Sketch History - Marie Antoinette

Inspired by the incredible exhibition in the V&A Museum I decided to focus this months sketch session on the woman who puts the shoe in choix pastry - Marie Antoinette.

This Austrian born shoe and cake lover was the 15th of 16 children and it wasn't long before her mother packed her bag along with with a gigantic wig and sent her off to tie the knot with the next in line to the French throne - Louis XVI.

Marie Antoinette was only 14 when she married Louis and it was only a few years later that she became the Queen of France. She spent lavishly and cost the court an obscene amount of money, all the while the people of France were starving. This was due to rising taxes and poor crop growth. Word soon spread that the new queen was spending money on parties, sky high cakes, chandeliers and at least 3 pairs of shoes per week.

Angry mobs wanted to be heard and if this meant burning down their central prison in Paris (the Bastille) then so be it. But they needed more - so armed with weapons the people of Paris broke into the Palace of Versailles and slashed the queens bed into rags. Luckily for Marie she had escaped to another wing, but she couldn't hide for long.

On the 21st of January 1793 King Louis of France was found guilty of treason and beheaded with the guillotine, 10 months later his wife met her end.

Our sketch for this session had to be a pair of Marie Antoinette's shoes. I put 20 minutes on the clock and I played some calm music in the background.