Gabriela Zapolska na wystawie poświęconej Marii Antoninie, Paryż, 2 maja 1894 roku

Abstract

The author of this article, French researcher Cécile Coutin, analyses the method used by Gabriela Zapolska (1857–1921), a Polish modernist writer, in her report on an important Parisian exhibition. In the spring of 1894, the Charles Sedelmeyer art gallery located at 4 La Rochefoucauld in Paris, organized an exhibition named “Marie Antoinette et son temps” [“Marie Antoinette and her times], aimed to pay homage to the last queen of France guillotined one hundred years earlier. Gabriela Zapolska visited the exhibition and described it in a fairly surprising manner. The catalogue of the exhibition, surely consulted by Zapolska, contained a preface by Germain Bapst (1853–1921), written in an elegant style. The researcher observes that the article written by Zapolska contains several historical mistakes commonly made at that time and repeated to date, e.g. the famous phrase supposedly said by the queen in response to information that peasants could not afford bread: “Then let them eat brioches”. Marie Antoinette never spoke these words. They were spoken in the 17th century by Maria Theresa of Spain, the wife of Louis XIV and by Madame Victoire, the daughter of Louis XV in the 18th century – both ladies were famous for their stupidity. None of respected Marie Antoinette’s biographers ascribes this sentence to her. However, Zapolska was undoubtedly a cultured person and had extensive knowledge of the theme. Zapolska described the exhibition using an original form, creating the impression of a mourning ceremony, expressing her personal feelings, experienced in a company of visitors who pretended to be in mourning. Obviously, her professional skills as an actress and playwright distinguished her among the group of mediocre visitors, enabling her to show sincere concern about the tragic fate of Marie Antoinette.