Love in the 18th century
Guest Post by the lovely Lauren of Marie Antoinette’s Gossip Guide
The ideas of love and relationships in the 18th century varied by social status. Extramarital affairs were not only common amongst aristocrats but accepted too. This was not the case with the bourgeois, if affairs cold be considered a privilege, it was one of the nobles only. An excellent case of affair-intolerance among the bourgeoisie would be the fortunate-then-unfortunate case of Madame de la Popelinière.
(Maurice-Quentin De La Tour, Madame de La Pouplinière. Pastel on paper, not dated. Musée Antoine Lécuyer)
Before she was Madame de la Popelinière she lived with her siblings in Paris and her mother (the actress Madamoiselle Daucour) trained her to be a stage actress. But the young Therese never had a need to use her acting skills, because she caught the eye of Alexandre Le Riche de la Popelinière, a wealthy financier. Before long, she was his mistress, and in passing mentioned that he had seduced her to the influential Madame de Tencin. Could this have been part of a bigger plan on her part?
(Anonyme d’après Jean-Marc Nattier (1685–1766), Le Duc de Richelieu, maréchal de France (1696-1788). Oil on canvas, 1732-42. Wallace Collection.)
Eventually the gossip made its way to the upper crust of society, and the Cardnial de Fluery heard of the situation regarding Monsieur de la Popelinière. The situation may have not been of matter to him, had not M. de la Popelinière held the lease of farmer-general from the king. Fluery gave the man an ultimatum, marry the lady or loose your position. Not willing to risk his position and station, he agreed and wed the lady. What good fortune for the would-be actress! M. de la Popelinière was wealthy, well known, and bumped elbows with the best of the best in France.
She took full advantage of her new place in society, holding a salon with artists, musicians and writers. She was a patron of the arts, and became greatly admired. She developed a fine taste for art and writing, her opinions were regarded as refined, and her manor was effortlessly graceful. This young lady would have had made her mark on Paris if it had not been for her own little affair, which was short lived.
She started to see the duc de Richelieu, infamous for his own intrigues, until she was caught by her husband. Disgusted with the whole incidence (fortunately he did not catch them in the act) he wanted nothing to do with the lady. The means of the discovery? A revolving fireplace in her room! So she was being sneaky but not sneaky enough.
Her husband kicked her out of the house but provided her with some money to live on. She appealed to the great men she previously knew for help but to no avail. Richelieu helped her out with lodging, and she may have had the opportunity to regain her place had she not died shortly after the whole disaster.
Be sure to visit Lauren’s blog for more 18th century related posts!
