A fairytale farmhouse peers through ancient trees and shimmers in the surface of a lily-pond in this evocative real-photo postcard of La Maison de la Reine — the Queen's House at the Hameau du Petit Trianon, the rustic retreat that Marie Antoinette had built in 1783 to escape the formality of Versailles court life. The Hameau (hamlet) was designed by Richard Mique as an idealized Norman village on the grounds of the Petit Trianon; Marie Antoinette and her ladies would dress as shepherdesses and play at rural life here, a world apart from the gilded halls of the main château just a short walk away. The photograph's sepia tones and matte finish lend the scene an almost timeless melancholy — the long colonnaded gallery of the main farmhouse reflected in the still water, the surrounding forest enclosing this private fantasy world. Official Édition des Musées Nationaux card 44C, part of the Petit Trianon subseries.