Madame de Pompadour

Jeanne Antoinette Poisson, Marquise de Pompadour, also known as Madame de Pompadour , was a member of the French court and was the official chief mistress of Louis XV from 1745 to 1751, when she then became and remained close friend and confidant to the king until her death. She took charge of the kings schedule and was a valued aide and advisor, despite her frail health and many political enemies. She secured titles of nobility for herself and her relatives, and built a network of clients and supporters. She was particularly careful not to alienate the Queen, Marie Leszczyska. On February 8, 1756, the marquise de Pompadour was named as the thirteenth lady in waiting to the queen, a position considered the most prestigious at the court which accorded her with honors. She was a major patron of architecture and decorative arts such as porcelain. She was a patron of the philosophes of the Enlightenment, including Voltaire. Hostile critics at the time generally tarred her as a malevolent p

Jeanne Antoinette Poisson, otherwise known as Reinette to her friends, was born onDecember 1721 in Paris to Franois Poisson and his wife Madeleine de La Motte . It is suspected that her biological father was either the rich financier Pris de Montmartel or the tax collector Le Normant de Tournehem. Le Normant de Tournehem became her legal guardian when Franois Poisson was forced to leave the country in 1725 after a scandal over a series of unpaid debts, a crime at that time punishable by death. Her younger brother was AbelFranois Poisson de Vandires, who later became the Marquis de Marigny.

Source: Wikipedia