was of these occasions that the King habitually remarked, in refusing a favour asked for some noble, "We never see him", meaning that he did not spend enough time at Versailles, where Louis wanted to keep the nobility penned up, to prevent them interesting themselves in politics. For the aristocracy Among the aristocracy, the levée could also become a crowded and social occasion, especially for women, who liked to put off the donning of their uncomfortable formal clothes, and whose hair and perhaps make-up needed prolonged attention. There is a famous depiction of the levée of an 18th-century Viennese lady of the court in Richard Strauss's later opera Der Rosenkavalier, where she has her hair dressed while surrounded by a disorderly crowd of tradesmen touting for work or payment, and other petitioners, followed by a visit from a cousin. The second scene of William Hogarth's A Rake's Progress shows a male equivalent in 1730s London. In the French engraving Le Lever after Freudenberg, of the 1780s, gentle social criticism is levelled at the lady of the court; that she slept without unlacing her stays, apparently, perhaps can be seen as artistic licence. Her maids dress her with deference, while the wallclock under the hangings of her lit à la polonaise appears to read noon. In popular culture In Sophia Coppola's Marie Antoinette the levée of the French queen, during the reigns of Louis XV and XVI is represented. References Notes Bibliography Norbert Elias, The Court Society (1969) translation 1983 pp. 78–104. An analytical description. Further reading (see essay: The Levee: The Assiduous Admirer / Cabris Room) Etiquette State ritual and ceremonies French monarchy Arts and culture in the Ancien Régime French royal court