Seine valley at that spot.
The hostess herself was much more simply adorned than her rooms.
At all seasons of the year she wore “ nothing but loose gowns of cambric
or white muslin; and every day, whatever the weather, she went for a walk
in her park or beyond it, without any untoward results, so robust had her
life in the country made her.” We may reasonably suppose, without
indelicacy, that Madame du Barry’s dessous were thicker on days of frost
than on days of broiling sunshine.
Fresh from Paris, where she spent most of the evenings in friendly
crowds, or from country-houses where the hostesses spent much of their
time in welcoming arriving and speeding departing guests, Madame Lebrun
found the Chateau of Louveciennes very quiet. She declares that only
two ladies called whilst she was there—a great contrast, no doubt, to the
days when Madame du Barry was first installed in her gorgeous and beauti-
fully situated nest.
But, as Madame Lebrun reflects, “ it was no longer Louis XV who
lounged upon these fine sofas, it was the Due de Brissac; and we often left
him alone there, because he liked to take a siesta.” He came frequently,
and lived in that house as if he were at home, but nothing, in his behaviour
or in that of Madame du Barry, could lead one to suspect that he was more
than “ the friend of the mistress of the chateau,” though “ it was easy to
see that a tender attachment united these two people.” On most evenings
the two women were alone, and the guest evidently found the society of the
hostess a little dull. Madame Lebrun, indeed, rather naively remarks
that Madame du Barry avoided all details about Louis XV and his court;
6
81
gallery (badly in want of spring cleaning) wherein vases, busts, marble
statues, and many other art treasures were jumbled together, so that “ one
might have fancied that one was staying with the mistress of several
sovereigns, all of whom had enriched her by their presents.” Nearer
the river than the Chateau is the famous “ pavilion ” built under Madame
Du Barry’s own directions; the doors, chimneypieces, and fittings, the
furniture and bric-a-brac of which, in those far-off days, were of the most
expensive and, according to the taste of the time, most “ elegant” char-
acter. The windows of this luxurious house overlooked what Madame
Lebrun calls “the most beautiful view in the world”—rather an exaggera-
tion, perhaps, even in those days, from a woman who had been through
Italy and Switzerland, and had seen many of the glories of English scenery,
but excusable as the impression of any one under the immediate influence
of the Seine valley at that spot.
The hostess herself was much more simply adorned than her rooms.
At all seasons of the year she wore “ nothing but loose gowns of cambric
or white muslin; and every day, whatever the weather, she went for a walk
in her park or beyond it, without any untoward results, so robust had her
life in the country made her.” We may reasonably suppose, without
indelicacy, that Madame du Barry’s dessous were thicker on days of frost
than on days of broiling sunshine.
Fresh from Paris, where she spent most of the evenings in friendly
crowds, or from country-houses where the hostesses spent much of their
time in welcoming arriving and speeding departing guests, Madame Lebrun
found the Chateau of Louveciennes very quiet. She declares that only
two ladies called whilst she was there—a great contrast, no doubt, to the
days when Madame du Barry was first installed in her gorgeous and beauti-
fully situated nest.
But, as Madame Lebrun reflects, “ it was no longer Louis XV who
lounged upon these fine sofas, it was the Due de Brissac; and we often left
him alone there, because he liked to take a siesta.” He came frequently,
and lived in that house as if he were at home, but nothing, in his behaviour
or in that of Madame du Barry, could lead one to suspect that he was more
than “ the friend of the mistress of the chateau,” though “ it was easy to
see that a tender attachment united these two people.” On most evenings
the two women were alone, and the guest evidently found the society of the
hostess a little dull. Madame Lebrun, indeed, rather naively remarks
that Madame du Barry avoided all details about Louis XV and his court;
6