Louis XV of France - Image, Public Opinion and History

Image, Public Opinion and History

Edme Bouchardon's equestrian statue of Louis XV was originally conceived to commemorate the monarch's victorious role in the War of the Austrian Succession (1740–48) and artistically executed to display a benign representation of the king as peacemaker. However it was, ironically, unveiled in 1763 following France's defeat in the Seven Years War. Bouchardon's work designed to be a powerful symbol of loyalty to the king became the centerpiece of a public relations event staged to restore public confidence in a monarchy in decline using art as propaganda on a grand scale.

Many scholars argue that Louis was unequal to the high expectations of his subjects. Harris says that, "Historians have depicted this ruler as one of the weakest of the Bourbons, a do-nothing king who left affairs of state to ministers while indulging in his hobbies of hunting and womanizing." Harris adds that ministers rose and fell according to the whims not of the king but of his mistresses, and this seriously undermined the prestige of the monarchy.

Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie, the leader of the French Annales School, notes the king was handsome, athletic, intelligent and an excellent hunter, but that he disappointed the people. They saw that the king had stopped taking the Eucharist and had stopped performing his religious obligations to the people. Le Roy Ladurie says the people felt he had deconsecrated and desacrilized the monarchy, and thereby diminished himself.

Contemporary songs, poems, and public declarations looked for a king who was absolute "master," unblemished "Christian," and benevolent provider ("baker"). Young Louis's failings were attributed to inexperience and manipulation by unscrupulous handlers. Jassie and Merrick argue that the king's troubles mounted steadily, and the people blamed and ridiculed his debauchery, while famines and crises battered the nation and the king ignored the problems. The people reviled the king, and finally celebrated his death. The monarchy survived—for a while—but Louis XV left his successor with a damaging legacy of popular discontent.

Some sermons on his death in 1774 praised the monarch and went out of their way to excuse his faults. Merrick writes, "But those ecclesiastics who not only raised their eyebrows over the sins of the Beloved but also expressed doubts about his policies reflected the corporate attitude of the First Estate more accurately." They prayed the new king would restore morality at court and better serve the will of God.

The financial strain imposed by these wars and by the excesses of the royal court, and the consequent dissatisfaction with the monarchy, contributed to the national unrest which culminated in the French Revolution of 1789.

Historian Colin Jones argues that Louis XV left France with serious financial difficulties: "The military disasters of the Seven Years War led to acute state financial crisis.". Ultimately, he writes, Louis XV failed to overcome these fiscal problems, mainly because he was incapable of putting together conflicting parties and interests in his entourage. Worse, Louis seemed to be aware of the forces of anti-monarchism threatening his family's rule and yet failed to do anything to stop them.

Two recent scholars defend Louis XV. A biography by Olivier Bernier argues that Louis was both popular and a leader in reforming France. In his 64 year reign no foreign army crossed the French border and her people were not threatened by conquest. He was known popularly as Le Bien-aimé (the well-beloved) and after a near-death illness in Metz in 1744 many of his subjects prayed for his recovery. His dismissal of the Parlement de Paris and his chief Minister, Choisieul, in 1771, were attempts to wrest control of government from those Louis considered corrupt. He changed the tax code in an effort to balance the national budget. Bernier argues that these acts would have avoided the French Revolution, which was created only after his successor, Louis XVI, reversed his policies. Another author, Guy Chaussinand-Nogaret, writes that Louis XV's tarnished reputation was created fifteen years after his death, to justify the French Revolution, and that the nobility during his reign were competent.

However Gombrich says, "Louis XV and Louis XVI, the Sun King's successors, were incompetent, and content merely to imitate their great predecessor's outward show of power. The pomp and magnificence remained....Finance ministers soon became expert swindlers, cheating and extorting on a grand scale. The peasants worked till they dropped and citizens were forced to pay huge taxes."

Jeffrey Merrick claims that his weak and ineffective rule accelerated the general decline that culminated in the French Revolution in 1789. The king was a notorious womaniser; the monarch's virility was supposed to be another way in which his power was manifested. Nevertheless, Merrick writes, popular faith in the monarchy was shaken by the scandals of Louis’s private life and by the end of his life he had become despised.

Bernier blames the disasters on others while praising the king who was kindly, affectionate, handsome, and well versed in mathematics and science.

Historians agree that in terms of culture and art, France reached a high point under Louis XV. However, he was blamed for the many diplomatic, military and economic reverses. To the end he maintained the pretense of personal rule, but his reign was marked by ministerial instability while his "prestige was ruined by military failure and colonial losses," concludes Lepage.

Popular legend holds that Louis said, "After me, the flood" ("Après moi, le déluge"). In fact this quotation is more precisely attributed to Madame de Pompadour, although it is not certain that even she ever said it.