Madame du Barry is remembered in public life for work that changed what came after it.
The record lists Madame du Barry as French noblewoman by marriage (1743–1793), last mistress of Louis XV (from 1768 to 1774).
Madame du Barry was born in 1743. Her recorded nationality is France.
The eighteenth century organised knowledge into academies, expeditions and collections, and turned patronage into something closer to a profession.
She worked as royal mistress, art collector and modiste.
Political reputations are settled slowly, and rarely by the people who made them.
Working from France shaped what was possible - the audiences within reach, the institutions that would have her, the language the work first appeared in.
Madame du Barry died in 1793, aged 50. What survives is the work, which is the only durable form of a reputation.
Achievements
- Worked as royal mistress, art collector and modiste
