Marie Antoinette's Head: The Royal Hairdresser, The Queen, And The Revolution

by Will Bashor

Overview

Marie Antoinette has remained atop the popular cultural landscape for centuries for the daring in style and fashion that she brought to 18th century France. For the better part of the queen's reign, one man was entrusted with the sole responsibility of ensuring that her coiffure was at its most ostentatious best. Who was this minister of fashion who wielded such tremendous influence over the queen's affairs? Winner of the Adele Mellen Prize for Distinguished Scholarship, Marie Antoinette's Head: The Royal Hairdresser, The Queen, and the Revolution charts the rise of Leonard Autie from humble origins as a country barber in the south of France to the inventor of the Pouf and premier hairdresser to Queen Marie-Antoinette. By unearthing a variety of sources from the 18th and 19th centuries, including memoirs (including Léonard's own), court documents, and archived periodicals the author, French History professor and expert Will Bashor, tells Autie's mostly unknown story. Bashor chronicles Leonard's story, the role he played in the life of his most famous client, and the chaotic and history-making world in which he rose to prominence. Besides his proximity to the queen, Leonard also had a most fascinating life filled with sex (he was the only man in a female dominated court), seduction, intrigue, espionage, theft, exile, treason, and possibly, execution.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780762791538
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	10/16/2013
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	320
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Will Bashor has a B.A. degree in French and an M.A. degree in French literature from Ohio University and a Ph.D. in International Studies from the American Graduate School in Paris where he gathered letters, newspapers, journals, and plays during his research for Marie Antoinette's Head. Professor at Franklin University and a member of the Society for French Historical Studies, he attended the annual meeting at Harvard University in 2013 where he presented the political importance of Leonard Autie's role in the royal family's unsuccessful flight to Varennes. Visit him at www.willbashor.com.

Table of Contents

Family Tree vii

Map viii

Chronology x

Cast of Historical Characters xi

A Note on Sources xv

A Note on Titles of Nobility xvi

Prologue xvii

Part 1 The Mania

1 Léonard the Magician 2

2 The King's New Mistress 20

3 The Court of Versailles 29

4 Captivating a Queen and Her Subjects 48

5 "Le Pouf Sentimental" 65

Part 2 The Queen's Confidant

6 A Hairdresser's Gossip 80

7 The Queen's Temperament 97

8 The Monsieur's Theater 109

Part 3 The Clouds of Revolution

9 The Fatal Banquet 124

10 The Flight of the Royal Family 142

11 The Other Léonard 162

12 The Fatal Message 173

13 Léonard in Exile 183

Part 4 The Struggles to Survive

14 Sorrowful Events 198

15 The Queen Is No More 211

16 Leonard Resumes the Comb 222

17 Sixteen Years Later 238

18 Leonard's Final Ruse 47

Afterword 257

Acknowledgments 261

Selected Bibliography 263

List of Illustrations and Credits 269

Endnotes 277

Index 291

Editorial Reviews

A delicious and meticulously researched perspective on the man and a society tipped irrevocably on the brink of ruin. A heady read, indeed.

LAVENDER

A New York Post "Must-Read" BookA Mental Floss "Favorite Read"Entertaining. .. captures details of an extraordinary time and place. An engaging...narrative of a celebrity hairstylist, circa 1789. Biography buffs and lovers of historical fiction will enjoy this work..." - Library Journal[Starred Review] "An informative examination of a little-known player on a great stage...An entertaining, well-researched work that will particularly interest students of cultural history and the French Revolution." - Kirkus Reviews" ...[G}ives you plenty of bang for your buck...: thirty-pound wigs, mouse-infested coiffures, and the occasional miniature naval battle all make appearances. But it is also a scholarly history not merely of the vagaries and politics of Versailles court fashion, but the rise and fall of Léonard Autié, a man of modest background who rose to become hairdresser to the queen, and whose fortunes were inexplicably tied to that of the doomed monarchy. — Sadie Stein, The Paris Review"...most intriguing and immaculately researched" - France Today"Compelling....Bashor weaves history, politics, French court customs, into a movie-worthy tale of ambition, luck, romance, and tragedy..." - The Santa Fe New Mexican"Bashor continues to offer original perspectives on the last Bourbons and those who served them. In this dual biography, Marie Antoinette emerges through the eyes and "magic comb" of Léonard Autié, her gifted hairdresser ...Marie Antoinette's Head not only entertains, it conveys both the events and the character of the age." - Reed Benhamou, PhD, Professor Emerita, Indiana University "This is a new and riveting account, in a clear and attractive style, of significant historical events that lead to the French Revolution of 1789, as seen through the eyes of Marie Antoinette's ambitious hairdresser..." - Aleksandra Gruzinska, School of International Letters and Cultures, Arizona State University"I have nothing but praise. The book is so well researched, so well written, so totally readable that it will appeal to a very wide public...." - David Wingeate Pike, American Graduate School of International Relations and Diplomacy, Paris

From the Publisher

10/01/2013
When Léonard Autié arrived in Paris during the summer of 1769, he brought with him a bundle of self-confidence and his "magic comb." Determined to make his fortune as a hairdresser, Autié quickly found patrons among Parisian actresses and in the court of Louis XV. It was Autié who created "le pouf," those massive and frivolous concoctions that towered above the foreheads of the privileged elite and contained ribbons, feathers, flowers, jewels, and, ultimately, even a model ship sailing on a sea of hair. Eventually, he became the stylist and confidant of the young Austrian dauphine, Marie Antoinette. As an intimate of the Versailles court, Autié was a witness to, and possibly a participant in, the chaos leading up to the execution of his most famous client. Based primarily on a two-volume memoir published after the hairdresser's death in 1820, this entertaining read by Bashor (global issues, Franklin Univ.) dramatizes (there's invented dialog) a fascinating period of French history. Enhanced by numerous archival images and supplementary materials, the book captures details of an extraordinary time and place. VERDICT An engaging, albeit embellished, narrative of a celebrity hairstylist, circa 1789. Biography buffs and lovers of historical fiction will enjoy this work, but it's not for specialists.—Linda Frederiksen, Washington State Univ. Lib., Vancouver

Library Journal

★ 2013-12-09
A scholarly debut biography that looks at the French Revolution through the eyes of the queen's hairdresser and confidant. When Léonard Autié first arrived as a young man in Paris in 1769, he was so short on money that he walked the last 120 miles on foot. His possessions consisted of little more than a few coins, a tortoiseshell comb and "an ample supply of confidence." Ten years later, after he created the famous "pouf" hairstyle, he was the hairdresser to the queen of France. A decade after that, during the revolution, Autié "took on the dangerous role of messenger and secret liaison between the royal family and their supporters." Later, forced into exile and financially ruined, he spent a lengthy sojourn in Russia, where he worked as hairdresser to the nobility (and even arranged the hair of Czar Paul I's corpse). He was eventually allowed to return to Paris in 1814, and he died there six years later. Bashor draws on contemporary accounts and letters and particularly Autié's ghostwritten memoir, purportedly based on his journals and published 18 years after his death. The author notes that the latter source's dialogue is unverifiable (although he cross-checks it with contemporary sources whenever possible) and that Autié was given to boasting and exaggeration. Fortunately, however, Bashor liberally quotes from the Souvenirs de Léonard, giving his own account a gossipy, entertaining directness, similar to a historical novel. (He also includes a bibliography, endnotes and an index.) Autié's perspective highlights just how out of touch and frivolous the aristocrats were; for example, when he brings news to Versailles of the fall of the Bastille, he finds the court ladies "oblivious" and "clamoring for his services." Bashor doesn't clearly explain the specifics of hair powdering and wig making or how Autié arranged his fantastic poufs (although he does include illustrations), but his depiction of Autié's fascinating fly-on-the-wall role as confidant to doomed royalty makes up for it. Overall, he delivers an informative examination of a little-known player on a great stage. An entertaining, well-researched work that will particularly interest students of cultural history and the French Revolution.

Kirkus Reviews

A delicious and meticulously researched perspective on the man and a society tipped irrevocably on the brink of ruin. A heady read, indeed.

Lavender Magazine

A 'Must-Read' Book

New York Post

[G]ives you plenty of bang for your buck...: thirty-pound wigs, mouse-infested coiffures, and the occasional miniature naval battle all make appearances. But it is also a scholarly history not merely of the vagaries and politics of Versailles court fashion, but the rise and fall of Léonard Autié, a man of modest background who rose to become hairdresser to the queen, and whose fortunes were inextricably tied to that of the doomed monarchy.

Paris Review

A 'Must-Read' Book

New York Post

[G]ives you plenty of bang for your buck...: thirty-pound wigs, mouse-infested coiffures, and the occasional miniature naval battle all make appearances. But it is also a scholarly history not merely of the vagaries and politics of Versailles court fashion, but the rise and fall of Léonard Autié, a man of modest background who rose to become hairdresser to the queen, and whose fortunes were inextricably tied to that of the doomed monarchy.

Paris Review