“Study for Marie-Antoinette’s Private Library,” is a small watercolor based on the private library that Marie-Antoinette had built by her architect Richard Mique between 1779 and 1781. The Queen had a series of small private rooms built around a courtyard at Versailles for her own private use and her ladies in waiting. The rooms couldn’t be expanded but they were renovated under Marie-Antoinette’s care. I was struck by how small in scale her library was. I imagined her library as a place where she could retire from the rules of court and be herself. All of the drawings throughout are from the collection at Versailles. The desk, chairs and carpet are sourced from some of her other private rooms. The portrait on the floor of the library leaning against the bookshelf is “Marie-Antoinnette in a Chemise Dress,” by Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun,1783. It was removed from the Salon of 1783 because at that time it depicted her in a way that didn’t seem appropriate for a Queen. She is arranging flowers, has a straw hat on and her hair is falling loosely down. The dress was also very informal, similar to an undergarment of the time. I was struggling with the two sides of her life and how she might have felt trapped by her circumstances. Beyond the library through the door I depicted a very formal staircase that almost acts as a blockade keeping her inside the library. It’s difficult to think of her private moments without also thinking of her tragic death.