Additional musings below the cut (and in a separate post because I don't necessarily want the drawing to be about that)
Ok I put it below the cut because I don't mean for this to come as, idk, virtue-signalling or anything, it's genuinely rooted in frustration and all, but ofc I'm also being pushed and motivated by the utter boredom I get from how… not diverse most of these protagonists are. Even moreso as it's not even representative of reality; sure, French noblemen and women were white (for the utmost part) but the court itself was diverse. It's just that, surprise surprise, people of color are rarely mentioned, much less named, so when focusing only on the named protagonists of the many stories of Louis XIV's court, it's easy to find yourself with a white only cast and it's just not my jam.
Soooo I wanna make a more conscious attempt of better representing court life and the many, many kinds of lives and people found there, even in Monsieur and Madame's very direct entourage, from diplomats and embassadors to merchants to the (paid) personnel, maids, pages, valets etc. Given how we're basically given almost zero names (aside from embassadors), they'll have to be OCs, whom will have to be to be interweaved with the others "officially named" characters, since I still prefer to stick to historical facts as closely as I can. It shouldn't be too hard, as many people gravitated around them and weren't just furniture.
Liselotte was very close to one of her personal maids, a young black woman she cites in her letters, whom unfortunately isn't named as most maids, valets and pages weren't named. I've read that Phil had good friends among merchants and embassadors from Turkey and Thailand among others, and there are multiple mentions of Indian and black pages in court, so I think that's quite a nice array of potential characters to work on and imagine, and just learn more about. Merchants and diplomats aside, of course, many of these people were educated, very cognisant of court life and rules, and there for far more than just holding doors open or fanning noble people (though those of course existed and deserve attention of their own as well, ideally……. but i'm just one guy unfortunately)
anyway rant over and apologies if it comes out as weird i just got really frustrated drawing all these white dudes yesterday and wondered wtf i was doing w my life
I just wanted to design distinct enough faces. I'm not the best at caricatures or really unique and different face shapes so hopefully i'll get better with time but this is a first attempt.
feel free to ask about any of them in the comments, tho i think i'll end up reposting it with details of who is who. I haven't managed to find the names of two of them, welp.
(also i need to start looking further into pages and others bc i'm sick of the lack of diversity in this cast ffs..............)
On sait que Philippe était super heureux à la naissance de ses enfants mais quel genre d'oncle était-il? Etait-il heureux à la naissance du Dauphin? Je paris que des gens l'ont fixé pour voir comment il réagissait à la perte de sa place d'héritier. (ils ont du être déçu)
Et Louis, comment a-t-il réagit à la naissance de ses nièces et neveux?
EEYYYY LE GRAND DAUPHIN MENTIONED!!!
Je me devais de les dessiner avant de répondre parce que j'ADORE le grand dauphin LOL
ENGLISH BELOW!!
On ne sait pas exactement quelle fut sa réaction à la naissance du dauphin, mais à priori il a du être fort content ! Il est fort probable que des gens l'aient effectivement fixé, mais en soi, vu que ce n'était pas bien longtemps après toute l'affaire de la fièvre typhoïde de Louis, où le rejet total de la couronne par Philippe s'est fait remarquer, je pense que tout le monde se doutait bien que ça ne le dérangeait pas le moins du monde de ne plus être héritier présomptif.
(suite en dessous as well as english translation)
Philippe avait en fait une très bonne relation avec le dauphin ! Ce dernier aimait le spectacle, même si ses goûts personnels l'orientaient plus vers l'opéra que le théâtre, que préférait Philippe ; il aimait aussi l'art et l'argenterie, que Philippe chérissait tout autant, et ils aimaient autant la fête l'un que l'autre ! Il s'avère même qu'ils organisaient régulièrement des fêtes ensemble tant ils s'accordaient bien sur la question.
En soi, avant que ça n'éclate entre lui et Philippe II (🥀) le dauphin avait d'excellentes relations avec toute la famille d'Orléans. Le plan initial avait été de le marier à Marie-Louise d'Orléans, et les deux le souhaitaient avec enthousiasme : ils s'entendaient très bien, et Marie-Louise aurait pu ce faisant rester près de son père en France et être future reine de France. Le dauphin s'entendait aussi très bien avec Liselotte et le Chevalier, avec qui il partageait un grand amour pour la chasse (le dauphin était un très grand chasseur). Le dauphin séjournait très régulièrement au renommé château de Frémont, propriété du Chevalier très prisée par les chasseurs. Et enfin, il s'entendait aussi très bien avec Philippe II... jusqu'à ce que plus 🥀🥀🥀
On ne sait pas exactement quelle était leur relation durant l'enfance du dauphin, mais en tout cas lui et son oncle se sont très bien entendus dès son adolescence sans aucun doute.
En ce qui concerne la réaction de Louis aux enfants de Philippe; on ne sait pas trop (je crois? il en parle peut-être dans ses mémoires mais je ne les ai pas encore lu...), mais je pense qu'il était sincèrement content. En soi, le renforcement de la dynastie des Bourbons arrangeait tout le monde, quoiqu'il arrive. La descendance de Philippe, même si elle s'est "indépendentisée" en tant que branche cadette, reste porteuse de l'étendard des Bourbons, et le roi savait que, particulièrement grâce aux filles de Philippe, il pourrait faire progresser sa politique. Et puis bon, je ne pense pas que Louis était complètement sans coeur, je crois qu'il a pu se réjouir pour Philippe d'un point de vue humain aussi, de même qu'il a été touché par les morts en bas-âge des fils de Philippe. Je crois qu'il était content à la naissance de Philippe II aussi, ce n'est que plus tard que ses travers l'ont sérieusement rattrapé...
ENGLISH
We know that Philippe was very happy at the birth of his children, but what kind of uncle was he? Was he rejoiced by the dauphin's birth? I bet some people looked at him to see how he reacted to the loss of his status of heir to the throne (they must have been dissappointed.)
And Louis, how did he react to the births of his nieces and nephews?
Ok so I had to draw them because I LOVE the grand dauphin haha!!
We don't really know what Philippe's genuine reaction was at the birth of the dauphin, but he was likely quite happy! It's indeed possible that people looked his way, but given that this took place not too long after Louis' typhoid fever incident, where Philippe's complete rejection of the crown didn't go unnoticed, I think that everyone suspected he wouldn't be bothered in the least to lose his status of heir.
He actually had a great relationship with the dauphin! The latter loved scenic arts, though his personal taste went towards opera moreso than theatre, which Philippe prefered; they also both loved art and silverware, and they equally loved partying! It so happens that they regularly organized parties together, given how well aligned they were in that regards.
In fact, before things went south between him and Philippe II (🥀), the dauphin had excellent relationships with the entire Orleans family. The initial plan had been to marry him to Marie-Louise of Orleans, and both were enthusiastic about it : they got along very well, and Marie-Louise could have thus stayed in France by her dad's side as well as become the future queen of France (in theory). The dauphin also got along very well with Liselotte and the Chevalier, both of whom he shared a passion for hunting with (the dauphin was a great hunter). He was frequently hosted at the famed château de Frémont, property of the Chevalier prized by hunters. And he also got along very well with Philippe II... until not 🥀🥀🥀
We don't really know what their relationship was like when the dauphin was a kid, but it's quite sure that they already got along well by the time he was a teenager.
As for Louis' reaction to Philippe's children; we don't really know (I believe? he may have mentioned it in his memoirs but I haven't read them yet...), but I think he was genuinely happy? Reinforcing the Bourbon dynasty was good for everyone, no matter what. Philippe's descendence, though it became independent as a cadet branch, was still representing the Bourbons, and the king knew that, particularly thanks to Philippe's daughters, he could wield his politics further and wider. And, well, I don't think Louis was completely heartless, I believe he could have been happy for Philippe on a human level as well, just like he was touched by the permature death of his sons. I think he was also happy at Philippe II's birth, and that his issues only caught up with him later on...
Keeping an alive tumblr in 2026 is proof of one's sincerity and authenticity - a type of person who enjoys posting for the sake of it with absolutely nothing to be gained....just the enjoyment of curation and self expression untainted by opportunity and relevance
I've decided to get my shit together and open my sketchbook again 🦵🦵🦵 Was mostly inspired by the incredible illustrations of the Diary of Samuel Pepys, an englishman of the 17th century, illustrated by the fantastic E. H. Shepard.
I made the tierlist because I had nothing better to do
crazy how over-populated the abuser tier is 💀💀💀💀💀most of them had enough depth and nuance (except the blonde one tbf) that they belonged high enough (tho i'm not sure the blonde one rly belongs above the C tier one but... whatever)
D tier is goofy brainless moron tier tbf
I wanted to have a little fun with a hybrid, sort of modernized look and attitude, which I tried to keep realistic IN THEORY.
I looked a bit into the history of straws and sunglasses; the straws are fine and not anachronistic--while we have no record of them being used in court, they existed and were used in other cultures, so who knows.
AS FOR THE SUNGLASSES: technically, proper sunglasses only emerged in Europe in the early 18th century, so we are a good 50 years too early. HOWEVER! I have read that in Japan, quartz was already used as a form of sun mask/sunglasses by some societies since around the 1400s iirc, and Roman emperor Nero used emeralds to look at the sun. THEREFORE. While they are anachronistic (the design 100% is for sure), it's fun to imagine that it could have been a very expensive gem-stone design, perhaps imported from Japan or China, that well known fashion-precursor Philippe got his hands on and momentarily popularized in court. It's not true, it's not a thing, but I like the concept, lol.
also gotta admit the concept of wearing sunglasses at the sun king's court is just perfect, like "sorry bro yk you're just too blinding" *puts on glasses*
