If there was one story I was excited to share when we began this podcast it was the life of Valtesse de La Bigne. Emile-Louis Delabigne as she was known when she was born in 1848 and learned from a very early age she had to take care of herself. Her father was an alcoholic who wouldn’t have a roll in her life and her mother was a laundress and prostitute.
At ten years old she worked in a candy store and within a few years she was working twelve hour days as a seamstress near the Rue Notre Dame de Lorette. Many of the young girls working near the Rue Notre Dame de Lorette were given the moniker Laurette for their work on the side to make a little extra money. Not thought of as a full blown lady of the night, but it was the start of a lifelong career.
Discovering the bal musettes in Paris and with a weakness for a man in uniform who were in abundance in the dance halls. She began to cultivate a persona and gathered the attention of the many men in the Salon de Mars musette at the Champ de Mars. Knowing she needed to reach a larger audience led her to the Bouffes-Parisiens and Jacques Offenbach.
In 1866, she joined the cast with little to no acting ability but with her striking red hair immediately got the attention of the crowd. Before her first big show, she knew she needed a new name fitting for the stage. As most of the stars went with just one name, think Cher or Madonna. Valtesse was chosen as it was a combination of Votre Altresse, your highness in French, as one does.
Once on stage, the very shy Valtesse stood near the back but still held the audience's attention as well as Offenbach’s. The two began a very public affair that wasn’t hidden from his wife. Offenbach was 50 years old and Valtesse was 21. Their affair took them on trips to the south of France and Italy. It was on the trip to Italy Madame Offenbach had had too much and decided to pay a visit to the couple. A very loud and public altercation in the lobby of the hotel between Jacques and his wife and the police had to intervene. The story hit the papers of Paris and Valtesse’s name was widely known now, but she had enough of Offenbach.
Another man came into her life, Richard Fossay, who was from a very wealthy family and they madly in love with each other. Valtesse became pregnant and snuck away from Paris so no one would know and leave both of her daughters with her mother after giving birth. Her relationship with Fossay had hopes to blossom into marriage but his family threatened to cut him off and sent him away to Algeria. The two sent letters pledging their love to each other and promising to wait but not long after he arrived in Algeria, he met someone and sent Valtesse a letter letting her know.
From then on Valtesse had a very different look at love. Her next relationship was with a Russian banker who would shower her with gifts and money. Prince de Sagan of Polish aristocracy was next who would lavish her with a new home at 98 Boulevard Malesherbes that would become as much a part of her image as her red hair.
Her new home designed by architect Jules Fevrier worked with the biggest painters, furniture makers and even Charles Garnier of Opera fame to create her pink marble staircase. She covered her walls with the paintings of Corbet, Ingres and Gervex and stained glass windows by Duris with vivid scenes including one of Napoleon III visiting her bed.
While her new home was being built she also rented a home in Ville d’Avray just seven miles from Paris. As a teenager she became friends with Camille Corot and visit his studio while he painted. Painting landscapes of the small city Ville d’Avray and telling the young Valtesse all about the peaceful town. It stuck with her and she later wanted it to be her getaway from Paris. The home she rented was rumored to have been built by Napoleon III for his romantic rendezvous and as a loyal Bonapartist she loved it even more.
Each year on August 15, the birthday of Napoleon Bonapart she held a huge party that everyone in Paris wanted to attend. Complete with fireworks, platters of food and the high society dressed to the nines. The owner would eventually sell her the property and she would name it the Rayon d’Or, Ray of Gold, a nod to her gold strands in her hair as well as a love for the golden empire of Napoleon and the Sun King.
The most talked about woman in Paris in the 1870’s, she added to her mystique by writing a book titled Ego. in Green it means “I am” and the moniker could be found all over her house from her moldings to her marble columns. It was all about the “fictional” life of a courtesan but all of Paris was buzzing that it was really about Valtesse.
Emile Zola was setting out to write a book of his own about a courtesan and all his friends told him he must talk with Valtesse. An introduction was made and a dinner invitation was extended to Zola. When he arrived at the Boulevard Malesherbes he was surprised to see he wasn’t the only one there. Zola would later describe the scent of violets, the signature flower and scent that filled her home. The two barely talked but she did give him a tour of her home and her boudoir but Zola was never a guest of her famous bed. Nana was released in 1879 and was a hit selling 55,00 copies in the first day,
Through all of this time not a sole in Paris knew she had two children. Sadly the youngest daughter Valerie would die when she was just 3 years old and as the first daughter Julia got older, Valtesse's mother pushed her into the family business. Valtesse became more and more worried and took her mother to court for the safety of her daughter. The news spread through Paris quickly shocking everyone with the news that she had a child. Winning the case against her mother, Julia was sent to a boarding school and away from the clutches of her grandmother.
In May 1902, Valtesse decided to sell her homes on Malesherbes and in Ville d’Avray and most of its contents. All of Paris wanted a peek inside and behind the door of a home they could only imagine. On June 2 the first of a four day auction began and in the end she would sell the equivalent of 10.5 million dollars today in the contents of her life.
There was one item she would not sell, her custom bed. Created by Edouard Liévre with her very specific instructions it was the altar to the courtesan she always wanted. With a nod to the ceremonial Renaissance beds of the kings she wanted a gate like footboard that created a wall between her and her guests. The headboard is the real masterpiece. Covered in guilt bronze the canopy reaches over 13 feet high and is topped with golden perfume burners, carved animals and cherubs that surround her initial. Long violet blue velvet reached to the floor to add a bit more drama.
She took the bed with her to her new home in Ville d’Avray. The Chapelle- du-Roy was built in the Louis-Philippe gothic style which she partially demolished and had rebuilt. On her vast property she also had a studio built for her long time lover Detaille who also created a series of paintings for her new home.
Valtesse had cut her family out of her life very early on. Her sister and mother as ladies of the night were always after money and jealous how she captivated all of Paris. In her home she had a collection of portraits by Detaille of her ancestors. Although only one of them was actually her relative, Grâce de la Bigne. For each of the paintings she created lavish stories adding to the myth of her life.
In 1909, older and beginning to suffer with age she developed vascular issues resulting in surgery in November. She survived the surgery but she knew her days were numbered and began to plan out her final days. Finding a spot in Ville d’Avray for her grave and a sculptor she worked on her top secret tomb. She even ordered note cards announcing her death with the date left blank. By July 1910, she was in horrific pain and doctors told her she would not have much longer. In the early morning hours of July 29 after being told she only had hours left she filled out her notecards, addressed them to her friend and then took her last breath at 10:45pm on July 29, 1910. She was 62 years old, but her death certificate said 48, the vanity stayed with her to the very end.
When the cards arrived at her friends home the next day in Paris they didn’t believe it was true and just another of her secret coded messages. Two days later she was laid to rest. Carried by four white horses, her expensive and over the top designed coffin walked slowly through town topped with a small bouquet of violets. At her grave she was interred under a tall marble structure, topped with an eagle and a urn that was to be it and always spreading the scent of violets throughout the cemetery.
Valtesse would go to the grave with one more secret. Buried with her were too men that to this day are still unknown. L.M. Auriac and E. Una are marked on her tomb without dates and without identities. Some believe that Auriac was in the military and the man she had a rather public display of affection on a train and Una died after Valtesse. Were they both past loves, we may never know.
Her entire estate was left to her daughter with very specific instructions on where her things should go. Much of her art was given to the Luxembourg, Cluny and Versailles museums. Her “ancestor” portraits to the Musée de Caen but wouldn’t survive the bombings of World War II. As for the bed, you can see it in the Musée des Arts Decoratifs and it is one not to miss.
Manet once painted her and the painting is in the Metropolitain Museum of Art in New York. One day Ernest Hemingway on a visit to the museum stood in front of it and said “Manet could show the bloom people have when they’re still innocent and before they’ve been disillusioned”
I first discovered her when I came across her exquisite bed in the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, just the story of her bed alone is a reason you must listen to this week's episode of La Vie Creative - Paris History Avec A Hemingway.
For a fantastic book on her life, check out The Mistress of Paris by Catherine Hewitt. It’s a great book and also the January pick for our La Vie Creative Book Club. Grab the book and join our club. We end each month with a zoom book club chat.