This portrait bust is a sculpture of the beautiful Marie Antoinette. She was an Archduchess of Austria and the Queen of France and of Navarre. She was also the fifteenth and penultimate child of Empress Maria Theresa of Austria and Emperor Francis I. At the age of fourteen, on the day of her marriage to Louis-Auguste, Dauphin of France, she became Dauphine de France. At the death of King Louis XV, in May 1774, her husband ascended the throne of France as King Louis XVI, and Marie Antoinette assumed the title of Queen of France and of Navarre. Initially charmed by her personality and beauty, the French people generally came to dislike her, accusing "the Austrian" of being profligate, promiscuous, and harboring sympathies for France`s enemies. At the height of the French Revolution, Louis XVI was deposed and the royal family was imprisoned. Nine months after her husband`s execution, she was tried, convicted of treason, and executed by guillotine on October 16th 1793. Any history buff would greatly appreciate a sculpture of this stature! This bust is made from solid bronze and mounted on a solid black marble base. It is also signed C. Cordler and stamped with the European Bronze Finery seal.