Elisabeth Charlotte (1652 - 1722), called Liselotte of the Palatinate, was the eldest daughter of Elector Karl Ludwig of the Palatinate, and granddaughter of the so-called "Winter King". In 1671, for political reasons, she was married as the second wife to "Monsieur", Philip I (1640-1701) Duke of Orléans, Louis XIV's brother. As the highest ranking woman after the Queen, she described life at the court of the Sun King in detail in 60,000 letters.
Her portrait shows Madame in a lively pose in front of a curtain, dressed in a hunting costume. As required by men's etiquette, she wears a richly embroidered jacket of the court hunting costume, the "juste au corps", with a wide skirt. Her glove, feather hat and allonge wig bring her wardrobe into line with men's fashion. Liselotte had learned to ride in France in 1673 and now took part enthusiastically in the hunts. She sat in the saddle all day long, exposed to the sun and the efforts and dangers of a hunt - unusual for a woman of her time who attended a hunt only from a carriage.
Her boyish behaviour aroused great public interest. A famous series of engravings from 1675 shows her as "the Amazon on horseback", as the "Mercure Galant" called her in 1680, in a similar hunting costume: the fan in one hand, the shotgun in the other.
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