Yolande Martine Gabrielle de Polastron, Duchess of Polignac was the favourite of Marie Antoinette, whom she first met when she was presented at the Palace of Versailles in 1775, the year after Marie Antoinette became the Queen of France. She was considered one of the great beauties of pre-Revolutionary society, but her extravagance and exclusivity earned her many enemies.
Portrait by Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun, 1782. (Styled after Self-portrait in a Straw Hat)
Marie Antoinette was instantly "dazzled" by the duchess of Polignac
A more formal portrait of the Duchesse de Polignac by Élisabeth Vigée-Lebrun
Pamphlet against the duchesse de Polignac printed in 1789, after her escape to Switzerland
Marie Antoinette was the last queen of France prior to the French Revolution. She was born an archduchess of Austria, and was the penultimate child and youngest daughter of Empress Maria Theresa and Emperor Francis I. She became dauphine of France in May 1770 at age 14 upon her marriage to Louis-Auguste, heir apparent to the French throne. On 10 May 1774, her husband ascended the throne as Louis XVI and she became queen.
Portrait, c. 1775
Archduchess Maria Antonia depicted at seven years of age in a 1762 watercolor portrait by Jean-Étienne Liotard
Maria Antonia by Martin van Meytens c.1767-1768
Archduchess Maria Antonia depicted at age 13 in a 1769 portrait by Joseph Ducreux, which was sent to the Palace of Versailles in May 1769
