The Good Life France Magazine




The Good Life France Magazine brings you the best of France - inspirational and exclusive features, fabulous photos, mouth-watering recipes, tips, guides, ideas and much more...


Published by the award winning team at The Good Life France

thegoodlifefrance
Views
1 year ago
Report

SUMMER 2025

  • View more details
  • Provence
  • Loire
  • Paris
  • Normandy
  • Recipes
  • France
  • Free magazine
  • Living france
  • France travel
  • France magazine
Brimming with brilliant features and beautiful photos - bursting with inspiring, entertaining and informative guides from sun-kissed, pickled-in-the-past villages and dazzling historic cities, and through French history, heritage and culture from iconic cakes to the most spectacular chateaux. Discover Paris, Provence, Normandy, and lesser known treasures in Burgundy, southern France, the Loire Valley, and many more dazzling destinations. Plus mouth-watering recipes, history, culture, heritage and much, much more. Bringing France to you - wherever you are.

La Marquise de Pompadour

La Marquise de Pompadour by Maurice Quentin de la Tour 1750, Louvre Museum MADAME DE POMPADOUR: A queen without a crown Madame de Pompadour was arguably the most famous, high-powered mistress of King Louis XV of France. She rose from humble beginnings to become a major patron of the arts and the king’s favoured political advisor. Sue Aran and Janine Marsh explore the life of a queen without a crown. The future Madame de Pompadour, Jeanne- Antoinette Poisson was born on 29 December, 1721 in Paris to François and Madeleine La Motte Poisson. Her father was exiled for fraud, leaving her mother to raise her and her brother, Abel-François. Fortunately for the family, the local férmier général (tax collector), Charles François Paul Le Normant de Tournehem, became Jeanne-Antoinette and Abel-François’s legal guardian, raising suspicion that he was their biological father. Jeanne-Antoinette was a precocious and uncommonly pretty child, and a fortune teller told her mother that the little girl would one day win the heart of the king, causing her to be nicknamed Reinette, “little Queen.” From then on Madame Poisson was determined that her daughter would be prepared for the heady heights of a role as a royal mistress, though it was well known that fortune tellers, of which there were many in 18 th century Paris, frequently predicted such “good fortune” to their clients. Madame Poisson took personal charge of her daughter’s education, grooming her for success and hiring tutors who taught the young girl to memorize entire plays by heart, dance, sing, paint, engrave and play the clavichord. Aged 19, Jean-Antoinette was an enchantingly beautiful, astute woman, and entered into a marriage of convenience with de Tournehem’s nephew, Charles-Guillaume Le Normant d’Étiolles. Madame d’Étiolles made the most of her talents for befriending important people including philosophers and writers, and swiftly rose through the ranks of Parisian elite. It didn’t take long for her to come to the attention of King Louis XV who was known for his enthusiastic appetite for mistresses, allegedly he had more than 100 during his lifetime, though only one at time was his “official mistress” - the favourite, a position of considerable power and influence. Madame de Pompadour’s portrait in her apartment at Versailles © Didier Saulnier, Palace of Versailles Louis XV circa 1762, Louvre Museum Collection, via Wikimedia 48 | The Good Life France The Good Life France | 49

  • Page 1 and 2: FREE The Good Life France ISSUE N
  • Page 3 and 4:
  • Page 5 and 6:
  • Page 7 and 8:
  • Page 9 and 10:
  • Page 11 and 12:
  • Page 13 and 14:
  • Page 15 and 16:
  • Page 17 and 18:
  • Page 19 and 20:
  • Page 21 and 22:
  • Page 23 and 24:
  • Page 25 and 26:
  • Page 27 and 28:
  • Page 29 and 30:
  • Page 31 and 32:
  • Page 33 and 34:
  • Page 35 and 36:
  • Page 37 and 38:
  • Page 39 and 40:
  • Page 41 and 42:
  • Page 43 and 44:
  • Page 45 and 46:
  • Page 47:
  • Page 51 and 52:
  • Page 53 and 54:
  • Page 55 and 56:
  • Page 57 and 58:
  • Page 59 and 60:
  • Page 61 and 62:
  • Page 63 and 64:
  • Page 65 and 66:
  • Page 67 and 68:
  • Page 69 and 70:
  • Page 71 and 72:
  • Page 73 and 74:
  • Page 75 and 76:
  • Page 77 and 78:
  • Page 79 and 80:
  • Page 81 and 82:
  • Page 83 and 84:
  • Page 85 and 86:
  • Page 87 and 88:
  • Page 89 and 90:
  • Page 91 and 92:
  • Page 93 and 94:
  • Page 95 and 96:
  • Page 97 and 98:
  • Page 99 and 100:

  • Page 101 and 102:

  • Page 103 and 104:

  • Page 105 and 106:

  • Page 107 and 108:

  • Page 109 and 110:

  • Page 111 and 112:

  • Page 113 and 114:

  • Page 115 and 116:

  • Page 117 and 118:

  • Page 119 and 120:

  • Page 121 and 122:

  • Page 123 and 124:

  • Page 125 and 126:

  • Page 127 and 128:

  • Page 129 and 130:

  • Page 131 and 132:

  • Page 133 and 134:

  • Page 135 and 136:

  • Page 137 and 138:

  • Page 139 and 140:

  • Page 141 and 142:

  • Page 143 and 144:

  • Page 145 and 146:

  • Page 147 and 148:

  • Page 149 and 150:

  • Page 151 and 152: