num_pages: 224
description: Born the illegitimate daughter of a monk and a seamstress, Madame du Barry rose from poverty to become one of the most powerful and wealthy women of France. A courtesan, she became Louis XV's official mistress and was fêted as one of France's most beautiful women. On Louis XV's death she became vulnerable to those secretly longing for her downfall. Marie Antoinette had her imprisoned for a year, and in 1793 she was executed by the Revolutionary Tribunal for her aristocratic associations. Joan Haslip's classic biography shares the extraordinary and ultimately tragic story of du Barry's life and, in turn, illustrates the dazzling world of the eighteenth century royal court of France and the horrors of the Revolution.
language: English
title: Madame du Barry: The Wages of Beauty
titlecomplete: Madame du Barry: The Wages of Beauty (Tauris Parke Paperbacks)
genres: Historical, History, France, 18th Century, Biography Memoir, European History, Research, Biography, Nonfiction
ratings_count: 227
publisher: Tauris Parke Paperbacks