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| Title |
Marie Antoinette |
| Number |
55153 |
| Size |
9.5" x 14.5" |
| Date |
July 1, 1786 |
| Place |
Versailles [Paris, France] |
| Category |
Women in History |
| Price |
$25,000.00 |
Rare and superb Marie Antoinette signed document with interesting mention of King Louis XVI – She approves payment for “food for several of our officers” adding that the expense is “counted to the King our very honored Lord and spouse in Paris to whom we ask … to please make no difficulties” as France was in the midst of a dire financial crisis which would lead to the Storming of the Bastille and the French Revolution just three years later.
Manuscript Document Signed “payez / Marie Antoinette” in French, one page, 9.5” x 14.5”. [Palace of] Versailles, July 1, 1786. Countersigned “Beaugeard.” With English translation. On watermarked laid paper. Fine condition. Beautifully framed with a 10.5" x 13.25" color reproduction portrait of Marie Antoinette in a gilt-leaf frame to a finished size of 28.5" x 21".
Eight days before she would give birth at the Palace of Versailles to Princess Sophie Hélène Béatrice de France, Fille de France, the youngest of the four children of King Louis XVI, Queen Marie Antoinette orders a payment to be made.
In part, “From our house and Treasury Mr. Marc-Antoine Francois Marie Randon de la Tour, we want and ask you that last of the year funds be made by state order for upkeep and food for several of our officers for the current year … The amount of two hundred fifty pounds will be passed and allotted on expense seen and counted by our dear and beloved general, counted to the King our very honored Lord and spouse in Paris to whom we ask and nevertheless also ask to please make no difficulties…” Marie Antoinette boldly pens “Pay” and signs her name.
Madame Campan writes in “Memoirs of Marie Antoinette” (New York: Charles L. Bowman & Comopany, 1909): “Secretaries for Orders: MM. Augeard and Beaugeard. The business of these officers was to get orders for the payment of her household signed by the Queen, which she did punctually every three months at her dressing hour. These secretaries were also to answer letters of etiquette, such as those from Sovereigns upon births, deaths, etc. The Queen merely signed letters of this nature...” Nicolas Joseph Beaugeard (1755-1818) was Secretary to Queen Marie Antoinette for 25 years. On August 10, 1792 a mob and some organized revolutionaries attacked the Tuileries and seized the King. Louis XVI was forced to march out of the Palace through a gauntlet of revolutionary guards who were supposed to protect him from the mob. Beaugeard saved the life of the King when a dagger meant for Louis XVI was thrust into his arm.
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