Marie Therese d’Autriche…

Nicolas de Larmessin
Marie Therese d’Autriche…
Paris 1661
Engraving
230 x 160 mm
£90
Maria Theresa of Austria (Spanish: María Teresa; French: Marie-Thérèse) (10 September 1638 – 30 July 1683) was the daughter of Philip IV, King of Spain and Elizabeth of France. Maria Theresa was Queen of France as wife of King Louis XIV and mother of the Grand Dauphin, an ancestor of the last four Bourbon kings of France.
She married the King of France in 1660 and on 26 August 1660, the newlyweds made the traditional the Royal Entry into Paris. Louis was faithful to his wife for the first year of their marriage, even going so far as to command the Grand Maréchal du Logis that "the Queen and himself were never to be set apart, no matter how small the house in which they might be lodging". He enjoyed the legitimate passion that his wife felt for him. However, the couple would later have difficulty with compatibility. While all Paris glorified the good looks of the king, Marie-Thérèse continued to put on weight with her delight in hot chocolate and to withdraw into her circle of dwarfs. Louis’s installment of Louise de La Vallière as his first official mistress caused the queen much emotional pain. In later years, Louise would make a public apology for her wrongs against the queen. Marie-Thérèse was very fortunate to have found a friend at court in her mother-in-law, unlike many princesses in foreign lands. She continued to spend much of her free time playing cards and gambling, as she had no interest in politics or literature. Consequently, she was viewed as not fully playing the part of queen designated to her by her marriage. But more importantly, she became pregnant in early 1661, and a long-awaited son was born on 1 November 1661.
During the last week of July 1683, Marie-Thérèse fell ill and, as her illness worsened, her husband ordered for the sacraments to be kept nearby. Marie-Thérèse, Infanta of Spain and Queen of France, died a painful death on 30 July 1683, at Versailles. Upon her death, Louis XIV said: "This is the first trouble which she has given me."