Throughout history, the traditional roles that subordinated women passed from generation to generation. Although most women faced a life of limited opportunity, a few were capable of surpassing the traditional roles and gaining power and influence. One of these women was Jeanne-Antionette Poisson, also known as Madame de Pompadour (29 December 1721 – 15 April 1764, was a member of the French court, and was the official chief mistress of Louis XV from 1745 to her death.

She was born on 29 December 1721 in Paris to François Poisson and his wife Madeleine de La Motte. However, it is suspected that her biological father was either the rich financier Pâris de Montmartel or the tax collector (fermier général) Le Normant de Tournehem, who became her legal guardian when François 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.


In 1741, at the age of nineteen, Jeanne Antoinette was married to Charles-Guillaume Le Normant d'Étiolles, nephew of her guardian, who accepted the match and the large financial incentives that came with it. These included the estate at Étiolles (28 km south of Paris), a wedding gift from her guardian, which was situated on the edge of the royal hunting ground of the forest of Sénart. With her husband, she had two children, a boy who died the year after his birth in 1741 and Alexandrine-Jeanne (nicknamed "Fanfan"), born 10 August 1744. Contemporary opinion supported by artwork from the time considered the young Mme d'Étiolles to be quite beautiful, with her small mouth and oval face enlivened by her wit. Her young husband was soon infatuated with her and she was celebrated in the fashionable world of Paris. She founded her own salon, at Étiolles, and was joined by many philosophes, among them Voltaire.

Madame de Pompadour became politically quite powerful. Her favorites – Abbé Bernis, Maurepas, Choiseul - were elevated to important positions as State Ministers and she also played patroness to the leading intellectuals of the day like Voltaire, Diderot, Montesquieu and others. She corresponded with Queen Maria Theresa of Austria, who flattered her by addressing her as 'Ma chère cousine'.

However, Frederick The Great of Prussia failed to appreciate her. "I do not know her," he said crushingly, when Voltaire tried to bring about a meeting, and that was the end of it. No doubt the Seven Years War that followed soon after had its origins in this public snub.

Madame de Pompadour also had a falling out with Maurepas and had him removed from office. In revenge, he took to writing vulgar poems about her and entertaining the populace with public recitations. She responded by getting him exiled for twenty years.

Madame de Pompadour suffered two miscarriages in 1746 and 1749, and she is said to have arranged lesser mistresses for the King's pleasure to replace herself. Although they had ceased being lovers after 1750, they remained friends, and Louis XV was devoted to her until her death from tuberculosis in 1764 at the age of forty-two. Even her enemies admired her courage during the final painful weeks. Voltaire wrote: "I am very sad at the death of Madame de Pompadour. I was indebted to her and I mourn her out of gratitude. It seems absurd that while an ancient pen-pusher, hardly able to walk, should still be alive, a beautiful woman, in the midst of a splendid career, should die at the age of forty." Yet, at the time of her death, many enemies were greatly relieved and she was publicly blamed for the Seven Years' War. Looking at the rain during the departure of his mistress' coffin from Versailles, the King reportedly said:("The marquise won't have good weather for her journey.")

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