As I watched the film re-enact the Affair of the Necklace, I saw a print I recognized (and later confirmed) with research as Belisarius Begging for Alms by Jacques Louis David. I spotted the reproduction during the confrontation between the plotters Jeanne de la Motte, her husband, and her lover.

Having learned about this painting in my undergraduate days, I knew what the film was trying to tell me with the reproduction of this David painting. The artwork tells the story of a man cast out of upper-crust Byzantine society. Belisarius’s tragedy intended to act as a reflection of Jeanne’s plight. However, the film makes a historical error regarding Jeanne’s family origins. From what I have gathered about her life, the French aristocracy did not cast her out because her father was a well-intentioned reformer, as the movie claims. Her memoir, which I am currently reading as of this review, states that her father was anything but that. I will review her book for a future blog post.  

Besides the David print, I spotted another art history reference worthy of discussion. I noticed a copy of Elizabeth Vigée Le Brun’s portrait of Queen Marie Antoinette designed to resemble Joely Richardson, the actress playing the monarch. This manipulated reproduction appears during an argument between Queen Antoinette and Cardinal de Rohan, a man hustled by a group of plotters who mimicked the queen with false correspondence and an impersonator. 

Just wanted to share an amusing little detail found in a movie about how a fake Antoinette helped bring down the actual Antoinette.