Madame de Pompadour

Commenting on Madame de Pompadour, English critic Thomas Carlyle said, "Highly rouged, unfortunate female, of whom it is not proper to speak without necessity." Happily, author Nancy Mitford considers it necessary to speak about Louis XV's mistress in detail.

In a lively combination of history and character study, Mitford describes the life of Madame de Pompadour, her rise to power and her great talents as a patron on the arts. She paints a glittering picture of the court and untangles the complicated threads of politics at home and abroad. Mitford has revised and amplified her original biography of Madame de Pompadour for this superbly illustrated volume - a companion to her recent best-selling 'The Sun King.'

Includes fifty color photographs and more than 130 black-and-white illustrations. Frontispiece: Full-length portrait of Madame de Pompadour, by painter Francois Boucher, 1759. Illustrated end-papers: 'The Triumph of Venus,' by Francois Boucher.

Includes list of sources and index.