One of the most famous images of Marie Antionette, 'Marie Antionette a' la rose'. Painted in 1783, meant to counteract the muslin dress scandal, where Marie was painted in a plain dress, thought not to be fit for a queen.
Another day, another deadline. Today was a mad rush to the finish line, facing the critique concerning our corporate identity brief. I was lucky enough to get a very interesting historic figure, Marie Antionette. For me this was not only an opportunity to work on a piece of design work for my portfolio, but also to learn more about an inspiring woman.
Marie Antionette was born in Austria, the daughter of a king. Her family were slowly killed off by small pox and after a frosty relationship with her mother, a relationship which apparently gave the young princess feelings of awe inspiring terror. At he age of fourteen, Martie Antionette was shipped, well, more accurately dragged by a horse drawn cart to France, where she was given the sole duty to rekindle the frosty relationship that Austria and France had long suffered.
The Princess was married to an aloof son of King Louis the XV, who would soon be crowned Louis XVI at the death of his elderly father. The young couple was forced to rule the ecenomically troubled country, while their personal life was rife with tension and frustration as Louis XVI had a low sex drive, and Marie Antionette had to wait seven years before they marriage could be finally consummated.
The Queen finally gave birth after a long wait and a harrowing labour, all the while the country was wallowing in poverty. Marie Antionette passed her long days spending the country’s money and seeking sexual gratification with men and women alike. The country were quick to turn on her, blaming her for the country’s poverty. Marie Antionette’s friends and trusted advisors were all killed off by madame guilotine, and her lady in waiting was raped, beaten and her body ripped apart, her genitals mutilated and her breats cut off. The woman’s head was then put upon a stake and parraded under the Queens window, where she was ordered to kiss the lips of her favourite. Poor Marie Antionette fainted instantly, and was spared most of this brutal sharrad.
Louis XVI was nest to go, the Queen grief striken refused to sleep, eat or take any exercise. She was finally put out of her miserey exactly 216 years ago today on the 16th October, 1793, her last words being simply, “Pardon me Sir, I meant not to do it.”

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