Cathy's Art Diary

Delightful online lecture from Artscapades on Madame de Pompadour and her collecting of Sevres porcelain. Dame Rosalind Savill, former director of the Wallace Collection, took us through the history of the output of the Serves factory by focusing on what was purchased and commissioned by Madame de Pompadour. There was an emphasis on work which featured flowers and she used this as a way of discussing the role of flowers and gardens at the time. I’m not a fan of elaborate porcelain but I came away with a better understanding of it and of the life of the woman who collected it. I loved the intricate purposes of some of the vases particularly one in which you grew bulbs in season but out of season you put porcelain flowers in with potpourri in another section to provide scent. I also liked the square tubs for indoor or outdoor shrubs. I’ve just reported a Mother-in-Law’s Tongue and am on the look out for a new pot for it!

Excellent online lecture from the National Gallery on Madame de Pompadour and other mistresses of Louis XV. Fiona Alderton, used “Madame de Pompadour at her Tambour Frame” by Francois Hubert Drousaid (1733-4) from the gallery as the starting point to talk about the women of the court of Versailles. The talk concentrated on Pompadour herself to mark the 300th anniversary of her birth a few days later looking at how   she sought to continue to entertain the king over their 19 year relationship and how she used various artists to construct her image. Alderton also talked about the queen, Marie Leszczy?ska, and the mistresses who proceeded and succeeded Pompadour, Marie-Anne de Mailly-Nesle and Madame Du Barry.