Over the summer, I worked on forming a cabinet of curiosities and ended up doing a project of nine little jewelry boxes. At first it was just having fun with crafts, but then, I kept thinking about how Marie Antoinette wanted people to know her most valuable jewels were her children.
By the end of the summer, I decided if I could give her any gift this is what it would be:
Petit jewelry boxes for Marie Antoinette!
I found the perfect box at the thrift store to place her mini jewelry boxes.
The box has panels that seem to hold an outdoorsy, nature type feel.
The Queen enjoyed the outdoors–especially her beloved Petit Trianon–which was sometimes the backdrop of various portraits.
I will feature some of those portraits as well as formal ones that show the Queen’s treasures. Before I begin, I’ll admit that some of these images were downloaded from Pinterest, and it was hard to track down the artist. So the pictures featured don’t always match up with the exact pictures I used in my project.
And there are two pictures that are AI. They are of baby Sophie, who died before the Marie Antoinette and Her Children painting was completed.
Marie Antoinette and Her Children
by Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun, 1787
With Baby Girl, Sophie
Chat GPT
Baby Sophie
Chat GPT
François Dumont’s Paintings.
The following paintings of the Queen with her little ones I think are by François Dumont.
(For more info, read this post about of both Dumont’s pictures of Marie Antoinette with her kids.)
A Parting Kiss
By Joseph Caraud
Louis XVII and Madame Royale Drawing Their Father
By J. Prevost, 1790(?)
Queen Marie Antoinette of France and Two of Her Children Walking in The Park of Trianon
By Adolf Ulrik Wertmüller, 1785
Portrait of Madame Royale and Louis Joseph, Dauphin of France
By Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun, 1784
I just felt a good spirit when putting this “gift” together. I hope Marie Antoinette and her family would approve. I’ll speculate she would nod and then turn around to be her with children, who really were–and still are–her most valuable jewels.