In the Footsteps of Marie-Antoinette | Podcast Series

  

Image of an 18th century golden candle stick by Claude-Jean Pitoin depicting ornate fish at the base.
Image depicting a painting of Marie Antoinette standing outdoors wearing an embroidered blue gown and holding a fan in her right hand.
Painting by William Hamilton (1794) of Marie-Antoinette taken to her execution, pleadingly gazing to the sky, wearing a simple white dress and bonnet, her hands tied at the back by a guard. On her right a priest and in front of her four soldiers.

 

 

Marie-Antoinette: A Life in Objects

Welcome to 'In the Footsteps of Marie-Antoinette', presented by Catriona Seth, Marshal Foch Professor of French Literature at the University of Oxford.

 

In collaboration with the Wallace Collection in London, Waddesdon Manor in Buckinghamshire, the Conciergerie and Chantal Thomas, author of 'Les Adieux à la Reine', in Paris, Catriona Seth explores the life of Marie-Antoinette - her childhood at the Habsburg Court in Vienna, her marriage at the age of 14 to the future Louis XVI, life at the French Court in Versailles, and then her final days at the Conciergerie in Paris during the Revolution before her execution on 16 October 1793, at the age of only 37.

Sur les traces de Marie Antoinette est un podcast présenté par Catriona Seth FBA, Professeur Marshal Foch de littérature française à l'Université d'Oxford. En collaboration avec la Wallace Collection à Londres, Waddesdon Manor dans le Buckinghamshire, la Conciergerie, et Chantal Thomas, auteure des Adieux à la Reine, à Paris. Catriona Seth explore la vie de Marie Antoinette - son enfance à la Cour des Habsbourg à Vienne, son mariage à l'âge de 14 ans avec le futur Louis XVI, sa vie à la Cour de France à Versailles, puis ses derniers jours à la Conciergerie de Paris pendant la Révolution et avant son exécution le 16 octobre 1793, à l'âge de seulement 37.

Contributors

Episode 1 | Wallace Collection | Release date: 27 January 2021
Dr Helen Jacobsen, Curator of French 18th-century Decorative Arts, the Wallace Collection, London.
 

Episode 2 | Waddesdon Manor | Release date: 03 February 2021
Pippa Shirley, Head of Collections & Gardens, and Curators Rachel Jacobs & Dr Mia Jackson, Waddesdon Manor, Buckinghamshire.
 

Episode 3 | Conciergerie, Paris | Release date: 10 February 2021  (in French/ en français)
Cecile Rives, Administratrice Conciergerie/Sainte-Chapelle/Tours de Notre-Dame de Paris, Conciergerie, Paris; and Chantal Thomas, author of 'Les Adieux a la Reine' (2002) & 'La Reine Scelerate, Marie-Antoinette Dans Les Pamphlets' (1989).

 

Music | Excerpts from 'Orphee et Euridice' & 'Alceste' by Gluck, and Symphony no 85 in B-flat Major 'La Reine' by Haydn, licensed courtesy of Naxos Music Uk Ltd.

Cover Images | © Waddesdon Manor | © Wallace Collection | Wikimedia Commons - Marie-Antoinette being taken to her execution by William Hamilton (1794)

Production | ChromeRadio for TORCH / Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages, University of Oxford | Producer - Catriona Oliphant.