Life
1737-1814 [var. Louison O’Morphi]; dg. of Daniel Murphy, a shoemaker and an officer in teh Irish Regiment on France; recruited as mistress to Louis XV through offices of Casonova, bearing dgs. to the King; was first occupant of Parcs des Cerfs, ejected from favour by Madame de Pompadour; retired from court, 1773; narrowly escaped guillotine at the Revolution; her figure famously portrayed, heels kicking and nude on the chaise-longue, by François Boucher as ‘Ruhendes Mädchen’, an image which has been explored in a canvas of “Irlande” as whore in a pastiche by Michael Farrell. ODNB
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Criticism
Louison, The Life and Loves of Marie Louise O’Morphi (1979); Duncan Sprott, Our Lady of the Potatoes (London: Faber 1995; pb. 1997), 235pp. [a biographical novel].
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Commentary
David Coward, review of Duncan Sprott, Our Lady of the Potatoes (London: Faber 1995), in Times Literary Supplement (25 August 1995), call it a biographical novel of Morfi (sic); her derrière, as captured by Boucher in the famous painting such that - according to Casanova who found her for the king - “the pose was so artful that the eye could not wish to see more”; dg. of Daniel Murphy, an officer in the Irish Regt. and sometime cobbler; his wife selling old clothes and herself to make a living; Marie-Louise spotted at 13 by Casanova and conveyed to the king at 16; her sister struck a pricey bargain for her; retired in 1773 and married with dowry to impoverished army officer; later widowed; retained superstitions; bore dg. to King Louis XV (to the alarm of Mme Pompadour), which was removed from her; survived the Revolution; novel regarded as well written but clinically detached, a probably better treated as biography.
Eamon Delaney, ‘The meandering master’, review of David Farrell, Micheal Farrell: The Life and Work of an Irish Artist (Liffey Press), in The Irish Times (6 Sept. 2006), Weekend: ‘[...] Farrell had strong, but complicated, feelings about the relationship with England, not least because he spent so much time there. Probably his most famous painting is Madonna Irlanda, based on François Boucher’s portrait of Miss Louisa O’Murphy, mistress of Louis XV, with the Irishwoman depicted lying on a divan with her backside exposed. / “I don’t like Ireland being a whore, but that doesn’t mean I don’t like whores”, said Farrell, a confused explanation that says a lot, not just about his political feelings (and about the painter/collector relationship?) but also about his obvious love/hate relationship with women, especially strong women. Like many 1960s rebels, he was much more sexist than he realised.’ (David Farrell is a brother of the painter.)
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