Jeanne Du Barry : l'invention d’une favorite

Exhibition at the musée du domaine royal de Marly, Marly-le-Roi, 16 October 2026 – 28 February 2027

Far removed from the clichés with which posterity has all too long associated her, and from the dark legend that emerged even before her death, Jeanne Du Barry (1745–1793) remains one of the most fascinating and least understood figures of the 18th century. Her life story reveals a personality that was more complex, cultured and influential than traditional accounts have long led us to believe. As Louis XV’s last favourite, she was also a fashion icon, a daring patron, a discerning collector and a key figure in the artistic life of her time.

Born out of wedlock into a modest background, to a commoner mother and a bourgeois father who did not acknowledge her, Jeanne Du Barry climbed the ranks of a deeply hierarchical society until she reached the court of Versailles. Her meteoric rise, her social intelligence and her keen sense of presentation enabled her to occupy an unprecedented position within the king’s entourage.

Through one hundred and fifty works and objects – paintings, sculptures, drawings, prints, furniture, objets d’art and archival documents – this exhibition catalogue invites visitors to rediscover the life of Jeanne Bécu, who became the Countess Du Barry. It seeks to restore her to her rightful place: that of a woman who was at once the architect of her own rise, a daring patron, a discerning collector and a favourite at the heart of the power struggles of the reign’s twilight years.