Louis XV was the Grandson of Louis XIV and like him,
he took the throne at age five.
He died at 64 yrs old.

Louis XV early in his reign

Louis XV's 59-year reign (1715–1774)
was a peaceful one in France,
with only three short Succession wars:
Polish Succession (1733-1735),
Austrian Succession (1741-1748)
The Seven Years War of 1756-1763

It was during Louis XV's time on the throne
that the Acadian Deportation of 1755 occured,
engineered by Queen Anne of Britain.
moving 8,000+ away from their homes, into foreign soil.
It was partly Louis XV's lack of good judgment if not the indifference of the French Monarchy which were responsible for "la Nouvelle-France" to become a British possession.

In France there was general prosperity,
demographic growth, and technical progress.

The fashion became elegance and luxurious living. It was so popular that this convivial atmosphere of refinement spread to the rest of Europe. Versailles set the tone, attaining a moment of perfection in the 1750s when Madame de Pompadour reigned at court as the arbiter of fashion. She was a friend of Voltaire.

La Marquise de Pompadour

Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson (Mme de Pompadour) belonged to a family of great Parisian bankers. She received a refined education, and soon become known as one of the most beautiful and wittiest women in Paris. At age 24, she was presented at court, where she became the mistress of Louis XV, who ennobled her as the Marquise de Pompadour. Although she was the focus of the king's passion for only five years, she remained his friend until her death in 1764 at the age of 43. She would have a secret child from the King, raised in Villette. The apartments she occupied at Versailles can still be seen today.

Louis XV the Well-Beloved

Madame de Pompadour managed to entertain a bored Louis XV by organizing suppers, festivities, and shows, and by stimulating his interest in buildings and gardens, notably the Petit Trianon. Louis, who became king at age five and was dubbed the Well-Beloved early in his reign, was handsome, majestic, and intelligent. Yet he was shy, and felt oppressed by the pageantry instituted by Louis XIV. He escaped it as soon as he could, taking refuge in his private apartments and cabinets (where he installed his new mistress, Madame du Barry following the death of Madame de Pompadour)

Madame du Barry.

The Royal Family
At age fifteen, Louis XV married Maria Leszczinska, daughter of the king of Poland.

Maria Leszczinska

By the time he was 27, Louis had already fathered ten royal children, seven of whom survived—the Dauphin (father of the future Louis XVI) and six royal princesses, who were collectively known as 'Mesdames'.

Signatures of the Royal Family

Madame de Pompadour remained on good terms with the royal family and displayed respect for the queen, whose dignity and benevolence made her a great queen.

Pompadour, the Art Patron
A generous Madame de Pompadour distributed royal largesse to painters (like François Boucher), sculptors (Jean-Baptiste Pigalle) and writers (Voltaire).
As a perfect mistress of the house, she particularly encouraged the decorative arts, interesting Louis XV in the porcelain manufactory at Sèvres, which then produced its finest china.
Her many town and country residences were decorated in the delicate, floral Rococo manner often called 'Pompadour style' (her Paris mansion, the Elysée, is now France's presidential palace). At the end of her life, however, she encouraged a new return to a classical style.

Ange-Jacques Gabriel
Before becoming chief architect to Louis XV and friend of Madame de Pompadour,
Ange-Jacques Gabriel (1698–1782) trained at Versailles in the school of Hardouin-Mansart, where he learned the monumentality and sobriety that led naturally to his mature style based on the forms and elements of ancient architecture. For 40 years, Gabriel supplied all designs not only for construction projects but also for the constant interior remodeling of Versailles, the Petit Trianon, the Opera, the Gabriel wing, and so on.
(see Chateau de Versailles' website at www.chateauversailles.fr )

An Austrian Princess
Marie-Antoinette of Hapsburg-Lorraine (1755–1793) was the daughter of the all-powerful Maria Theresa who reigned in Vienna.

Portrait of Marie-Antoinette
France and Austria having settled their differences seven years earlier, in 1770 the heir to the French throne, Louis XV's grandson, LOUIS XVI married the Austrian archduchess, sealing an alliance that certain people still felt was unnatural. The bride was fifteen years old, the groom sixteen. Their marriage spurred the construction of the Opera, where the wedding festivities were held.

LOUIS XVI

Les Maitresses Royales de Versailles furent Madame de Pompadour, du Barry, de la Valliere, Montespan, etc...

LINK to the CHATEAU de VERSAILLES

Notes were mostly taken from

Columbia Encyclopedia (1942)

and Chateau de Versailles' website

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Danielle - Celebrations 2000

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Danielle et Olga Obry LeMyre (1916-2006)
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