Page "Marie Antoinette" Paragraph 10

Antonia's education was poor, or at least it lacked the rigorous training of Louis XVI's ; her handwriting, for instance, was sprawling and careless in form.

It was not so much the teachers themselves, though, that made her education sub-par, but rather her lack of willingness to contribute intellectually to her lessons.

Often, her tutors would finish the work themselves, out of fear of losing their positions.

Under the guidance of Gluck, she excelled to some extent in her musical endeavors.

She drew often ; at ten, for example, she had drawn a good chalk likeness of her father.

She learned Italian, from Metastasio, on top of the necessary French and German, as well as Austrian history and French history, though from an Austrian perspective.

But while she flourished in her learning of Italian, her other languages proved to be a weak point.

Conversations with her were stilted, and her ability to read and write German and French ( the ' universal ' language of Europe at this point in time ) was undeniably poor.