Petit hameau

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Petit hameau, Versailles

Petit hameau, the English translation of which is "Little hamlet", is sometimes called "Le Hameau de la Reine". This land was part of the private park of Queen Marie Antoinette near the Palace of Versailles located in Versailles, France. It is situated in a part of the Versailles Park, centred on Ange-Jacques Gabriel's Petit Trianon, which Louis XV had built for Madame de Pompadour, and which royal successor Louis XVI subsequently gave to his wife, Marie Antoinette,

Petit hameau, Versailles

The petit hameau was small, a rusticated but ultimately ersatz farm (or ferme ornee) built around a landscaped pond. Created in 1783, the farm was complete with farmhouse, dairy, and mill. Here, it was said, the Queen and her attendants would dress as shepherdesses and milkmaids. Particularly docile, hand-picked cows would be washed and cleaned. These cows would be milked by the ladies, with porcelain milk churns specially made by the royal factory at Sèvres. These churns and pails featured the Queen's monogram. The ambiance at the petit hameau has been evoked in paintings by Fragonard - simple and rustic. However, inside the farmhouse, the rooms were far from simple, featuring the luxury and comfort Marie Antoinette and her ladies were accustomed to. Yet, the rooms at the petit hameau allowed for more intimacy than the grand salons at Versailles, or at the Petit Trianon itself. Such model farms were fashionable among the French aristocracy at the time, and one primary purpose of the hameau was to add to the ambiance of the Petit Trianon, giving the illusion that the Trianon itself was deep in the countryside rather than within the confines of Versailles.

The queen was accused by many of being frivolous, and found herself a target of innuendo, jealousy and gossip throughout her reign. For Marie Antoinette, this farm was an escape from the mounting horror of the real world, although to the french people having a queen that pretended to be a peasent for fun only made her image worse. She reigned supreme in this small area, and even the King only went there at her invitation.