“You will rule the heart of a king.” So the fortune teller proclaimed for the nine-year-old, Jeanne Antoinette Poisson in 1730. Even at this tender age, Jeanne already showed evidence of the great beauty, for which she would become reknowned. Her early education, as directed by her mother, included tutors in drama and music, as well as traditional subjects. She became an accomplished actress and singer. She received all the education required to make her the perfect companion to a king.

Louis XV was a melancholy man, prone to fits of guilt over his excesses and infidelities. By all accounts, he loved his Polish queen, Maria Lesczcynska, but, although she bore him 11 children, she alone, could not satisfy his appetites. The queen accepted the inevitable parade of official mistresses. Louis met Jeanne at a masked ball at the palace in 1745. She had dressed as a shepherdess, and, inexplicably, he was disguised as a tree. Within the month, Louis had installed her in apartments in the palace, and she became his official mistress. Because she was a commoner, she could not be presented at court. Louis purchased the marquisate of Pompadour in August, 1745, and gifted the lands, title and coat of arms to Jeanne, making her the Marquise de Pompadour.

Although, contrary to opinion at the time, she had no real political influence over the king, she certainly held a powerful control over the French court. She enthralled the king by putting on plays and musicales in which she performed, while portraying the King as a god. He found her efforts both flattering, and amusing. She accompanied him on hunting trips, property tours and to card parties, all activities that most ladies of the court avoided. Pompadour’s success as the King’s mistress was due in large part to her alliances. The Queen had been snubbed by Louis’s previous mistresses, but the Pompadour treated her with respect and dignity, establishing a cordial relationship with Marie. This eased the King’s guilt and allowed him to maintain a strong relationship with his children.

For Madame Pompadour, the one drawback to being the official mistress of the King, was that she really didn’t care for sex. However, so powerful was the influence of this intelligent, witty, and beautiful lady over King Louis, that she, herself, found minor mistresses to replace her in the King’s bed. In 1750, she moved from the palace to her private estate. She maintained a strong affection with Louis, and the two remained devoted friends until her death in 1764, at the age of 42.

Madame Pompadour, has influenced fashion down the centuries. The Pompadour hairstyle, and the shoes known as Pompadour (Louis) heels are named for her. Sevres porcelain calls their famous line of pink porcelain the Pompadour Rose. Surely, though, the crowning achievement of this lovely lady, is that we have named her our “Tart of the Week”!