Jeanne Antoinette Poisson, Madame de Pompadour, became the official chief mistress (maîtresse-en-titre) to King Louis XV of France in 1745. Even after their physical relationship ended, she remained his trusted political advisor, playing a critical role in engineering the Diplomatic Revolution of 1756 and navigating the Seven Years' War. Her salon at Versailles became the undisputed center of French intellectual life, driving major shifts in European art, politics, and philosophy.

As a dedicated patron of the Enlightenment, Madame de Pompadour actively protected Denis Diderot and Jean le Rond d'Alembert's radical 'Encyclopédie' project from crown and church censorship. Her salon nurtured early French Enlightenment poets, philosophers, and satirists like Voltaire, shaping a vibrant literary landscape that directly challenged absolute monarchy.