Madame de Pompadour

A protector of the arts as much as a royal favorite, Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson, marquise de Pompadour, left her mark on the reign of Louis XV well beyond the court. The king's mistress from 1745 onward, she retained her influence for about twenty years.

On June 24, 1745, the king granted her the Pompadour estate along with the title of marquise, an elevation that the aristocracy held against her. A woman of refined taste, she supported the Sèvres porcelain manufactory, championed Boucher and La Tour, and backed the publication of Diderot and d'Alembert's Encyclopédie.

Her influence extended into politics and architecture as well: she encouraged the reversal of alliances toward Austria and supported projects such as the Place Louis-XV and the Petit Trianon. She died in Versailles in 1764, at the age of forty-two.

Between July 1757 and January 1759, she leased the Château de Champs-sur-Marne, in the Île-de-France region east of Paris, for twelve thousand livres a year, a stay that added to the estate's renown.