All of the famous French portraitists painted her. This is by her favorite - Boucher.*** Continuing the Wikipedia article - "At last, she was married in 1741 (at the age of 19) to Charles-Guillaume Le Normant d'Etiolles, nephew of her guardian, who accepted the match and the large financial incentives that came with it. These included the estate at Étiolles, a wedding gift from her guardian, which was situated on the edge of the royal hunting ground of the forest of Senart. With her husband, she had two children, a boy who died the year after his birth in 1741 and Alexandrine-Jeanne (nicknamed "Fanfan"), born August 10, 1744. Contemporary opinion supported by artwork from the time considered Poisson to be quite beautiful, with her small mouth and oval face enlivened by her wit. Her young husband was soon infatuated with her and she was celebrated in the fashionable world of Paris. She founded her own salon, at Etiolles outside Paris, and was joined by many of the great philosophes, Voltaire among them.* As Reinette became known in society, even the King came to hear of her. Madame Poisson, ever ambitious for the prophecy to succeed, numerous times took Reinette in their carriage to the royal forest in the hope of 'accidentally' encountering the King. At last, Reinette caught the eye of King Louis XV in 1745. A group of courtiers, including her father-in-law, promoted her acquaintance with the monarch, who was still mourning the death of his second official mistress, Duchesse de Chateauroux. In February 1745, Antoinette was invited to a royal masked ball at Versailles celebrating the marriage of the King's son.* At the chosen moment in the Grand Ballroom, eight costumed figures appeared, comically dressed as yew-tree hedges, one of which was the King in disguise. By chance or design, Reinette dressed as Diana, goddess of the Hunt, had found her prey and soon the King removed his headdress and engaged her in courtly conversation. By March, she was a regular visitor and King's mistress, installed at Versailles. He also bought her the estate of Pompadour, a marquisate with title and coat-of-arms, for in order to be presented at court she required a title. In July, Louis created her a marquise and she was legally separated from her crestfallen husband; on September 14 she was formally presented at court, and quickly mastered the highly-mannered court etiquette, although initially it is said the king joked to his close friends that he would have much to teach her (clearly referring to her bourgeois roots). Unfortunately her mother had died too early to see the prophecy come true but come true it had and at 23 she was undisputed royal mistress, commanding considerable power and the attention of the court. She was soon to become embroiled in the world of alliances, conspiracies, politics, and frivolity.* Contrary to popular belief, she never had much direct political influence, but supported the Marechal de Belle-Isle and endorsed the Duke of Choiseul to the king. However, she did wield considerable power and control behind the scenes, which was highlighted when another of the king's mistresses, Marie-Louise O'Murphy de Boisfaily, "la belle Morphyse," attempted to replace her around 1754. The younger, less experienced Morphyse was arranged to be married off to a lesser noble and out of the royal court's inner circle, the Lord of Ayat, uncle of the famous general Desaix. She would have a son from this marriage who'd be present at the execution of Louis XVI.* She had many enemies among the royal courtiers, who felt it a disgrace that the king would thus compromise himself with a commoner. She was very sensitive to the unending libels called poissonnades, a word meaning something like "fish stew", a pun on her family name, Poisson, which means "fish" in French. Only with great reluctance did Louis take punitive action against known enemies such as the Duc de Richelieu.* Her importance was such that she was even approached in 1755 by Wenzel Anton Graf Kaunitz, a prominent Austrian diplomat, asking her to intervene in the negotiations which led to the 1756 Treaty of Versailles. This was the beginning of the so-called Diplomatic Revolution, which temporarily lessened the long antagonism between France and Austria. This alliance eventually brought on the Seven Years' War, with all its disasters, like the loss of New France in Canada to the British and the defeat at the hands of the Prussians in Battle of Rossbach, in 1757. After Rossbach, she is alleged to have comforted the king saying this now famous by-word: "au reste, apres nous, le deluge" ("After us, the deluge"). France emerged from the war diminished and virtually bankrupt.* However, Pompadour persisted in her support of these policies, and when Cardinal de Bernis failed her, brought Choiseul into office and supported him in all his great plans: the Pacte de Famille, the suppression of the Jesuits and the peace of Versailles, sealing the loss of Canada.