Portret van Marie Antoinette, koningin van Frankrijk 1793

This is a portrait of Marie Antoinette, Queen of France, engraved by John Murphy. The pearls adorning her hair and neck symbolize purity and status. Yet, like so many symbols, the pearl is polyvalent. Consider the pearl’s echo in Botticelli’s Venus, emerging from the sea, draped in pearls—a symbol of divine, untainted beauty. But observe how, centuries later, the pearl takes on a darker hue in Dutch vanitas paintings, signifying worldly vanity. Here, these pearls serve as more than mere decoration. In this portrait made before the Queen's execution, they are a poignant reminder of the fleeting nature of earthly power and beauty, evoking a deep, subconscious awareness of mortality and the transient nature of life. This cyclical transformation of symbols reflects our collective memory and how the past continually reshapes the present.