MARIE ANTOINETTE
BY: MARIONA VIDAL AND ANNA MEMBRIVE
INDEX
• Live facts
• Biogaphy
• Why is she important
• Her role in the french revolution
• Relationship with other characters
• “Let them eat cake”
• Portrait
• Portrait
• Portrait
• Conclusion
• Bilbiography
LIVE FACTS
• Complete name: Marie Josepha Johanna
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Antoinette
Born: 2-Nov-1755
Birthplace: Vienna, Austria
Died: 16-Oct-1793
Location of death: Paris, France
Cause of death: Execution
Married: Louis XVI
Remains: Buried, Saint-Denis Basilica,
Saint-Denis, France
Religion: Roman Catholic
Occupation: Royalty
BIOGRAPHY
• Parents: Maria Theresa, empress of Austria and Francis I,
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Holy Roman Emperor.
Parents had enough money to pay her an education.
16th May, 1770, Versailles: She was 15th years old married
dauphin of the French throne. Unification of Austria and
France.
Father died in 1774. One year later the couple became
king and queen of France.
Marie also became queen of Navarre.
1784: support her brother (Joseph 2nd) with a feud with the
Netherlands. Husband refused to help Austria. French
people criticized her, and called her “l’Autrichienne”.
1785: Jeanne de la Motte Valois pretended being Marie
Antoinette and stole money from the cardinal of Rohan.
To solve her reputation she gave the image of a carrying
mother:
"No one understands my ills, nor the terror that fills my
breast, who does not know the heart of a mother."
– Marie Antoinette
There were lots of rumours.
Marriage
Jeanne de la Motte Valois
WHY IS SHE IMPORTANT?
• Became important when
she became the queen of
France.
• People started to criticize
her.
• Suspicious daily life was.
• And once they started
criticizing her, she owned
that reputation, and she
was the one that always
would have the fault.
ROLE IN THE FRENCH REVOLUTION
• Accused her of being her who leaded them
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to the crisis.
First and second state, didn’t pay the taxes
And inequality was the main cause of the
French Revolution to begin.
Desire to create a more fair taxes input.
Nobles resisted. Blamed Maria Antoinette.
1789 assemble in Versailles with all the
states.
3rd state meted again and placed the
government on French citizens for the first
time.
She was accused for ordering his husband
to oppose at the enlightened ideas and
accused of various crimes.
Marie complaining before she died.
RELATIONSHIP WITH OTHER
CHARACTERS
• Jacques Necker  he was
the king’s minister, they didn’t
have a really good
relationship
Anne Robert Jacques Turgot
 he worked as general
audience at the palace, neither
had good relationship.
RELATIONSHIP WITH OTHER
CHARACTERS
King Louis XVI  her husband
Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, county of
Mirabeau  he was just the king’s
adviser.
RELATIONSHIP WITH OTHER
CHARACTERS
Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès  he was
a revolutionary politician
Maximilien Robespierre  The
same way as Sieyes
RELATIONSHIP WITH OTHER
CHARACTERS
Louis Antoine de Saint-Just 
revolutionary, but he participated
in her execution.
Georges Danton  Also a
revolutionary politician , he wanted
to restore the government so that
way it could be a republic
RELATIONSHIP WITH OTHER
CHARACTERS
Jean-Paul Marat  revolutionary
that achieved the necessary votes
to carry out the kings executions.
Napoleon Bonaparte  Had a
good relationship wrote a letter to
show his disagreement
“LET THEM EAT CAKE”
• That famous phrase was thought to be said by Marie, in order to
justify to the peasants that if they had no bread they could eat cake,
in order to say it
• There is no evidence
• The story appears in the philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s
Confessions, which was written around 1766 (Marie Antoinette was
just 11)
• Antonia Fraser, believes the
quote would have been highly
uncharacteristic of Marie.
PORTRAIT
• Here we have a Portrait of Marie
Antoinette. As we can see for her
robes, for her hat, en for the
necklace his wearing, she looks like
she’s had a lot of money. Also she
shows her economic power, because
she could afford for a portrait.
• She is holding a rose with her hands,
which would mean the youth, and
the purity, which would symbolize
her.
• The background is rural; she’s at the
middle of a forest or of some garden,
which remembers to the vegetation
of Trianon (the palace and park of
Versailles).
PORTRAIT
• In the portrait of Marie Antoinette, we can
By Jaques-Fabien Gautier d'Agoty
see her dressed in clothes that seem to be
very expensive and elavorated so maybe
that was a really important portrait, and
also we can see she has a well groomed
hair.
• At the background we can find a blanket
or cloth with fleur de lis, that represent the
Borbon family as Marie’s mother
was Maria Theresa, the daughter of
King Philip IV of Spain
• We can also find a world globe that
symbolize knowledge and wisdom
• Finally we can see that the room were she
is located, somewhere in her castle, and
also some velvet clothe.
PORTRAIT
• In this photo, we can see Maria
Antoinette in a more informal
way. Those portraits, on which
the character is represented
with some instruments, are the
ones that try to show wisdom
and knowledge. Also, we can
see that Marie is wearing a
more casual suit to show his
approach to the village, the
background is thought to be a
room only used for fine arts like
music or painting.
Marie Antoinette, painted by Franz
Xaver Wagenschön, shortly after her
marriage in 1770
Conclusion
• Carefree life
• Scandal around France
• Accusations, blames and rumors she was
condemned to death.
LIBERTÉ, EGALITÉ ET
FRATERNITÉ
BIBLIOGRAPHY
• Marie
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Antoinette.
(n.d.).
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2013,
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Marie Antoinette Biography. (n.d.-a). BIO. Retrieved November 12, 2013, from
http://www.biography.com/people/marie-antoinette-9398996
Marie Antoinette Biography. (n.d.-b). Retrieved November 12, 2013, from
http://bastille-day.com/biography/Marie-Antoinette
Marie-Antoinette. (n.d.). History.com. Retrieved November 12, 2013, from
http://www.history.com/topics/marie-antoinette
Did Marie-Antoinette really say «Let them eat cake»? — Ask HISTORY — History
Q&A.
(s.
f.).
Retrieved
November
14,
2013,
from
http://www.history.com/news/ask-history/did-marie-antoinette-really-say-let-themeat-cake?cmpid=INT_Outbrain_HITH_HIS&obref=obnetwork
Marie Antoinette. (s. f.). Retrieved Noviembre 13, 2013, from
http://www.nndb.com/people/185/000085927/
Marie Antoinette Biography - Facts, Birthday, Life Story - Biography.com. (s. f.).
Retrieved 12 November, 2013, from http://www.biography.com/people/marieantoinette-9398996