Petit Hameau ...Versailles

This delightful watercolor drawing of Marie Antoinette's Petit Hameau in spring makes wish I could step right into the painting! 

How I would love a mini farm with fluffy sheep on ribbon leads and little fat cows, swans and fancy chickens! 

I'm glad Marie Antoinette had her fantasy farm and could escape the stiff court rules and back stabbing and retreat into her simple little farm.

What an Easter delight it would be to enjoy  visiting the Petit Hameau at Versailles,

Have a Pink day!

Petit Hameau de la Reine

This was my favorite part of the entire trip. I had not been to the restore little farm by the Petit Trianon. The Queen's architect Mique finished it in 1787. It had a farmhouse, dairy and mill. It was a working farm in the sense that the main work was done by staff and the Queen and her ladies milked cows and gathered eggs and enjoyed picnics.

The milk pails were made of Sevres porcelain and the pails and churns had the Queen's monogram on them (as did the stairways in Petit Trianon) and the Queen and her attendants would dress as shepherdesses and milkmaids. This was fashionable among the aristocracy at the time.

The more natural landscape here was also a part of the ideology of Rousseau's cult of nature. The farm also gave the sense that the Petit Trianon was really in the country.

The farm was built to resemble a Normandy town and it is charming to this day. Again, untouched by the Revolution it fell into disrepair for many years. I was so happy to see it restored and quiet and it felt like we were alone in the country. I could have stayed out there for hours. It really is quite bucolic and almost dreamlike. But alas, we had to catch a RER train back to reality.

Have a PINK day!