Cometess Du Barry
Mistress to King Louis XV
Born Jeanne Becu
August 19, 1743- December 8, 1793
Death By Gullotine
An abbreviated visual account of the life of Madame Du Barry
Upbringing & Escalation
Madame Du Barry, Born Jeanne Becu, an illegitimate child of Anne Becu, a seamstress, elevated to French nobility. Her beauty won her the attention of the notable pimp Jean-Baptiste Du Barry.The painting of the Comtesse Du Barry to the right sexualizes her depiction with the color usage around her face and amount of clevage shown. Jean-Baptiste Du Barry brought Jeanne Becu to the royal court where she attracted the attention of King Louis XI.
In the Court
Jeanne Becu’s relationship with King Louis XI was established by Jean-Baptiste Du Barry in 1768. In order to gain access to the Court and be an official royal mistress, Jeanne Becu was to be of a certain nobility. In order to achieve such a status, Jeanne Becu married Jean-Baptiste Du Barry’s brother, Guillaume du Barry, in april 1769. Baron Etienne Leon Lamothe-Langon wrote the “Memoirs of the Comtesse Du Barry”. In the voice of the Comtesse Du Barry she wrote “I was now firmly fixed at court, the king, more than ever devoted to me, seemed unable to dispense with my constant presence. I had so successfully studied his habits and peculiarities, that my empire over him was established on a basis too firm to be shaken, whilst my power and unbounded influence convinced my enemies, that, so long as the present monarch sat upon the throne of France, their attempts at diminishing my credit and influence would only recoil upon themselves. Louis XV generally supped in my apartments every evening, unless indeed, by way of change, I went to sup with him.” Madame Du Barry’s relationship with the king was often criticized in the court most specificially by Prince Louis XVI and the Dauphine Marie Antionette.
The painting to the left depicts the casual and sexual relationship that Madame Du Barry had with King Louis XI. It was often negatively criticized in the court setting as often their affection was not restrained to their public quarters. The explicit and ornate nature of the painting also emulates qualities that French revolutionists despised in the pre-revolution era.
Intellect
Comtesse Du Barry exerted her influence across the French court, dispelling political foes and clashing with the queen to be. Her most notable relationships were with Voltaire and Rousseau. Many also note that Du Barry participated as a large patron of the arts; she is credited with supporting the French neo-classic style. In the painting to the left Du Barry is depicted as serious, contemplative, and as a woman of beauty and seriousness, a stylistic reaction to her intellectual role in Versailles.
Exile and the Revolution
Perhaps the most notable aspect to Du Barry’s life was her escalation in Pre-revolutionary French society from the lowly profession of a seamstress to the last mistress of King Louis XI. In such a time when high society indulged so much and the poor had so little, Du Barry passed through rigid and unforgiving socioeconomic structures. The most disappointing aspect to Du Barry’s hierarchy climbing was her timing. After the death of Louis XI, her eternal foe, Marie Antoinette, the new Queen of France exiled her from Versailles. As we know the results of those who resided in Versailles during the months after Louis XVI’s crowning, many would consider this to be a lucy position for Du Barry. Desipite her exlucsion from high french soicety and politics, Dubarry too was sent to her end at the guillotine at Place de la Concorde as a counterrevolutionary.
