A Scented Palace: The Secret History of Marie Antoinette's Perfumer

by Elisabeth de Feydeau

Jane Lizop (Translator)

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Book cover for A Scented Palace

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In Montpellier, 1748: Jean-Louis Fargeon is born into a family of perfumers and soon becomes apprenticed to his father's modest perfumerie. But he dreams of the glittering court of Versailles and of becoming perfumer to the young queen, Marie Antoinette. His ambition carried him to Paris where his boutique became one of the most elegant and wellpatronised in France. Concocting sumptuous perfumes and pomades for most of the French nobility, Fargeon eventually caught the attention of the queen. After meeting Marie Antoinette in the Trianon Palace, he began creating lavish bespoke scents that perfectly reflected her moods and personality. He served as her personal and exclusive perfumer for fourteen years until 1789 when the darkness of Revolution swept across France, its wrath aimed at the extravagance of a now hated queen. Fargeon, a lifelong supporter of the Republican cause, but a purveyor to the court, was in a dangerous position. Yet, he remained fiercely loyal to Marie Antoinette, beyond her desperate flight to Varennes, her execution and even through his own imprisonment and trial...
  • ISBN10 1845111893
  • ISBN13 9781845111892
  • Publish Date 28 April 2006
  • Publish Status Out of Print
  • Out of Print 4 March 2021
  • Publish Country GB
  • Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
  • Imprint I.B. Tauris
  • Format Hardcover
  • Pages 140
  • Language English