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| Joseph Ducreux After French, 1735-1802, Marie Antoinette as a Young Girl. Dates not recorded, oil on canvas. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston |
How tall was Marie Antoinette?
"She has a most graceful figure; holds herself well; and if, as may be hoped, she grows a little taller, she will possess every good quality one could wish for in a great princess. Her heart and character are both excellent."
This statement was made when she was around 13. There have been many debates on how tall Marie Antoinette actually was, the number is unknown for sure. Speculation has found her to be anywhere from as tall as 5'6'' and a shorter 5' 2.5''.
5'6'' would be rather tall for the 18th century lady. As she had been observed and described we must remember she would always be found in her fashionable heeled shoes, and miles-high poufs. Along with posture fit for a queen (and helped by those grand corsets), she would certainly appear tall to contemporaries. She also had better nutrition than most. It can be agreed she was somewhere between the two but I would say closer to 5' 2.5''.
By the 18th century height was at an all time low! (between the 9th -18th cent.'s) Yes, people grew shorter. The 18th century population was on average 2.5 inches shorter than their medieval ancestors.
If someone would be so kind as to measure the length of the death mask at Madame Tussaud's we can get an idea of how tall Marie Antoinette's height was based on the ideal cannon of proportions! (I know, that is dark) Too bad we do not have any exact numbers...
Oh, come on, she was tall enough! I think they wanted to be 3 metres tall! Let's have a look nowadays and see how tall are people! Neither short, nor tall!
ReplyDeleteMarie Antoinette was reportedly quite tall, especially by conventional standards. Why do you think it was more likely 5'2?
ReplyDeleteThat is extremely interesting that the people of her day were about 2 " smaller than medieval ancestors? Why is that?
Fascinating post!
@Anonymous 5'25'' is just my thought on her height based on portraits and description. I am not sure that her mother was very tall either.
ReplyDeleteMore interesting are the possible reasons for the decline in height during that period. Some theories are the rise of cities and population growths and the ease of spreading communicable disease. Agriculture, climate and diet as well. If you are interested in reading more check out this article:
Steckel , Richard H.. "New Light on the "Dark Ages"." Social Science History 28, no. 2 (2004): 211-229.
Hmm, 5'2.5"? That seems fair enough.
ReplyDeleteBtw, Richard II of England was a known and recorded 6 foot.
Very interesting - it seems quite a number of fabulous Historical ladies were quite short, Catherine of Aragon for instance was posatively tiny!
ReplyDeleteKeep the posts comin' - this blog is so interesting! :)
You must have read the chapter on MA by Hilaire Belloq "French Revolution" -- he was saying she wasn't extravagant at all, especially as compared to more modern standards, but that she didn't understand the French or fit in, so therefore was mistrusted...
ReplyDeleteMary, Queen of Scots, was 5'11 and she was from the 16th century.
ReplyDeleteMarie Antoinette was 5'2 and was in the 18th century.
That's a huge diference. However, Queen Elizabeth 1 was 5'3. If I remember right Jane Seymour was tiny too.
Jane Grey was 17 yrs old at the oldest when she was beheaded. She also had very strict parents and I can't think prison life(even back then) would've been the ideal place to finish one's adulthood. As a person who grew almost 4 inches between the ages of 15-18 and then another almost whole inch when I was 18-19 yrs old.
DeleteBut, yeah(sorry for rambling on), everything I've ever read about her mentions she was thin and very short. ✌🏼
Anne Boleyn was supposed to have been petite, even for her time. Anyway, what has height to do with anything? It's charisma, personality, style and, last but not least, personal ethics, that count.
ReplyDeletethanx for that post. though i cannot really work with your foot and inches... european, you know... :-D
ReplyDeleteanyways, when i went to mdm tussauds, i took a pic of me standing next to marie antoinette, and if i remember right, mdm t went to meet the royal family and so the height of this wax m.a. can be quite acurate, what do you think? i am 1,78 metres and she was just a tiny bit shorter than me... i look for the pics and will email you...
I was at Versailles several years ago. She was short indeed. Her bed looked to be the size of a child's. I was struck with how small it was, even with all of the ornamentation.
ReplyDeleteI was wondering about her shoe size 😆
ReplyDeleteUS 6
DeleteThey just said that her shoe size was 22.5 cm, as one is now going up for auction. Or a tiny shoe, https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/marie-antoinettes-shoe-to-go-on-the-block/ar-BB1aZj9G, size 6 in the US or 36/37 French sizing. At least from my perspective as a person who is 5'7" and has a size 8.5 -9 size US shoe. I think a lot of people who were not so tall by modern standards, ( cf. Bonaparte) were pretty impressive! So interesting about Queen Elizabeth! Mary Queen of Scots was a Guise in. part, and the Guises ( of Lorraine) were all very tall!
ReplyDeleteGiven that she wore the equivalent of a U.S. size 3 1/2 shoe, she had to be small. One of the shoes she was wearing when she was executed is in a museum.
ReplyDeleteMy daughter is 5ft and wears a size 7, im 5’2 and wear a size 6 shoe
ReplyDelete