I AGREE WITH Pimprenelle..

thats amost as tall as I am , its not that tall.

In the movie she wasent that tall she was like in the middle and in the pictures she looked normal sized.But yes her feet were small.

ANOTHER QUESTION: Ive always wanted to live one day (or more ) in the life of MA... If u can choose one day in MA's life, wut would it be?

I would choose the day of the handover... just to think of how she felt... how scared she mustve been but her guts to still go thru with everything! she is truly an idol hehe

I would choose this night they were arrested in Varennes, and help them to fly away.

I agree totally Pim! I would do the same except the day of her execution march in with the whole Austrian army and plonk her in a guarded cairrage with her children and have her sent safely to her family in Vienna. Or maybe that on the day of Louis' execution!

I would choose the day of her arrival in France, May 1770, to admire this Dauphine and to acclaim her with the others, but also to force her to return to Austria, to live there quietly

Hello all,
I have also many questions for my school work, if you hate or love Marie Antoinette (no matter) please fill up my questionnaire and resend it to me you can here express your opinions and feelings the questionnaire is on my sites: http://www.kackuc.estranky.cz/clanky/history/questionnaire-of-marie-antoinette

Hi, I am very curious about sources for contemporaries who've mentioned the height of Marie Antoinette.I know that Vigee le Brun said she was tall, but I've seen other posters mention other contemporaries who've commented as well. Could someone point me in the right direction? Also, someone in this thread mentioned that she was measured during the bourbon restoration. Where would I find that information? What would be your best bet for that?

Happy for any information you can give me.

Louisette.

But the Versailles and Trianon beds are too small for 1.70!

Just an optical illusion and remember people at that time slept slightly propped up in bed.

What document specifically says that she was 1.7 m? Can anyone tell me where I would find this?

Maybe. We've discussed this at length in the past, and many period images show people stretched out fully, as they would be today.

Madame Campan also said she was tall and that Olivia, the woman chosen to imitate her in the dark in the Affair of the Necklace, was as well:

http://books.google.com/books?id=de0sAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA387&dq=intitle:Marie-ANtoinette+tall&lr=&num=100&as_brr=1&cd=14#v=onepage&q=intitle%3AMarie-ANtoinette%20tall&f=false

Her dressmaker Rose Bertin says that at 17 she was rather tall for her age:
http://books.google.com/books?id=wm4OAAAAQAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=inauthor:rose+inauthor:bertin&lr=&as_drrb_is=q&as_minm_is=0&as_miny_is=&as_maxm_is=0&as_maxy_is=&as_brr=0&cd=1#v=onepage&q=taille&f=false

Anyone with a hardcore interest who happens to be coming through Los Angeles might like to know that the LA County Museum's costume department has a wonderful library which possesses a catalogue by Rose Bertin of the dresses she made for the queen. These might give a more precise idea. (You have to schedule any visit however - it's not generally open to the public.)

Jim,

Thanks so much for the links. that's great. I've read Campan but didn't recall if it had said anything about her height.

Do you know if any of Rose Bertin's papers reveal her measurements ( not her bust and waist but measurements that would give an idea for how tall she was in feet and inches/ Metres?)

Just curious. Thanks so much for the links though, they're awesome.

Also -- that's crazy about Rose Bertin's catalogues being in LA. It's a crazy world. I never would have guessed that's where they would be.

All the best,

Louisette

I don't believe LACMA has the originals, just an edition which was published somewhere along the way.

It occurs to me that the arrest records - which typically included "signalement" (description) - probably have a very precise figure somewhere, but I haven't been able to locate it. Despite the willful attempt to treat "the Widow Capet" as just one more citizen, they might have considered it superfluous to record her description.

A period measurement would have been in feet (pieds). Any nineteenth century measurements would have been in meters (bearing in mind, that if they measured the bones, they would have had to relocate the skull.)

Here's another hint of how tall she was, from the Goncourt's biography: