Madame du Barry

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Jeanne Bécu, Comtesse du Barry [1] [2] (Marie-Jeanne, Comtesse du Barry) (August 19, 1743 - December 8, 1793) was a French courtesan who became the mistress of Louis XV of France and is one of the most famous victims of the Reign of Terror.

Contents 1 Early life 2 Life as a courtesan 3 Imprisonment, trial and execution 4 In popular culture 5 External links

[edit] Early life

Jeanne Bécu was born at Vaucouleurs, Lorraine, the illegitimate daughter of Anne Bécu, who was variously reported as a seamstress or a cook of enticing beauty. Her father was possibly Jean Baptiste Gormand de Vaubernier, a friar known as 'Brother Angel'. During her childhood, her mother's lover, Monsieur Billard-Dumonceaux, father of Jeanne's brother Claude (who died as a sibling) funded her education at the convent of St. Aure.

At the age of 15 Marie-Jeanne moved to Paris, where, using the name Jeanne Rançon, worked first as an assistant to a young hairdresser named Lametz (with whom she had a brief relationship from which she may have had a daughter), then as a companion to a lonely aristocrat Madame de la Garde, and later as a milliner's assistant in a shop named 'A La Toilette' owned by a certain Monsieur Labille. As reflected in art from the time, she was a remarkably attractive blonde woman. Her beauty came to the attention of Jean du Barry, a high-class pimp/procurer and owner of a casino, in 1763. He made her his mistress and helped establish her career as a courtesan in the highest circles of Parisian society, enabling her to take several wealthy men as her benefactors.

[edit] Life as a courtesan

She first became a courtesan under the title of Mademoiselle Lange, building up a large clientele. The dashing Maréchal de Richelieu became one of her recurring customers. Jean du Barry, however, saw her as a means of influence with Louis XV, who became aware of her in 1768 while on an errand in Versailles which involved the Duc de Choiseul, who immediately found she looked ordinary, unlike what most other men said of her. Marie-Jeanne, however, could not qualify as an official royal mistress unless she had a title; this was solved by her marriage to Du Barry's brother, Comte Guillaume du Barry, in 1769. She was presented to the King's family and the court on April 2, 1769. Followed by her personal Indian page Zamor, wearing extravagant gowns of great proportions both in size and cost, and diamonds covering her delicate neck and ears, she was now maitresse déclarée to Louis XV.

While she was part of the faction that brought down the Duc de Choiseul, Minister of Foreign Affairs, she was unlike her late predecessor Madame de Pompadour in that she had little political influence upon the king, but rather preferred to pass her time having new gowns made and ordering jewelry of every shape, size and colour.

While known for her good nature and support of artists, the King's financial extravagance towards her was the source of increasing unpopularity. Her relationship with Marie Antoinette, the Dauphine of France, was contentious. The Dauphine supported Choiseul as the proponent of the alliance with Austria and also defied court protocol by refusing to speak to Madame Du Barry, due to her feelings about the latter's background, and after hearing of her amused reaction to a story told by Cardinal de Rohan, slandering Maria Theresa's name (Antoinette's mother). Eventually, during a ball on one New Year's Day, Marie Antoinette was forced to do so, and said to her "There are a lot of people at Versailles today", which broke the boundaries set by protocol according to which du Barry was not allowed to speak to Antoinette before the latter said the first words to the former. She was reportedly 'christened' "La du Barry" by the Dauphine.

At the king's request before his death in May 1774, she was banished from the court to the convent of Pont-au-Dames, as her amoral presence would have prevented the king from receiving absolution. Two years later she moved to her famous Château de Louveciennes, where she continued her career as a courtesan, having relationships with both Henry Seymour and the Louis Hercule Timolon de Cossé, Duke of Brissac.

[edit] Imprisonment, trial and execution

In 1792 du Barry made several trips to London on the pretext of recovering stolen jewelry which was done by the aid of her now grown page, Zamor, who disliked his mistress for her airy attitude; she was suspected of giving financial aid to emigres from the French Revolution. In the following year, she was arrested by the Revolutionary Tribunal of Paris on charges of treason. While in prison, her cell mate was fellow courtesan Grace Elliott. After a trial, du Barry was executed by guillotine on the Place de la Concorde on December 8, 1793. She had tried to save herself by revealing the hiding places of the gems she had hidden around her property.

On the way to the guillotine she continually collapsed in the tumbrel and cried "You are going to hurt me! Why?!" She became quite hysterical during her execution: "She screamed, she begged mercy of the horrible crowd that stood around the scaffold, she aroused them to such a point that the executioner grew anxious and hastened to complete his task." Her last words to the executioner, "Encore un moment, monsieur le bourreau, un petit moment," ("One moment more, executioner, one little moment") were her most famous. Her remains were briefly placed in the Chapelle Expiatoire in Paris but were later removed with the present location unknown. [3]

The jewels she had smuggled out of France to England were sold by auction at Christie's in 1795 for the not inconsiderable sum of £8,791 4s 9d. However by this time she had been executed and the proceeds went to the Tribunal in Paris.

[edit] In popular culture

• She was portrayed by Pola Negri in the 1919 film Madame Du Barry directed by Ernst Lubitsch.
• She was portrayed by Martine Carol in the 1954 film Madame du Barry directed by Christian-Jaque.
• She was also portrayed by Gladys George in the 1938 MGM film, Marie Antoinette, which starred Norma Shearer in the title role.
• In Sophia Coppola's 2006 film, Marie Antoinette, Madame du Barry was played by Italian actress Asia Argento.
• She was also the subject of a musical by Cole Porter titled DuBarry Was a Lady, featuring Ethel Merman in two roles, a nightclub singer named May Daley, and Madame Dubarry. Bert Lahr co-starred as a washroom attendant in the nightclub who dreams he is Louis XV. The 1943 movie version starred Lucille Ball in the title role, with co-stars Red Skelton and Gene Kelly.
• Her famous last words ("Encore un moment!") serve as a symbol of existential angst when they are raised as a topic of conversation on at least two separate occasions in Fyodor Dostoevsky's 1869 novel, The Idiot.
• She inspired a wax figure at Madame Tussaud's in London, called The Sleeping Beauty which is the oldest existing figure on display.
• She also appears in the famous animé and manga series Rose of Versailles, among the nobles who fail to gain Marie Antoinette's favor after she marries the Dauphin and future King Louis XVI.

[edit] External links

• Full text of Memoirs of the Comtesse Du Barry from Project Gutenberg
• The French Revolution - Madame Du Barry and Princess de Lamballe