3-034-797 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Marie Antoinette's Boudoir, South Kensington Museum, 1871. 'In the Museum of the Science and Art Department of the Committee of Council on Education, at South Kensington [in London], one of the objects that commonly attracts the curiosity of visitors is Marie Antoinette's boudoir. This was erected two or three years ago, at the end of the cloisters on the east side of the South Court, near the collection of specimens of Indian, Chinese, and Japanese art-manufactures. It consists of a small room, about 13 ft. square, beautifully decorated on walls and ceiling, in the style of Riesner and Gouthière, and furnished with a square table, a small window-table, and four chairs, besides which it contains a lady's harp and the miniature busts of Louis XVI. and his Queen on the mantelpiece. The pretty little apartment at Trianon or Versailles, of which this is an exact representation, was prepared, it is said, by Marie Antoinette, with the assistance of Madame Serilly, who had been her favourite maid of honour, and it was designed as a pleasant surprise for her husband on his return from a temporary absence'. From "Illustrated London News", 1871.