29.12.1721 Madame de Pompadour is born

The story of Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson's life shows that women can also become influential figures in the course of history. She eventually became the mistress, or rather the mistress of King Louis XV. She went down in history as the Marquise or Madame de Pompadour. From childhood, she aimed high.

The fact that a woman of bourgeois origins managed to make it among the highest echelons of French nobility may be considered a minor miracle, but they did happen from time to time. Her destiny was predetermined primarily by her mother, Louise-Madeleine La Motte, who made her living as a paid ...a companion to men of high society, and made many important connections.

"But even that was clearly not enough. It was necessary to obtain a noble predicate in order for someone of low birth to approach the king himself. This document alone opened the way to the highest elite of the French monarchy, the king."Vladimír Liška writes in his book Grey Eminences of European History.

It is said that fortune favours the prepared, and Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson was indeed prepared - her beauty, charm, education and cleverness became the main assets that enabled her to captivate and enchant every man. But she had set her sights high since childhood, and her family had supported her in this, especially her mother, who did not want her daughter, like herself, to become a mere companion of many men, but rather to attain the permanent and high social position of a noble lady, which could only be secured by marriage.

That her daughter would succeed in this she had no doubt. For a fortune-teller had predicted that Jeanne would one day rule the royal heart. It could only be interpreted as a parable that she would one day marry a man of the best nobility, but Jeanne's mother took this prediction literally. Her little girl had a future in royalty.

"This was also the reason why she purposefully educated and guided her then only nine-year-old daughter to this future mission. Jeanne's childhood was spent in the convent of the religious order of the Poor Clares inPoissy, where she was to receive the best education," says Liška.

This convent had the best reputation in Paris, where Jeanne learned to read, paint, dance, sing and received a proper religious education. She grew up to be an accomplished lady, and the family began to consider marrying her off. She eventually married Charles Guillaume Le Normant d'Étiolles, the nephew of a well-known French financier. But she was most famous for being the mistress of King Louis XV himself, who bestowed on her the title of Marquise de Pompadour.

Vladimír Liška, Grey Eminences of European History, Tomáš Beník, Madame, www.dailyartmagazine.com