Episode 48- Heloise

Heloise, the name that may ring more of a bell as Heloise and Abelard. A couple known as the French Romeo & Juliette long before Shakespeare would write the story. 

Heloise was born around 1092, it is unsure of her actual birthday and can swing into the 1070’s depending on what you read. Heloise would spend most of her childhood raised by her brother and at 11 would be sent to Paris to live with her uncle Fulbert. Her mother had created the Abbey of Notre Dame de Fonteuround in 1101 taking her away from her children. 

Uncle Fulbert served as a canon at the Hotel Dieu de Paris on the Ile de la Cité where he also lived. His house on the Quai des Fleurs looking at ile Saint Louis was large and had room for a few renters so he offered a room to Abelard. Abelard was a school master for the Cloister Catholic School and was known all over Paris for his handsome looks and charismatic personality. 

Abelard and Heloise were taken with each other immediately and to spend more time together he took her on as his personal student. The two began a very hot and steamy affair that they kept from Fulbert. That is until she became pregnant. Abelard took her to Brittany to stay with his sister Dionysis. In the fall of 1116 Astrolab was born. 

Returning to Paris, Heloise and Abelard tried to smooth things over with Fulbert. Abelard proposed they get married, complete against the wishes of Heloise who thought marriage was a form of prostitution and would also hurt his career. 

They wed early in the morning at the Chapel of Saint Christophe which once stood on the parve of Notre Dame. Fulbert was briefly happy with the arraignment, until he decided he wasn’t. In the dark of night he sent a few goons to the house of Abelard and the men castrated him. 

Heloise left Paris for the convent of Saint Marie d’Argenteuil where she would become a nun. Even that couldn’t keep the lovers apart and he would climb a wall for some sexy meetings. Abelard would eventually leave Paris to set up his own convent and chapel and the two would keep in touch through their letters. 

The letters are how we know the tale of the star crossed lovers. The two sent many letters back and forth and included their vows of passion for each other and reminiscent of their “lewd visions” she had of their time together. 

Abelard would die on April 21, 1142 and would be buried in front of the altar of the church he loved, Heloise would live on for 22 more years always thinking of her love. Upon her death on May 16, 1164 she would be buried alongside him. 

In the 16th century their first four letters were discovered and published and broke the story of the lovers to life, Over time more letters were discovered and published drawing a long list of fans including Josephine. 

In 1817, a new cemetery opened in Paris, today we know it as Pere Lachaise, Far outside the city at the time, it was having a hard time drawing people to want to be buried there. The idea was to move some famous residents that would draw others that would want to spend the rest of their lives next to the famous. Josephine led the charge to have Heloise and Abelard moved to Paris to lay together for eternity.

Alexandre Lenoir, the man who saved the monuments of France during the Revolution designed the Castrum Doloris, “castle of grief” a gothic revival structure with the two lying on top of a bed looking towards the sky. Lenoir used stones for the Oratoire du Paraclet that Abelard loved and built at the end of his life. 

Today you can visit the former site of the home of Fulbert on the Ile de la Cité that is marked with a plaque and sculptures of the couple of letters.

Episode 47 - Natalie Clifford Barney

Last week we shared the story of Djuna Barnes and you can’t have Djuna without the story of Natalie Barney,  Natalie was born in October 1876 in Dayton Ohio to a very wealthy family. Raised with an appreciation of art, music and culture from a very young age they spent weekends in museums and author readings. 

One reading while in New York over the summer took a young Natalie and her mother to a bookshop to listen to Oscar Wilde.  While he was speaking a group of young boys began throwing candied cherries at Natalie. When Oscar saw this he picked her up and put her on his knee and read a story to her. Later in life she would date Oscar’s niece. 

In 1887 she went to Paris for the first time with her mother who was chasing her dream of being an artist. It began her instant love affair with France and she would return four years later traveling all over Europe and finally settling in Paris. 

In Spain she met the red headed beauty Eva Sikelianas and fell in love, She had known since she was 12 that she was a lesbian and vowed to live an out and normal life. Natalie had a rather open idea when it came to relationships. She always wanted to date more than one person at a time and wasn’t ever going to be devoted to just one person. 

One dramatic relationship after another some ending suddenly and some with dramatic shows of love before walking away. It became a right of passage for any lesbian in Paris to have spent some time in her bed but not to stay too long. 

Natalie left her mark on Paris with her salons that she held for over 60 years. Every expat  & artist that came through Paris visited her weekly salon from Colette, Rodin, Cocteay, Peggy Gugenheim, Gertrude Stein and Hemingway to name a few. In 1909 she moved to a home at 20 Rue Jacob that came complete with a temple.  

The small Temple of Friendship with its doric columns sat in the garden and if those columns could talk, they would have quite a story. Watching Colette dressed and performed as Mata Hari and the late night parties with naked party goers. 

There is so much more to her life, sit back and listen to today’s newest episode all about her life. 

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Episode 46 - Djuna Barnes

Djuna Barnes, the woman who mingled with the Lost Generation was born in 1892 in New York and would leave her mark in Paris. 

Born into a rather different family, her father had two wives and would later marry Djuna off to his second wife's brother. Shortly after her mother had too much she took her kids and left for New York. There Djuna began working as a writer for the New York Eagle. Not only was she a talented writer but also an illustrator who would draw pictures that accompanied each of her articles. 

In 1921 she arrived in Paris and settled in Saint Germain. She instantly mingled with the newly arriving American expat group and the large group of lesbians that settled in Paris led by Natalie Barney, who will talk about next week. The two had a short affair, which was a right of passage for just about every lesbian that arrived in Paris. Their relationship was short but remained friends as long as Djuna lived in Paris. 

Involved with Thelma Wood while in Paris, the two had a volatile relationship that was very public resulting in arguments due to Thelma’s drinking. After it ended Djuna turned to drinking too much and also wrote the Nightwood based on their love affair and her best known book. She began writing the book sittin in the Cafe de la Mairie across from Saint Sulpice where many other writers would do the same. 

When her drinking became too much, friend Peggy Gugenheim sent her to London and finally back to New York where she would spend time in an asylum. While there she decided to write a play about the dark dirty secrets of her family which didn’t please her family at all. She would spend the rest of her life alone and living like a recluse in her New York apartment and lived until she was 90 years old, dying just 6 days after her birthday June 18, 1982. 

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Episode 43 - Madame du Barry

The list of mistresses of the kings of France is long. For Louis XV, sandwiched between two of the most famous kings might be best known for his many lovers than for the man himself. 

After Madame de Pompadour who we have also talked about, Madame du Barry definitely left her mark on Versailles and a very young Marie Antoinette. Jeanne Bécu was born on August 19, 1743 in Vaucouleurs in the north east of France. Her mother Anne Bécu who was known for her beauty and her father was unknown.  It is thought that her father could be a Franciscan monk, Jean-Jacques Baptiste de Vaubernier. Anne had worked as a seamstress at the local convent and could be where the scandalous act occurred. 

Anne Bécu married in 1749, Jeanne was just six years old and would be sent to the convent in the Latin Quarter. She would stay for six years until she escaped at the age of 15 and wandered the streets selling tiny trinkets out of a box on the streets of Paris. 

Finding a job as an apprentice to a hairdresser, Lametz who she also was in a relationship with until she obtained all of his money and moved on. Later working in a perfume shop and as an assistant to a hatmaker, picking up one odd job after another until one day she met a man at a Paris casino. 

Jean-Baptiste du Barry owned a casino and also a brothel. He was instantly struck by her beauty and knew he must have her. The two became an item but he also convinced her to work as a prostitute and courtesan for him. She was instantly popular with the elite and men at court. Frequent trips to Versailles to see the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Duc de Choiseul who was a very loyal customer. In 1768, while leaving Versailles she was spotted by Louis XV who was still mourning the death of Madame de Pompadour, but the beautiful young lady intrigued him. 

Louis XV asked his valet Dominique Guillaume Lebel to find out who she was and to invite her back to court. One visit to his bedroom and she became a fixture in the court of Versailles. However, a woman of the night without a title didn’t fit in well. Everyone at court talked about the “harlot” that crossed the sacred entrance to his bedroom. 

When you are king this is always an easy fix. On September 1, 1768 married the brother of her “pimp” Guillaume du Barry at the Eglise Saint Laurent in Paris. The man that performed the ceremony, Jean-Jacques Baptiste de Vaubernier, her possible father. Fake papers were created with a new noble lineage, but the people at court were not fooled. Following the ceremony Guillaume was quickly sent away from Paris. 

The new Madame du Barry still had to be presented at court to make it official. Cardinal Richelieu who had also been a former lover asked Madame de Béarn to take the role as her sponsor and in return he would eliminate her husband’s debt to the king. She didn’t like the idea and when the big day came she faked a sprained ankle. It couldn’t be put off anymore, the king wanted du Barry and on April 22, 1769 dressed in a beautiful white dress with silver thread and gems she was officially a member of court. 

However, this didn’t erase the past and everyone knew where she came from. Without a friend at court, Louis XV would bribe the ladies to be friends with her. On May 15. 1770, a young Austrian princess arrived at the Chateau de la Muette. It was the moment Marie Antoinette was going to meet her new family and the day before her wedding to Louis XVI. At a lavish dinner, for what was to be just family Madame du Barry took her seat next to the king. The Comtesse de Noailles filled Marie Antoinette in on the story of du Barry and left a fast first impression on her. 

For almost two years Marie Antoinette refused to speak to her. Madame du Barry thought she should be the top woman at court but with the arrival of the future queen she was quickly knocked down a few notches. Things became so bad that the Ambassador of Austria, the Queen of Austria and Louis XV had to step in. Marie was told that if she didn’t talk to her it could ruin their entire alliance and she could be sent back. 

On January 1, 1772, Marie walked up to du Barry, and said “There are many people at Versailles today” it was the only words she would ever speak to her but solidified the entire union. 

Louis XV was thirty-three years older than his mistress and was in very ill health. Contracting small pox he laid on his death bed with his daughters and du Barry by his side. When he was told he only had days to live he sent du Barry away so he could take his confession and try to redeem himself in the eyes of the church in his last moments. On May 10, 1774 Louis XV would take his last breath and the reign of Madame du Barry came to an end. 

Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette would exile her from court and wasn’t allowed to come within ten miles of  Versailles which included her Chateau in Louveciennes. She returned to her former profession, this time with a little more selection. One man after another wanted to marry her but she had no interest. 

As the Revolution began to gain speed in France she tried to stay quiet to protect herself. She thought as the former head mistress she would be saved. A long time servant that had been with her since her days at court, Zamour had become involved with the Jacobins and fighting with the Revolutionist. When she confronted him about it she told him to quit the Jacobins or be fired. 

Zamour returned to Paris and told his friends all about the life of Madame du Barry and that she was trying to find anyone who could help her escape France. Before she could leave she was arrested and taken to the Revolutionary Tribunal in 1793 and accused of treason, that came with a sentence of death. 

For months she was held at the Saint Pélagie prison before she was taken to the anti-chamber of death, the Conciergerie, just like Marie Antoinette. Du Barry thought she could talk her way out of it by offering to tell them all of the hiding places for her large wealth of jewels. 

On December 7, 1793 she was sentenced to death. When it was announced she screamed and fainted. She was told to write down the places they could find her jewels and for three hours she thought she was in the clear. It was a rather naive move. As soon as her list was complete the executioner arrived, cut her hair and placed her on the cart that would take her through the streets of Paris to the guillotine. 

In the dark of night in the early hours of December 8, 1793 she moved to her death.  The enter way she was screaming and crying forcing the executioner to try to end her life as fast as possible. Pleading and screaming until the second the blade dropped she tried to make a deal to save her life. After her body was tossed into a grave at the Madeleine cemetery, the same one Marie Antoinette had arrived just a few months before 

Madame du Barry was a big supporter of the arts and was instrumental in bringing the Neo-Classical design to Versailles as well as the artist Elisabeth Vigee Le Brun.

Episode 42 - Rosa Bonheur

Rosa Bonheur was born on March 16, 1822 in Bordeaux into a large family of artists.Her mother Sophie Marquis married Raymond Bonheur who was also her drawing teacher. Raymond painted landscapes of Bordeaux and portraits and instilled a love of art in all his children.

As a child when Rosa was struggling at school her mother used her love of drawing to her advantage. Asking Rosa to draw an animal for each of the letters of the alphabet was just the trick she needed. Her mother died when she was young and her school life suffered. Expelled twice her father finally took her out of school and focused on teaching her how to paint. 

Raymond specialized in Realism and to help Rosa he had their Paris home filled with animals. From squirrels and rabbits to ducks and sheep the young artist had all she needed to begin her life as a painter of animals. Once she needed more subjects she would visit farms in Levalois-Perret and the Bois de Boulogne. Rosa was lucky to have an artist as a father as few women were able to find teachers at the time. Spending her days in the Musée du Louvre as a copyist always being pulled to the masters paintings of animals. At 19 year she was already showing her pieces at the Paris Salon and selling her paintings to avid collectors. 

Wanting to expand her repertoire Rosa went places few women went or were allowed. At the slaughterhouses of Paris and the Ecole Nationale Veterinaire with her sketchbook and canvases in hand. Traipsing through the mud wasn’t easy for a woman in a dress, Like George Sand who came before her, dressing in pants was much easier and allowed her to mix with the male dominated world. Unlike George she obtained the permit that was needed to wear pants for “health reasons”.

Everything would change for her in 1855 when she painted the large tableau The Horse Fair. The 8 x 16 foot painting depicted a scene from the Paris horse market on the Boulevard de l'hôpital. Art dealer Ernest Gambart fell in love with it and purchased the painting along with the rights of reproduction and also took Rosa on as his client. The painting was sent to the UK and garnered the attention of Queen Victoria, which also came with an invitation with the queen. The painter would later be purchased by Cornelius Vanderbilt in 1887 and today hangs in the Met in New York. 

After the success of the Horse Fair, the French government commissioned her to paint another large painting. The Ploughing in the Nivernais of two teams of oxen pulling  plows was painted in 1849. It’s a magnificent painting and lucky for us hangs in the Musée d’Orsay today.  

As Raymond would visit wealthy clients that he was painting,the teenage Rosa was always by his side. On one such visit she met Nathalie Micas and the two would remain together for 40 years. Most likely believed to be partners but Rosa would never address it. She didn’t feel it was anyone's business and at the time in France lesbianism wasn’t supported by the government. 

All of Rosa’s dreams of being surrounded by animals became real in 1859 when she purchased the Chateau de By at the edge of the Fontainebleau forest. She and Nathalie had endless space with multiple buildings.  She even built a studio with large north facing windows giving her the best light of the day. The chateau of course had a barn to hold all the animals she could ever want. Each morning she would wake up early and walk the property stopping in to visit her personal menagere. Tigers, monkeys, birds, dogs and even a lion named Fathma.

After forty years in 1889 Nathalie passed away and left Rosa very sad and lonely. Years before, she had met an American artist, Anna Klumpke and invited her to visit the Chateau de By. Anna was thirty years younger, but with a shared love of paintings and animals the two had a loving and lasting relationship until Rosa’s last days.

As a female painter in the 19th century she was able to do something few other women did. She became an international star. The copies of the Horse Fair were selling all over England and the United States and Empress Eugenie was also an avid fan. In 1865 Eugenie urged her husband for quite some time to award Rosa the Legion of Honor for her work and spreading French art around the world. He finally gave in with the stipulation that he would have nothing to do with it and it would be given without a formal ceremony. On June 10, 1865 Eugenie traveled to the Chateau de By and presented Rosa with the highest award a civilian could get. Anna would later paint her wearing the metal, today it is still in the Chateau de By.

Just after Nathalie died, Rosa’s eyesight began to suffer and would slow her down. Spending her final years walking her property and visiting her many animals. It was one of those walks that she would develop pulmonary influenza causing her death on May 25, 1899. Anna stayed by her side until the very end. Leaving behind more than 1800 paintings and drawings in her studio it was up to Anna to continue the legacy of Rosa Bonheur. 

Everything was left to Anna, much to the dismay of Rosa’s family who called Anna the “money hungry American sorcerer”. A year after Rosa’s death, Anna put up over 4000 items of art and possessions and gave half of the money to the Bonheur family. Doing all she could to uphold her legacy for her art and property until her own death in 1942. Upon her death she would be laid to rest next to Rosa and Nathalie in the Pere Lachaise cemetery. 

As for the Chateau de By, Anna’s heirs tried to keep it up but they didn’t have the same love that Anna had once held. In 2017 after falling into disrepair and years of trying to obtain the money to purchase it, Kathleen Brault purchased it. The divorced French woman had years of bad luck trying to find a bank to loan her money, until a fellow female banker was happy to help. 

Just like Eugene coming to present Rosa with a gift, Stephen Bern, the amazing man that works his life to uphold the history of France arrived at the Chateau and presented Kathleen with a 500, 000 euro check on behalf of the president of France. 

Today it is a museum to the artist opened by appointment and still holds many of her personal items and art. 

Episode 41 - Eve Gonzalez

Artist Eva Gonzalez may not be as well known as her fellow female impressionist artists but she should be. 

Born on April 19, 1849 in Paris, her father Emmanuell Gonzalez was a Spanish novelist and playwright and her mother was a trained musician. With their creativity handed down to her at a very early age she was drawn to painting and sketching. 

It wasn’t easy for a woman to find an artist to work under, most of the high profile artists couldn’t be bothered and many of the schools wouldn’t even accept them. With a thirst to learn at 16 she studied under Charles Chaplin who was an official artist under the Second Empire.

A chance meeting through artists Alfred Stevens in February 1869 would put her on the path to being a known artist. Stevens took Eva to the studio of Edouard Manet who at the time was obsessed with anything Spanish and Eve had the look he loved. He immediately wanted to paint her and took her in as his one and only ever student. 

Manet was going through a lot at the time. The critics were slamming him for Olympia and Dejeuner sur l’herbe and he was starting to pull himself away from the art world and turn into a shut in. Meeting Eve was just what he needed. His first painting of her premiered at the Salon of 1870, titled Mademoiselle Eve Gonzalez. 

Sitting in front of an easel in a fancy white dress and a camelia on the floor. Depicting her as an artist, but she looks rather stiff and more like a model than a painter. Eve would model for many artists all while she studied under Manet who’s influence would be greatly imparted on her. 

So much of his style was imparted on her, you would think her paintings were actually a Manet. In 1874, Eve painted Une Loge Aux Italiens, a popular subject with the Impressionists. Women were only allowed to attend if they were with a man and her painting gives more of the presence to the woman in the painting. Using her sister Jeanne Gonzalez as the model that leans over the balcony and looks straight at you. In the background, Henri Guérard, who would be her future husband stands with a distant stance. In the foreground a large bouquet of flowers is a reminder of Manet's Olympia. Critics didn’t love the painting, they thought it was too masculin for a woman to have painted. She would keep the painting in her home until her death. Her son later gave it to the Musée du Louvre, and would later find it’s permanent home in the Musée d’Orsay. 

Like her teacher Manet, Emile Zola came to her defense writing pamphlets supporting her art and gaining her more attention. In 1874 she moved to a more softer touch and from Manet’s style and continued to use her sister as her model. 

In 1874 she met Henri Guérard a French engraver who was friends with Manet and after a very long three year engagement they were married in 1879. In April 1883 she gave birth to a son, Jean Raimond just days after Manet died. 

Eve would sadly follow behind her teacher and died during childbirth on May 6, 1883. She was just 34 years old. After her death exhibitions of her art appeared in Paris and in Monaco where she had a following. 

Today her paintings are normally exhibited next to Mary Cassatt and Berthe Morisot and can be found in the Orsay, Petit Palais and the Musée Marmottan Monet.

Episode 40 - Madame de Pompadour

Jeanne Antoinette Poisson’s life started out was destined to be the mistress to the king. Born on December 29m 1721 in Paris, her father Francois Poisson was the food commissioner during the Famine of 1725 and was charged with fraud forcing him to leave France. Jeanne and her mother were left behind and without a home as everything was seized. Jeanne was sent to the Ursuline Convent in Poissy in 1727. 

Quickly two men came into their life, with her mother Madame de la Motte. Jean Puvis de Monmartel and Charles François Paul Le Normant de Tournehem. Tournehem became her legal guardian and thought to be her actual father. Back at the convent she may have been educated with the elite of Paris but she was bored and constantly ill so she returned home at just nine years old. 

Shortly after her mother took her to a fortune teller who told the young girl that she would one day hold the heart of the king. From then on she was called Reinette, little queen. Her mother set out from that moment to raise her to be a mistress and hired the best teachers to educate her in art, dancing and the theater. 

In 1740 at the age of 19 she was married to Charles Guillaume, nephew of her guardian Tournehem with one clause. They would be happily married and she would never leave him unless the king came calling. Tournehem showered the couple with gifts and the Chateau des Etoiles and also made him his only heir, cutting out his own children. 

The marriage was a happy one and resulted in two children. In 1744, a son that would die just months later and a daughter Alexandrine that wouldn’t live past her 9th birthday. Poisson and her husband held lavish Salons with Voltaire, Fontenelle and Montesquieu in attendance at the Chateau des Etoiles. Her name began spreading all the way to court. Poisson heard that Louis XV hunted in the woods near their home and one day she dressed in a blue dress and took off in her pink carriage cutting right into his path. She did it again days later, this time in a pink dress and a blue carriage. 

She got the king's attention and in turn he sent her a whole venison as a gift, what a way to woo a girl. On February 24, 1745 she was invited to court to attend a masked ball. Dressed as Diane the huntress she floated through the ball and right into his arms. Three days later at the Hotel de Ville he publicly declared his love for her. 

By May 7, her separation with her husband was official, it worked quickly when the kind wanted it. However, as a commoner it was frowned upon for her to be at  court much less a relationship with the king, but easily fixed when Louis XV bought her the title, chateau and the crest of the Marquise de Pompadour. On September 14, 1745 she was officially introduced at court and on the arm of the king. 

Their intimate relationship lasted from 1745 to 1751 but the two still remained close and his trusted adviser. Pompadour became pregnant three times with the king, all ending in miscarriages and taking a toll on her health and thought to be why their physical relationship ended, 

Louis XV always kept her close, naming her a duchess on October 12, 1752 and Lady in Waiting to the Queen in 1756, the highest position a woman could hold at court. Louis gave her property and chateaux including having the Petit Trianon built for her but she would never see it finished. 

While the mistresses of the kings were many, Pompadour should be remembered for her contribution to the arts through supporting artists and her own skills. From gemstone engraving to create books with her own printing press and the first royal porcelain factory in France. She contributed to the building of the Ecole Militaire and the Place Louis XV, today's Place de la Concorde and what is today's Elysees palace, home to the president of France.  

On April 15, 1764 at 42 years old she died of Pulmonary Congestion at Versaille with the king by her side. Three days later a lavish funeral, fit for a queen, was held at the Eglise Notre Dame de Versailles where the king was inconsolable. After she was taken to Paris to be buried alongside her mother at the Capucines Convent. Today the convent is gone and it’s believed that she and her mother are still there buried under the sidewalk at 3 rue de la Paix. 

She is remembered in statues and art that can be found in the Musée du Louvre including the pastel by Maurice Quentin de la Tour surrounded by her books and engravings, many of which she did herself. 

Listen to the newest episode of La Vie Creative - Paris History Avec A Hemingway today and learn all about the mistress to the king that cultivated and created French culture. 

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Episode 39 - Martha Gelhorn

Martha Gelhorn, born in St Louis in 1908 to two parents that wanted much more for their daughter then the role women were to play at the time. Her father George was a doctor and her mother Edna was politically active in the suffrage movement and also served as a president of Bryn Mawr. 

Her father pulled her out of school as soon as he learned the nuns had covered the pictures of the female anatomy in health class and took her to the Mary Institute where her mother was the president. It was also the school of another young girl that had been there a few years before, Hadley Richardson. 

At just 8 years old, her mother took her to the Democratic Party Suffrage rally in 1916 in St Louis giving her a very early view of the rights women should have. After attending Bryn Mawr for one year she decided to leave and chase her career as a writer. In 1930 it would take her to Paris with a backpack and $50. Even in 1930 Paris it was hard to find an inexpensive place to stay and came across a brothel where she could stay for a few francs. 

Inspired by Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises, think the times Eat Pray Love that inspired people to pack up and head to Europe. With a copy in her backpack she found a cheap place to stay and a job at the United Press as a foreign correspondent and also for Vogue. While in the city of love, she would later meet Bertrand de Jouvenal. Jouvenal  had also been the step son of Colette and later her lover of five years. Some historians say Martha had married Bertrand, but in her own biography she doesn’t say they did.  

Martha was not content to stay in one place too long. She became one of the first female war correspondents after she traveled the US documenting the Depression for President Roosevelt. Never one to shy away from conflict she was able to bring the stories in a way nobody else did. Gelhorn would find the real story and tell it from a raw and sympathetic point of view that touched her readers. 

Her outspoken way would get her in trouble in one job after another. While working for Roosevelt, she supported and pushed angry FERA workers in idaho to lash back about their horrible boss they didn’t like and encouraged them to break the windows of the office. Roosevelt fired her. She really didn’t care. 

In 1936 after her father died, Martha, her mother and brother decided to spend Christmas in Key West. She was a fan of Hemingway’s writing, even had a picture of him hanging in her apartment at one time and knew where to go to find him. They walked into the Sloppy Joe’s Bar in Key West, still there today and found Hem sitting at the bar. There is a popular recounting that says she walked in, wearing a tight fighting black dress and her blond hair catching everyone’s attention. She did get attention, but it wasn’t so dramatic. 

He was interested in her right away, she was unlike any of the women in his life, ever. She was also a writer and war correspondent, her own career and marched to her own drum. It is exactly what would split them apart. It was a friendship at first, the seasoned writer and supporting and influencing her. Once she took off for Spain to cover the Civil War he quikly followed and their affair began. Pauline was back in Key West and now another woman was doing exactly what she did to Hadley. 

As one of the very first female war correspondents she would travel to Germain in 1938 and see the rise of Hitler and to know what was to come. Gelhorn traveled wherever the story was, Czechoslovakia, Singapore, Russia, Finland, Burma, Hong Kong chasing the next story and reported on it in a way no other writer did at the time, with love and empathy. 

In May 1939, Martha went to Cuba to write and she found the home that would be tied to him for the rest of his life. The Finca Vigia was rundown and in disrepair but she saw the potential, even though he hated it at first. He would spend his mornings writing and afternoons drinking and she rarely sat still, always leaving to chase wars. 

In Wyoming  on November 21, 1940 in a small room in Wyoming shortly after his divorce with Pauline was finalized the two married. As a honeymoon, the two traveled to China, he wasn’t happy about it. Hem was used to his wives catering to him and doing what he wanted, that was never going to be Martha. He didn’t understand why she didn’t want to just be a wife and stay at home. 

Becoming more and more disenfranchised by the United States she wanted to be in Europe as more of the continent was being taken over by Hitler. Finally finding some passage to Europe she hid in a bathroom on a cargo ship from New York to England. It was the days leading up to D-Day and to get to France she dressed as a paramedic traveled in an ambulance and was the only woman on the beaches of Normandy. 

Martha had tried to help get her husband to Europe and asked Roald Dahl of Charlie & the Chocolate Factory fame who also served in the Royal Air Force to get him a seat on a flight from New York. Hem had another idea, he contacted Collier's who Martha worked for and offered to write for them on the war. This move would move her down the ladder and he not only stole her job but also was over her. He tried all he could do to get to the beaches but never made it, although he would retell it a different way over time. 

The last straw came when on her return to England, she was asked about his health and she knew nothing about a car accident he had been in that was the beginning of many crashes and head injuries. Arriving at St George hospital he was surrounded by boysturus friends and on his bed, numerous empty bottles of alcohol. She was done with it and told him just that. No woman left Hem, except Agnes the nurse during WWI and Martha and his ego couldn't take it. 

At the same time in Londo and then off to Paris he was sleeping with his worst of all wives, Mary who was also a journalist and was also married.  In Paris Martha and Hem had planned a dinner to discuss their relationship. He showed up with a group of plans, she walked out. From Holland she sent him a letter on November 3 that she wanted a divorce, he was pissed but did agree. On December 21, 1945 the decree was granted and it was over. Gelhorn never wanted to be the postscript in his biography, nor should she be.  

She continued chasing wars, going where women wouldn’t go. Her personal life was always a mess, she put herself first above anything or anyone else. In 1949 she adopted a son, George Alexander Gelhorn in Italy and would travel the world. Eventually she left him with family in New Jersey and never looked back and the two would never have much of a relationship. 

In 1954 she married again to T.S. Mathews, editor of Time magazine and divorced 9 years later. “Marriage bored me” she said. 

Aside from writing about wars she also wrote 5 novels and 14 novellas and two collections of short stories many of which are very witty and funny. In her books, she never mentioned Hemingway, or let anyone else bring him up, she always called him the “unwilling companion”. 

In 1970 she finally settled down in London buying a flat in the city and a house in Wales and would continue to write and travel to Vietnam, Israel and Nivaragua until she was 81 years old. 

In her final years she suffered from liver and ovarian cancer and lost her eyeset. Always wanting to be control of her life Martha died on February 15,  1998 at 89 years old, taking her own life by swallowing cyanide pills. 

Listen to the newest episode of La Vie Creative - Paris History Avec A Hemingway today. 

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Episode 38 - Anne de Rochechouart

Anne de Rochechouart de Montemart may not jump to your mind but her great grandmother will. While you would think the great granddaughter of Veuve Clicquot would sit back sipping her family champagne and counting all her money, that wasn’t the life that Anne wanted. 

Born on February 10, 1847 in Paris to Marie Clementine de Chevigné, granddaughter of Clicquot and Louis de Rochechouart, count of Mortemart who was the nephew of another lady we talked about Madame de Montespan. 

Anne, the third child to the couple was also their only surviving. Pauline died at 10 years old and Paul died of Cholera at a very young age. Worried about Anne’s health the family left Paris to Villers-en-Prayers in hopes of outrunning Cholera. Little Anne did contract it but thankfully survived. 

Clicquot would have the Chateau de Boursault  built  to commemorate the marriage of her granddaughter Marie Clementine in 1839. Sitting in the Champagne region. Architect Jean-Jacques Nicolas Fransquin designed the grand chateau sitting on top of a small hill that still stands today. 

On May 10, 1867 Anne married Emmanuel de Crussol d'Uzès. The two had met while hunting when he  was accidently shot. The two would have a happy marriage and four children between 1868 and 1875 before his early  death in 1878. Anne grew up very close to her great grandmother who was well known for her independence and pioneering ways and instilled these values in her great granddaughter as well. 

After her husband's death she spent her time focusing on the education of her children and making sure they were given every opportunity especially her daughters. Her oldest son Jacques decided he liked the excitement of Paris and dating a stage actress which didn’t please Anne. She decided she would pay for an expedition to Africa and send her son there to help straighten him out. Sadly he died of dysentery at just 25 years old. 

In 1885 the French Catholic society held an annual event at 17 rue Jean-Goujon in the 8th known as the Bazar de la Chérite. On May 4,1897 Anne attended the event that ran for multiple days. That year the event theme consisted of the reconstruction of the interior with wood, cardboard and paper mache and fabric and was going to be filmed. A rather new medium,  large lamps were brought in to help illuminate the dark space. May 4, the second day of the event and the space was packed with people including Anne. Suddenly a lamp caught fire and the fragile interior began to burn quickly. There were very few entrances in or out and panic caused a stampede of people pushing and running for their life. 126 people died that day in the fire, mostly women. Anne was there that day and was one of the lucky few to escape and survive. 

Veuve Clicquot died in 1866 and left her beloved granddaughter her properties and a large stake in her company. Her father died shortly after and the entire Clicquot fortune now came down to Anne. She didn’t have much interest in running the champagne label and hired people to oversee it for her. She had bigger plans in mind. 

As a lover of hunting she would organize large events and serve as president of the Animal Protection Society until they decided her hunting was a little off from their personal views on animal protection. Anne was busy and involved in everything, from fighting for the rights of women to supporting politicians, suffragist movements  and creating organizations for women. Her name and influence among the Paris elite came in handy to bring attention to causes. 

She had one of Clicquot’s many properties set up as a makeshift hospital in WWI and even obtained a nursing licence to assist the physicians at 70 years old. When her friend Emile Delahayes created a new car in 1898 she decided she needed to have one and became the first woman in France to obtain a drivers license. She was also the first to receive a speeding ticket. Anne loved to drive friends around the Bois de Boulogne sometimes getting up to a speedy 9 mph. The limit was 7.5 mph so she was frequently given speeding tickets. When the Automobile Club of France wouldn’t allow women, she created her own. In 1926 the Automobile Club Feminine de France was created and she of course served as president. 

She also spent her free time, if that was possible on writing, painting and sculpting, Her massive statue of Jeanne d’Arc once stood in the Place du Chateau in Mehun-sur-Yevre until 1944 when it was destroyed and melted down by the Vichy government. A lover of art and history she also founded the Memorial de France organization with Francois Xavier de Bourbon. It’s main goal was to mark the death of Louis XVI and hold an annual mass each year in the Basilique Saint Denis. 

Before her great grandmother died she wrote her a letter that Anne telling her to always extend herself to do more with her life. Anne did just that in her 85 years. Dying on February 3, 1933 surviving  all but two of her children. 

Listen to the newest episode of La Vie Creative - Paris History Avec A Hemingway today. 

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Episode 37 - George Sand

George Sand, the woman that marched to her own beat, broke with tradition and carved out her own life is this week's featured lady on La Vie Creative - Paris History Avec a Hemingway. 

Born in Paris on July 1, 1804, Amantine Lucille Aurore Dupin as she was known long before she went by George. As many of these stories go, her mother was a prostitute and her father only married her in the final weeks of her pregnancy. Luckily her grandmother on her father’s side,  Marie-Aurore de Saxe took her in at her chateau in Nohant in the center of France. 

Her grandmother was very wealthy, but rarely saw her father and her mother had very little time with her. Grandma Marie-Aurore kept her away from her mother until she was older. Her mother couldn’t compete with the money and her lifestyle she was being raised in. 

At 16 after a long search by her grandmother for a husband she was married off to François Casimir Dudevant on September 17, 1822. He was 42 and two children came shortly after but the marriage wasn’t a happy one and François was happy to spend all her money and sleep with the household staff. In 1831 George left for Paris and met a group of writers including Jules Sandeau. The two began an affair and also wrote articles together under the name J. Sand.  

When she wanted to use the same moniker to publish her book Indiana, Jules said no. At that moment George Sand was born. Growing up her grandmother turned her onto the writings of Rousseau, Chateaubriand, Aristotle and Shakespeare giving her an education few young girls received. When she arrived in Paris, she quickly found her voice and poured it out onto the page. 

Of course, George Sand would become known more for her dressing like a man today. At the time in Paris, women were not allowed to wear men’s clothes and had to have a special permit to do so. Which George of course didn’t bother with. When she left her husband most of her money remained behind and it was actually much less expensive to purchase mens clothes and far more comfortable. Although, she didn’t wear men’s clothes everyday as so often depicted. 

Her cutting edge thoughts about life were woven into all her writings. She believed women were responsible for their own happiness and the choices they made. Writing and publishing books at a record pace and was often criticized by other authors including Balzac who was also a prolific writer. Many thought a woman should have other things to focus on rather than their career. At just 27 years old, she was one of the most popular authors in all of Europe. Her books would even eclipse Hugo’s Notre Dame de Paris. She would be one of the only authors of her time to be able to live off of the proceeds from her writing. 

What George should be more known for after her writing is her long list of relationships, each with their own drama. In 1833, following her break up with Jules Sandeau she had a fast and intense relationship with stage actress Marie Dorval. The gossip in Paris spread quickly as they were both very famous women at the time. George would write a play for Marie to play the lead in but it lasted as long as their relationship, and both ended quickly. 

Following Marie she met a fellow author Alfred de Musset and moved into her apartment on the Quai Malaquais next to the Institut de France. Alfred suffered from severe hallucination and breaks with reality. When the two took a trip to Venice he had an attack that caused him to lose all function to cope with anything. George called on a doctor to help him, Pietro Pagillo who she then began an affair with. Once Alfred calmed down he decided to return to Paris, leaving George with Pietro. George quickly followed him but with Pietro in tow, upsetting Alfred who was so upset he left for Germany.  Their relationship would go back and forth for years followed with angry outbursts before they would fall madly back in love to only part again. By March 1835, the relationship was finally finished after Eugene Delacroix painted a portrait of her and asked why she looked so sad and she realized how their relationship had affected her. 

In 1835, she had enough of her husband and was able to find a lawyer to attain a divorce, something not easy to do at the time. Her lawyer Louis Michel would also become her lover, in a long list of those to follow. On February 16, 1836 the divorce was final and Louis Michel moved into Sand’s apartment in Saint Germain. His wife wasn’t as fond of the idea and put down an ultimatum and Louis Michel returned home to his wife. 

Her most famous relationship of all of them was with composer Frederic Chopin. In 1838 the two met and travelled to Mallorca for the winter. Chopin had many health issues and the cold windy winters and Paris were far too hard on his lungs. The two had a volatile relationship and frequently ended it to only return to each other at the same time tearing her family apart. Her son hated him, but her daughter Solange grew very close to him and drove a wedge between mother and daughter. In 1842 the two moved into a house on the Square d’Orleans near Saint George but at this point it was mostly a friendship and her role was more as his caretaker. 

With all her challenges in love she would finally find her perfect match in 1849. Her son introduced her to Alexandre Manceau who was 12 years younger than her. His family was of a lower stature in society but she didn’t care, she finally found true love and friendship. Their relationship would last fifteen years until his death on August 21, 1865 when he would die of tuberculosis.  

George would spend the rest of her life at her grandmother's former home in Nohant surrounded by her grandchildren. Her estranged relationship with her daughter was somewhat mended and on June 3, 1876 she invited her family to Nohant where she had been suffering from stomach pains she kept to herself. On Jun3 8, 1876 she took her last breath and died of an intestinal blockage. 

Besides her writing she had many romantic adventures filled with drama and scandal. Today you can find her in the Jardin du Luxembourg and the Musée de la Vie Romantique but her presence fills the air of Paris to this day. 

Listen to the newest episode of La Vie Creative - Paris History Avec A Hemingway today. 

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Episode 36 - Valtesse de la Bigne

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.

Episode 35 - Marie Bracquemond

When the Impressionist artists ruled Paris, there were a few women that made their way into the exclusive club. Known as Les Trois Grandes Dames, Berthe Morisot, Mary Cassatt and Marie Bracquemond mixed and mingled with the likes of Manet, Degas and Renoir. 

Marie Bracquemond however had a very different life then Morisot or Cassatt. Born on December 1, 1840 in Argenton-en-Landunvez. Raised in a family that had very little money but with a love of painting early on, she created her own paint colors using flower petals. When her father died when she was very young, her mother quickly remarried and moved all over France and Switzerland. 

Without money or family support it was difficult to find a teacher until Auguste Vassor agreed to take her on. Under Vassor at just seventeen years old she finished and presented her first painting to the Paris Salon in 1857. The painting of her mother and sister was accepted and displayed for all to see including Ingres. Quite impressed with the young girl's talent, he invited her to his atelier to learn under the master. Ingres didn’t take women very seriously and only gave them images of flowers and fruit to paint. Marie grew very tired and left looking for other challenges. 

Empress Eugene, wife of Napoleon III and a big promoter of women in art saw her work and commissioned her to paint a few paintings for her. Marie's career was really taking off, until she met her future husband Felix Bracquemond. At first he was supportive of her art, he was an artist himself. As an engraver and porcelain painter he would share his craft with her and also become more angry with her talent. 

They were married on August 5, 1869 and she would work with him as a porcelain painter. The longer Felix was away from the artist of Paris the more divisive and critical he became the more Marie pulled away. A year after they were married Pierre there only child was born and Marie spent more of her time focusing on him.

When people came over to their house Felix would hide her canvases and never let her talk about her art. Gauguin came over for dinner one evening and he advised her on some new techniques and how to get the deeper colors she wanted to achieve. Looking for the support she so greatly wanted she reached out to friends Manet and Sisley and snuck away to paint outside with them as often as possible. The more attention Marie received, the angrier Felix would get. 

Later their son Pierre wrote a book about his mother and said there home was filled with never ending drama and he watched his mom disappear. Felix died on October 29, 1914 and Marie would have two years of piece before she also passed away on January 17, 1916 in Paris. 

Marie today is mostly forgotten and little of her work remains. What few pieces remain in private collection are shared in exhibitions dedicated to the women of Impressionism from time to time.  

Listen to her whole story and the few things that kept her going during her unhappy marriage in this week's episode on La Vie Creative - Paris History Avec A Hemingway.

Episode 34 - Diane de Poitiers

Diane de Poitiers, the true love of Henri II and the number one enemy of Catherine de Medicis was born on January 9, 1500. Educated by Anne de Bourbon, daughter of Louis XI and taught etiquette, architecture, law, latin, greek and humanism. Not at all what most girls learned in the 16th century. 

Married at fifteen to Louis de Bréze Seigneur d’Anet, he was almost forty years older than her. They had two children and would have a happy marriage until he was sentenced to death for a plot against King Francois I. On the scaffolding about to die he was pardoned and sent to prison.  In 1531, her husband died and Diane began to wear her signature black and white garments that she would wear the rest of her life. With her pink skin, brown hair and red lips and nails she was the original Parisienne. 

Diane remained at court as the lady in waiting to Queen Claude of France and in 1525 her path would cross with the young son of Francois I. Henri II was being sent off to Spain in a trade deal to release his father from prison and as the 7 year old was led from court and Diane gave him a kiss on the cheek. 

When he returned four years later he and Diane became very close. At the coronation tournament for Eleanor of Austria, Henri’s new stepmother, he looked at only Diane and saluted her, causing quite the scandal. 

When it came time for Henri to marry, Diane approved of his marriage to Catherine de Medici. A year after their marriage the affair of Henri II and Diane de Poitiers began. When an heir was needed she encouraged him to sleep with Catherine. Diane remained a solid element of his life and even educated the royal children.

Anne de Pisseleu, the main mistress of François I was not a fan of Diane and was constantly creating stories in hopes to have her evicted from court. When it finally worked and Diane was sent to her Chateau d’Anet, Henri followed her and put a lasting wedge between father and son. Just before his fathers death, the two finally patched things up but as soon as François died Henri had Anne sent from court and stripped of all her jewels. 

Henri was second in line to the throne, but when his older brother died after drinking a glass of water, poisoned by Count Montecurccoli who came to France with Catherine. He later admitting to poising the dauphin, most likely for Catherine. Henri II was now the Dauphin and upon his fathers death in 1547, he became the king of France. 

Diane was so close to Henri that she would advise him on all matters of court, write his official letters for him and receive gifts from the pope. In return Henri showered her with jewels and gave her property including the Chateau de Chenonceau and a few of Anne’s former properties. 

All was well until the untimely death of Henri II in 1559. Henri was taking part in a jousting competition when sliver from his opponents joust lodged into his eye. For days he laid on his deathbed calling for Diane. Catherine would refuse to allow her to visit and had her sent away from court. Henri would die and Diane would be banished from the funeral and court.  Catherine stripped her of her jewels that Henri had given her and began to rewrite the love story of the king and queen. 

Diane would spend the rest of her life at Chateau d’Anet, where she would use her time to help others by building schools, hospitals and women's shelters. Her love of riding horses would finally do her in after she fell off on a ride one day. Breaking her leg she would never fully recover and would die a year later on April 25, 1566. Buried in the chapel at d’Anet where she would lay peacefully alongside two of her granddaughters until June 18, 1785.  Her tomb was desecrated and their bodies were tossed into a hole. 

In 2008, her skeleton was discovered and easily identified by her broken leg that had never fully healed. Diane had believed that gold was the secret fountain of youth and was known to drink liquid gold to keep her beautiful and youthful. When she was discovered in 2008, scientist tested her hair and found high levels of gold. It’s believed that it was the gold that in the end killed her. 

On May 29, 2010, she was finally returned to her tomb with a large celebration and Renaissance feast. 

Diane was always a fan of the Roman goddess Diane the Huntress and began to embody everything about her. Commissioning artists to pain and depict  her as the goddess who was also a favorite of Henri II. The Huntress emblem was the crescent moon which both she and Henri also adopted and today you can find it all over the former Palais du Louvre. 

Catherine would try to erase Diane and rewrite the story of the life she shared with Henri II. The former Palais des Tuileries, became her canvas of a love affair that was never there. Inside the Louvre just steps from the monument Catherine had created for the heart of Henri II is the large statue Diane d’Anet that once stood in the fountain at her beloved chateau. 

Listen to her full story on this week's new episode of La Vie Creative - Paris History Avec A Hemingway. 

For more Catherine listen to the episode dedicated to the Florentine queen who loved the dark arts.

Episode 33 - Jane Avril

Jane Avril, the bell of the Moulin Rouge is mainly known for the many images that Toulouse-Lautrec painted of her. However, there is always more than that to her story. Born on June 9, 1868 in Belleville her mother Leotine Beaudon was a prostitute and her father an Italian nobleman that would never recognise her as his own. She was raised by her grandparents in Etamps until they passed away, sending the young Jeanne Beaudon as she was known to a convent. 

Jeanne’s childhood was in constant upheaval, just when she was in a good place her mother would find her and would try to force her into the family business. Her mother would lock her out of the house unless she returned with a certain amount of money each day. Jeanne didn’t want to follow in her mothers footsteps so she would sing and dance on the street for spare change allowing her to return home. 

Thanks to the kindness of a few of her mothers loyal customers, Jeanne was able to enroll in school, until the money ran out. Growing close to Sister Bertha at school who noticed she hadn’t been at school for weeks and paid a visit to her home. Bertha had always noticed something in Jeanne and knew she had a hard life. When Leotine answered the door, Sister Bertha let her know that she knew what was happening under her roof and Jeanne needed to return to school or she was going to the police. 

Jeanne returned to school until she turned 12 then was forced back home and to her mothers overbearing ways The days of tricking her with money made from singing didn’t work anymore and now began to beat her when she returned home. One night she was attacked and almost raped on the street and that was the last straw. Jeanne ran away from home and would end up in the Salpetriere Hospital after a short time living on the street.

While at the Salpetriere, Jeanne was diagnosed with St Vitus Dance disorder which resulted in jerky movements. At a Mardi Gras dance, Jeanne took to the dance floor. She would later say that dance cured her but  later it was the jerky movements that became her signature. 

Once released, Jeanne was heartbroken and contemplated jumping into the Seine. A group of friendly prostitutes intervened and took care of her and gave her a place to sleep and also showed her the nightlife of Paris. Once she discovered the Bal Bullier she fell in love. Charles Zidler, the owner of a new dance hall in Montmartre discovered her and asked Jeanne to be in the opening cast. From the moment she took the stage of the Moulin Rouge she was a star. 

Now she needed a new name, partially for the stage and also so she could hide from her mother. Jane Avril was born over a lunch with her friend Robert Sherard who said her last name should be named after the perfect springtime in Paris. 

Unbeknownst to anyone in Paris, Jane became pregnant and left before she was showing. On July 17, 1899 Jean Pierre Adolphe Beaudon was born and after a few weeks was handed off to close friends that served as foster parents. Back in Paris she returned to the Moulin Rouge and Folies Bergère. Jane traveled to London and Spain spreading the can-can love to an audience that had never seen anything like it. 

One of the reasons many know Jane Avril is the work of Henri Toulouse-Lautrec. He spotted her from his perch at the Moulin Rouge and the two became fast friends and he immortalized her in posters that are still available today. Toulouse-Lautrec painted her more than twenty times for her stage productions and now can be seen in the Musée du Montmartre. 

In June 1911 Jane married Maurice Biais, a German artist who also adopted her son. The three had a nice little life for a very brief period of time. A trip to visit his family in New York quickly took a wrong turn. His family didn’t approve of Jane and her profession. At the time a stage actor or dancer was barely a step above being a prostitute. The two were in a constant fight and she took her son and returned to Paris. 

Maurice followed later and upon his return bought the family a small house near Versailles. It was an idyllic life until she figured out what her husband did all day. First, Maurice had been fired from his job months before and was taking possessions out of the house to sell to help fund their home and his secret lift. Maurice was disappearing to Paris for days at a time drinking and philandering. Jane had to sell her jewelry and her art to help take care of the home and her son and would find many of her lavish costumes missing. Apparently Maurice had a really fun time in Paris in her costumes. 

Maurice would die locked away in an asylum in 1926 and at the same time her son ran away from home, she would never see him again.  Now semi-retired but unable to say no to anything anyone asked her for. She would reappear on the stages of Paris raising money for others while at the same time struggling to pay her bills. When her friends knew how much trouble she was in a large benefit for her would raise enough money to pay off all her debt and take care of her the rest of her life. 

Jane lived through two World Wars and it began to really take its toll on her. Her final years in Paris during World War II, cold and hungry until she couldn’t take it anymore. Struggling with angina, on January 17, 1943 she took her last breath in her home at 5 Rue de La Saïda in the 15th and was buried in Père Lachaise. 

Her last words were written as she had lost her voice a year before. Scrolled out on a piece of paper she wrote “I hate Hitler”. She was 79 years old and had lived a long and interesting life. 

Nicole Kidmen’s character in Moulin Rouge is loosely based on her.

Episode 32 - Madame de Maintenon

Madame de Maintenon started out as Françoise d’Aubigné on November 27, 1635. Her father Constant d’Aubigne was sent to prison for gambling, killing a man in a duel, abducting a woman, counterfeiting and trying to start a rebellion against the king. While in prison he met and married Jeanne de Cardilhac, daughter of the prison director and they had three children. Just after her birth, she was sent to live with her aunt Madame de Villette at the Château de Mursay nearby, after all a cold drafty prison wasn’t the place to raise a child. 

Yes, it sounds like a Lifetime movie of the week and begs for so many questions. In 1642 after Cardinal Richelieu died and Jeanne was able to convince her father to release him, the family headed for Ile Marie Galante. Constant was always after a fast buck and blew through Jeanne’s dowry and cultivated one scheme after another. Once on the island he abandoned his family forcing Jeanne and her three kids to return to Paris. 

Times were tough for the family and they were forced to beg for food on the street. Once again her aunt stepped in and saved the family. Madame de Villette was raising the children as Protestant and her godmother Suzanne de Baudéan was not having any of that and took her away. Taken to live at the Ursuline convent on Rue Crémeaux in 1649 followed by the Ursuline convent on rue Saint Jacques. Françoise  didn’t take to convent life and had a difficult time until she became close with Sister Celeste who looked after her and created a tight bond. 

On weekends her godmother would take her to visit the Salons and parties of Paris where she would meet many authors and artists as well as women from the court. On one visit she met poet Paul Scarron who was twenty-five years older than her and was suffering from Polio. They shared many letters until he asked for her hand and the two were married on April 4, 1652. Due to his health his eight short years of their marriage was spent taking care of him and lengthy talks about literature. Sadly he passed away in 1660 and Françoise was left broken hearted. 

Her godmother worked for Queen Anne d’Autriche and was able to convince her to continue Paul’s pension for the widowed Françoise and would last until Anne died in 1666. Louis XIV wouldn’t agree to continue the payments which left Françoise in need of making a large change in her life. 

After the support of friends ran out she was about to move to Portugal to become the lady in waiting to the new queen Marie-Françoise de Nemours until Madame de Montespan stepped in. In last week’s episode we talked all about the mistress of Louis XIV and her strange and terrifying life. The two women met at the Salon in the Marais including the popular Salon held by Ninon de l'Enclos who we have also covered in an earlier episode.  

In 1669, Montespan gave birth to the first of many illegitimate children of Louis XIV and then needed a place to go, away from the eyes of court. Louis XIV purchased a hotel particulier  on the rue de Vaugirard to hide the children. Montespan convinced Louis that Françoise would be a perfect caretaker to look after the children. Françoise loved them like they were her own and were involved in every aspect of their raising even convincing Louis to make the children legitimate. He was not impressed with her at first, he thought she was a bit bossy and a little rough around the edges. 

He would change his tune after he had the children legitimized and they all moved to Saint Germain en Laye where she became the court governess. As a sign of appreciation for all she had done, Louis gave her a very large gift allowing her to purchase the Chateau de Maintenon in 1675. At the same time, Louis purchased the title and she was known as the Marquis de Maintenon. Meanwhile, her old friend Montespan was getting a little worried about the closeness between the king and the governess. 

In 1680, the Affair of the Poisons swept through court and Montespan’s reign was over and she was swiftly removed from court. Louis XIV became closer to Maintenon but she pushed him away from anything romantic or physical. The two became very close and he looked to her for guidance in every manner of the court and state upsetting his fellow ministers. 

A very devout catholic, she saw her role as saving Louis in the eyes of the church while the rest of court saw her as manipulative. On July 30, 1683 the queen died and a few months later on October 9 Louis and Montespan were married in a secret ceremony. Performed by the Archbishop of Paris François de Harlay de Champvalon and the king's confessor Pére de la Chaise, behind the closed door of the kings bedroom. The marriage was a morganatic one, which means she could not be recognized as queen or even be known as his official wife. 

They spent a majority of their time together in his bedroom, making state decisions and even taking meetings. The two of them joined forces in creating the Maison Royale de Saint-Louis in Rueil, a school for children of noble families, many of which had lost a parent to the many French conflicts. Recalling her days at the convent she wanted to create a curriculum that would truly teach children, especially young women. 

As Louis got older, he worried his past romantic endeavors would not sit well with God and he hoped his love of Maintenon would save him in the eyes of the church. Towards the end of his life on August 30, 1715 Françoise was told there was little they could do for him and he told her to leave. She retreated to her school that was now located in nearby Saint-Cyr 

The school was later moved closer to Versailles to Saint-Cyr and she was there surrounded by children when she got the news of his death on September 1, 1715. She lived out the rest of her life there and would still take visitors including Peter the Great who came to seek her council but noticing how quickly she had aged in the last few years. 

On April 15, 1719 she died at 83 years old and was buried at Saint-Cyr where she would remain until the Revolution. After World War II she was located and moved briefly to the chapel of Versailles until 1969 when she was once again returned to Saint-Cyr, that was now a military school created by Napoleon

Episode 31 - Madame de Montespan

Madame de Montespan,  was born as Françoise de Rochechouart de Mortemart on October 5, 1641 in Lussac-les-Châteaux. Her family, the house of Rochechouart, was one of the oldest noble families and served the king and queen of France. As a child she was sent to the Convent of Saint Mary in Saintes alongside other noble children and at 17 years old she was working in the court of the Palais du Louvre. 

In 1658 as the lady-in-waiting to the sister-in-law to Louis XIV, Henriette of England, the young Francoise was now close to king Louis XIV. A role given to her by Anne of Austria who her mother served as her lady-in-waiting, it was the family business after all. 

On January 28, 1663 she married Louis Henri de Pardaillan de Gondrin, Marquis de Montespan, although she was in love with Louis de la Frémoille. A lady didn’t have much of a choice back then and was forced to marry Louis Henri. The wedding took place at the Église Saint Eustache before a large group of Paris society. When they realized they forgot their marital kneeling pillows, they had to use dog cushions instead, not a great way to start. The couple would have two children, Marie in 1663 and Louis Antoine in 1665. 

The couple lived near the Palais du Louvre which kept her close as she was now the lady-in-waiting to queen Marie-Therese of Spain, wife of Louis XIV. Extremely beautiful but also very cultured, smart with a witty personality she was hard to miss by everyone at court including the king. In 1667, the king's brothers held a ball at Versaille where Louis XIV asked her to dance. Louise de la Valliere was his current headmistress and had befriended Montespan. When Louise and also the queen became pregnant by the king at the same time, she asked Montespan to dine with the king each evening. It was sending the fox into the hen house and after the birth of the illegitimate child of the king, Louise left court as Montespan had moved into her place. 

Her husband wasn’t taking the news well and one day he held a funeral for their marriage and decorated a coach in black and drove it to court causing a scene. Around Paris he was telling everyone about their affair and of course it spread to court. When the king asked him what he was doing in his black carriage, he had him arrested and thrown into jail. 

The king would father seven children with Montespan each of them illegitimate. Taken from court they were raised in Paris by Montespan’s friend Madame Scarron. Scarron would become Madame de Maintenon, we will have much more about her next week. Maintenon helped convince the king to legitimize the children, each of them later known as de Bourbon. Since Montespan was still married she had to be left off the certificates of her own children. 

Louis XIV gave her the Château de Clagny and his gardener Andre Le Notre, who designed Versailles, Vaux-le-Vicomte and the Tuileries. At Versailles far from the chateau he had a small pavilion built of porcelain. The Trianon de Porcelain was the first Chinoiserie structure in Europe, built with delicate porcelain tiles; it was the perfect place for the two lovers to hide. Sadly, the material was so fragile it was torn down, later to be replaced by the Trianon built by Louis XV for Madame de Pompadour. 

In 1674, thanks to the king, Montespan and her husband were legally separated. It took convincing six judges and officials to finally authorize it and end her marriage. Montespan’s influence over the king bothered everyone at court including all his ministers. With her cunning moves she alienated his advisors and made many enemies, so when her fall came none of them was upset. In 1681 the Affair of the Poison spread through the court, killing many people. When one of the mistresses of Louis XIV, the Duchess of Fontanges died, Montespan was the first to be accused. Montespan had been demoted to the head of the queen's household and was not pleased to leave her lofty status at court. 

However, it wasn’t just this one incident that drew the suspicion of the kings guards and the rumors at court. Montespan was close with Catherine Monovoisin or La Voisin as she was called. Voisin was known as a fortune teller, sorceress and also performed rituals and abortions. This is when this story takes a very dark turn. 

In 1665, Montespan visited La Voisin and asked her to create a love potion that she could use on the king. This wasn’t just any potion. A dark mass had to be held with a priest and La Voisine would ask the devil for the love of the king. In the ritual, a baby had to be sacrificed and bled and even worse things and added to the poison. If you watched the tv series Versailles that is currently on Netflix, they even touched on this horrific act. 

It was discovered that Louis XIV had been poisoned for 13 years. La Voisin was arrested and when they searched her home they found more than two-thousand babies buried in her garden. Montespan was sent from court and all her gifts the king had given to her stripped away. In 1691, she was exiled to the Abbey of Fontevrault where her sister Marie-Madeleine was the director. 

Montespan traveled in 1707 to Bourbon-l’Archambault to take in the healing waters but would die while there on May 28, 1707.  She was left alone, without any of her children in the final years of her life. Louis XIV wouldn’t allow any of theres to have any contact with her, and as he was paying for their life, they didn’t have any problems obliging. 

Montespan was thought to be the “unofficial queen” of France for a short time, but it was the next head mistress that would in fact hold that title. 

More next week…

Episode 30 - Mary Cassatt

American artist Mary Cassatt was considered one of “Les Trois Grandes Dames of Impressionism” alongside Berthe Morisit and Marie Bracquemond. Born in Pittsburgh on May 22, 1844 to a very wealthy family. Her father Robert Simpson Cassatt made a fortune in the stock market and with land sales. Her mother Katherine came from a banking family that was well educated and believed her own daughter should be as well. 

As a child they traveled Europe stopping in Berlin, London and Paris and taking classes in art and music while also learning French and German. In Paris at the World’s Fair she laid her eyes on the French masters for the first time. Delacroix, Corot, Courbet, Ingres and Degas and her life changed forever. 

Returning to Pennsylvania, she begged her parents for art lessons and by 1859 at just fifteen years old they finally gave in. Mary enrolled in the Academy of Fine Arts but her fellow bohemian feminist students didn’t make her parents too happy. At the time women were not allowed to paint live models, so she was stuck painting still lives and flowers while also soaking up those feminisit ideals, much to her parents' chagrin. Bored with painting flowers she decided to teach herself how to paint by copying the masters, but there were only so many she could find in Pittsburgh. 

In 1866, she packed up her brushes and moved to Paris, but the city of artists wasn’t that much easier. Being a woman held her back, she couldn’t go to the Ecole des Beaux-Arts and had to find her own teacher that would take an eager young lady.  Jean-Leon Gérôme who also taught a long list of artists saw something in Mary and took her under his wing.  Spending most of her days with Gérôme in the Louvre copying paintings and mingling with the other young artists of Paris. In 1868 she began to study under Thomas Couture who had also been Manet’s teacher. 

Sadly, just two years later as the Franco Prussian war began she headed back to the United States and what would be a wasteland for the culture seeking Cassatt. Back in her parents' house she painted all day, much to her father's disapproval. He didn’t like her chosen career and refused to support it. He paid for her lodging, food and spending money but refused to buy brushes or any painting supplies. 

A few of her paintings were exhibited in a New York gallery, but none of them sold leaving her discouraged and it was about to get even worse. With a collection of canvases she traveled to Chicago. The day after she had them set up in a gallery the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 swept through the city destroying everything in its path including her paintings. At the edge of giving up, a chance meeting would change everything. 

The Roman Catholic Bishop Michael Domenic of Pittsburgh asked her to paint two copies of Correggio’s paintings for the cathedral. It came with enough money to travel to Italy and spend as long as she needed to complete the monumental project. By 1874 she was back in Paris and selling a painting at the Salon, things were looking up. Although, her outspoken opinions on the Salon and how women artists were treated weren’t winning her a lot of friends in the circles she needed to be in. At the next Salon her paintings were quickly rejected as many of the Impressionists were. Discouraged like the other artists, Degas invited her to be a part of the Impressionist Exhibit in 1879. She had three paintings hanging on the walls alongside the painters that finally made her feel like she was part of a group that accepted her. 

Just a few years before her parents had moved to Paris to be with Mary and her sister Lydia. Her father had come around a bit more to her painting and was happy to support her. Mary never had an interest in getting married as she knew it had to be a choice to be a painter or a wife and was happy living with her sister and parents and few friends. One of her closest friends, Louisine Elder, was much younger than Mary but they shared hours in the museums together. Mary would share with her how to look at art and what she should purchase. Later when Lousine married a rather wealthy man they began to gather up the paintings of the Impressionist all thanks to Mary.  Their collection became one of the largest personal collections that was later given to the Museum of Modern Art in NY. 

In 1882, her sister Lydia died at 45 from Bright's disease which crushed Mary. Staying inside day and night in seclusion and never touching her brushes. Her father tried to encourage her to paint to no avail. On one of her first voyages out she was returning home on her horse crossing the Champs Elysees when her horse slipped, fell and fractured her leg. 

In 1911, she was diagnosed with cataracts, diabetes and rheumatism but she didn’t let that stop her. A few years later she contributed to the Sufforgete movement back in Philadelphia by sending eighteen of her paintings to a charity event. Her sister in law Eugenie was not a supporter of women voting and let all of her society friends know that they should boycott the event. Mary was so mad, she decided to sell off all her paintings that had been intended as inheritance of her sister in law's children. 

In the later years of her life she purchased the Chateau de Beaufresne outside of Paris where she and her parents lived. On June 14, 1926 at 82 years old she died and was buried her in the family plot near the chateau in Le Mesnil-Théribus. 

In her life she was barely known in the United States as an artist, but well known in France. In 1904 France awarded her with the Legion d’honor for her work spreading the word on French art to the United States. 

Today, you can find more of her paintings in the United States than in France but when you do, enjoy her beautiful life's work. 

Episode 29 - Josephine Baker

There were many American expats filling the streets of Paris in the 1920’s but there was one that did it with an extra panash and made an immediate impression.  Josephine Baker was a woman ahead of her time and blazed her own path from the streets of St Louis to the stages of Paris. 

Born on June 3, 1906 in St Louis to her mother Carrie, and a father she would never know. Her mother had worked for a German family in St Louis, and it is believed that the man of the house could be her dad, but the secret went to her grave.  At just 8 years old, her mother hired her out to be a live-in maid. One day when she used too much laundry detergent her boss held her hands to a hot stove burning them. 

Her mother wasn’t much in the picture and continued to have other children and didn’t care about Josephine at all and forced her to live on the street. Josephine would make small bits of money dancing on a street corner in between waitress jobs. At just 14 years old, she married Willie Wells, the marriage only lasted a few months. The next year she married Willie Baker, the nuptials lasted four years but she would keep his last name.

In 1921 she moved to New York City at the height of the Harlem Renaissance and performed at the Plantation Club at just 15 years old. The last in the chorus line, she fumbled through the moves while the audience roared with laughter. In the next scene, she came out on stage and wowed the crowd with her amazing dance moves, clearly not the lost dancer on the end and became the highest paid chorus girl in vaudeville. 

On October 2, 1925, when her troupe was headed to Paris, she wasn’t going to miss the chance. At 19 she performed on the stage at the Theatre des Champs Elysees and she was an instant success with her exotic moves and teeny tiny costumes. In 1926, in the historic Folies Bergère was the site of her “Danse Sauvage” complete with her banana skirt, more banana than it was skirt. Her other costumes included a single flamingo feather hanging between her legs and a live cheetah named “Chiquita” with its own diamond collar. 

She branched out and began to sing and acted on film and in operas including Jacques Offenbach’s Le Creole in 1934. Offenbach, who wrote the famous Can Can song and also was a lover of another of our ladies, Valtesse de la Bigne. A role she trained for over six months.

In 1936, she made a brief return to the USA to perform on Broadway in the Ziegfeld Follies, but was not received well and when few tickets were sold she returned to Paris. Later in life she said that she “couldn’t stand America”, after this trip she renounced her citizenship. A marriage to Jean Lion in 1937 also came with a French passport and she never looked back. 

At the start of World War II, she left Paris for the Chateau de Milandes in the Dordogne. With her stage persona she used it to her advantage to help the Resistance. Traveling around France she was the perfect spy to pass notes on sheet music to other Resistance leaders at times pinning them inside her underwear so the German’s wouldn’t find them. Always at home on the stage she visited many of the French, American and British bases performing for the troops, her very own USO spreading some much needed cheer with the banana skirt. Later she would be awarded the Crois de Guerre, Rosette de la Resistance and the Chevalier de Légion d'honneur, not so bad for a girl that once danced on the street. 

An outspoken activist for Civil Rights, she places a clause in her contracts when returning to America that she wouldn’t perform in segregated clubs. In 1951 she returned to the States to accept the NAACP’s Woman of the Year award that came with a parade of thousands of people through the streets of New York.  On the same trip she was booked to perform at the Stork Club in NYC, that left out that they weren’t allowing black people in the audience. Just before the curtain was to go up she heard and refused to perform. The club threatened her with deportation and the loss of thousands of dollars. However, they picked the wrong night. Princess Grace of Monaco was in the audience with a group of friends and when Josephine made a small scene the princess walked up to her took her by the arm and walked out. It would be the beginning of a friendship that lasted her whole life. Her visa was revoked and she wasn’t allowed to return for ten years. 

In 1963, she did return to the United State and this time stood next to Martin Luther King Jr on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial for the March on Washington. After his tragic death, his widow called Josephine and asked her to pick up his torch and take over as the leader of the Civil Rights movement. She declined and remained in France and spent as much time as she could at her chateau. 

Knowing what it was like to grow up with parents she began to adopt children of her own. Twelve children from 11 different countries,  she would call them her “Rainbow Tribe”. All different ages it was important to her to raise them in their own religion, beliefs and languages. What a beautiful thought and still needed so many years later. 

Plagued with money issues her entire life, when she needed money she performed but then spent it just as quickly. When she couldn’t afford her payments on the chateau, her friends including Bridget Bardot and Princess Grace tried to help. While away on tour she was told that her home was being repossessed. She left immediately, returned and locked herself in her kitchen. It lasted for a few days until she left the kitchen for another room and they locked her out. 

On April 8, 1975 in celebration of her 50 years on stage a multi day grand show was planned at the Bobino in Montparnasse.  The entire production was paid for by Princess Grace and Prince Rainier and even Jackie Kennedy Onassis. Two days later as she lay in bed reading her glowing reviews she suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and fell into a coma. 

On April 12, 1975 the great woman of the stage died at 68 years old. So beloved in France, she was given a full Catholic mass in the Eglise Madeleine with full French honors, the only American woman given the honor. 

Her Chateau was later opened as a museum that you can visit today complete with her Art Deco bathroom designed to match her bottle of Arpège designed by one of our other ladies, Jeanne Lanvin. Don’t you love how they are all so intertwined. 

https://www.milandes.com/en/

Episode 28 - Juliette Récamier

You will know this week's lovely lady from the beautiful painting hanging in the Musée du Louvre by Jacques-Louis David.  Juliette Récamier was a fixture of the Paris Salon scene in the 19th century and lived a very interesting life. 

It all started with a rather strange story. Her mother Marie-Julie Matton came from a wealthy family and her father Jean Bernard was the notary and counsellor to the king. Growing up in Lyon, her father left for Paris to be the Postmaster General leaving Juliette and her mother in Lyon. 

Marie-Julie had a weekly Salon in their home before Juliette was born that drew the most interesting people from Lyon and Paris. One night a man that frequently attended introduced himself to the teenage Juliete. Jacques-Rose Récamier was 30 years older than her and decided quickly they would be married. Hold onto your hat for the next part. 

It is now thought that Jacques was actually her father. They were married on April 24, 1793, she was fifteen years old. It was 1793 and the Reign of Terror consumed Paris. Jacques was worried he would be arrested and killed and this was a way for his daughter/wife to inherit his fortune at the time. The marriage was a business deal and never consummated, leaving her a virgin until she was in her 40’s. 

Surviving the Terror, they bought a home on the Rue de Mont-Blanc, now the Rue de la Chaussee d’Antin in October 1798. Decorated in the Etruscan style, one of the very first in Paris and added to the appeal of her own Salon she hosted for the literature and political society. Her weekly Salon was the place to be and attracted the elite of Paris who also wanted a glimpse inside their home. 

Her beauty wasn’t lost on anyone either and was considered one of the “Three Graces” of Paris that also included Josephine Bonaparte and Madame Tallien. At a party Napoleon met her and was so enamored with her he sent her a letter and asked her to be one of Josephine’s ladies in waiting. She declined, something few people did to Napoleon which wouldn’t go over very well. 

Juliette met Madame de Stael, a writer and outspoken critic of Napoleon held her own Salon as well as attending Juliette’s. The two became close friends and when word reached Napoleon of Stael’s Salons becoming a meeting of anti-Bonapartists  he exiled her from Paris.  Juliette was worried she would be next and left Paris before he could banisher her from the city. During this time Jacques worked for the Banque de France and was a political and financial supporter of Napoleon until he lost his job, in part by her wife’s actions. Forcing him to sell their home, silver and jewelry. 

Juliette left Paris and her husband behind for Lyon and eventually Italy. In Rome and Naples she met many French artists and writers that had also fled Napoleon creating a Salon for them all to gather. In a chance of luck and a jab at Napoleon she met King Joachim Murat and his wife Caroline, who was Napoleon’s sister and became good friends. Juliette was reunited with her old friend Madame de Stael at her home in Switzerland where she would also meet Prince Augustus of Prussia. Juliette and the prince fell in love and wanted to be married. She sent her husband a letter asking for a divorce, it was a platonic relationship after all, but he refused telling her it was a bad time. 

On June 1, 1814 with Napoleon out of power she returned to Paris, but not before she and the Prince promised to wait for each other. The Prince would never marry but would have eleven children with his mistress and he and Juliette would never see each other again.  Upon her return she moved into an apartment in the Abbaye-aux-Bois just off the rue de Sèvres where the convent rented apartments out to the high society ladies in the capital. Juliette had fond memories of staying in the convent when she was younger when her father had left for Paris. 

She began her Salons again with firm rules of no politics and only talking about the arts. At one of her Salons she met François-René Chateaubriand and became close friends and maybe more. He lived nearby at 120 Rue de Bac and would only leave his home to visit her every day. Each day from 2pm-3pm they had their own private visit before the other Salon goers arrived, seven days a week.

Juliette’s beauty never diminished and when 33 years old, Jacques-Louis David was selected to paint her portrait. Sitting for him many times, she grew bored and felt he was too slow. The relationship with the artist was rocky and when he learned that she had also agreed to sit for François Gerard he was furious. David never finished the painting and wouldn’t give it to her, keeping it until his death in his personal collection. To make matters worse she asked one of his students to paint her. The young painter depicted the beauty from behind with dirty feet and it didn’t look anything like her. It was David’s small revenge. You can now see David’s famous unfinished painting of her in the Musée du Louvre. It is hard to tell it is unfinished, but the lack of background or anything other than the model laying on her Récamier and tall candlestick. Now that you know how she felt about the process, you can see it on her face. 

In most of the paintings of her, she is always reclined on a version of a chaise lounge, with raised curved ends. These are now called a Récamier in honor of it’s most famous promoter. Also in the Louvre in the Aile Richelieu far from the normal path of people is a room that includes her original bedroom furniture. The Jacob Brothers, who was THE furniture maker of the time also making many pieces for Josephine, created a lovely mahogany gilded bronze bed with matching side tables, secretary and walls covered in one of her favorite colors, purple silk. 

Juliette held her Salons until the end of her life. Her sight began to go and almost completely blind her maids moved her furniture around so she was able to move through her apartment and never told anyone that she was blind.  Her close friend Chateaubriand died in July 1848 and was a huge blow and she felt she would go soon after. At the time Cholera was spreading through France and was active at the Abbey. Fearing for her health she left to stay with her niece at the Palais Royal. On May 11, 1849 she couldn’t fight it and died of Cholera at 71 years old.  She was buried in a rather plain tomb for such a beautiful woman in the Cemetery Montmartre. 

Today the Abbey is gone but the pedestrian street that once led to it is now named after her. Venture over and sit in the hidden Square Stéphane and think about the lovely Juliette.

Episode 27 - Queen Berthe

The statue of Reine Berthe in the Jardin du Luxembourg is one of my favorites of the twenty illustrious ladies in French history. She may not be as well known as Marie de Medicis but you will know the name of her son and her story is pretty amazing. 

Born in 720 to Count Caribert de Laon and Blanche-Fleur de Prum her beauty was known far and wide. When Pepin le Bref, future king of the Franks heard of her stunning beauty he wanted her for his wife. Different histories say he may have been married before to Leutburgie and when he heard of Berthe, he asked Leutburgie to leave court. The marriage was arranged and Berthe headed to court to meet her future husband. 

Traveling to court with her cousin Tybers and servant Margiste and his daughter Aliste who didn’t have the best of intentions. Margiste realized his daughter had a striking resemblance to Berthe and hatched a plan to replace the princess with his own daughter. He convinced Berthe that Pepin was a horrible brutal man, kidnapped her and planned to behead her. Luckily one of his men overheard and released Berthe in the forest of Le Mans. For years Berthe lived in a farmers home in the forest while Aliste lived her life in court until one day her mother came to town. 

Missing her lovely daughter she went to court and with one look she knew Aliste was not her beloved Berthe. Pepin and everyone at court told her she was wrong but Berthe had one distinct feature that couldn’t be faked. Berthe was also known as Berthe au Grand Pied due to her clubfoot. Her left foot was much larger than her right and all Blanche-Fleur had to do was lift her blanket to see this was not her daughter. Margiste and Aliste were arrested and burned to death but still Berthe was missing.  

One day as Pepin and his men were hunting in Le Mans he came across a beautiful woman praying in the woods, he and Berthe were finally united. Returning to court they were married in 743 or 744 and on April 2, 748 she gave birth to her first child, Charles followed in 751 by Carloman and five more children. Only three would survive to adulthood. 

Pepin’s father Charles Mantel held the title of the “Mayor of the Palace”, at the time the most powerful role one could hold in the Merovingian dynasty. In 741, Charles died and left his kingdom to be ruled by his two sons, Pepin and Carloman. In 747 he forced his brother out and held the title on his own. At the time Merovingian king Childeric III was in power and Pepin had eyes on his throne. Pepin was a defender and supporter of Pope Zacharius and asked how he could remove him. The Pope told him he was the one that held the power and could do whatever he wanted. Pepin had Childeric III sent to a monastery in 751 and crowned himself King of the Franks. 

In 768 Pepin died and left his throne to his two sons, Charles and Carloman. At first the two brothers ruled together and Berthe was involved in every aspect of the court. In 771 Carloman died unexpectedly and instead of giving his portion and power to Carloman’s son he decide to cut him out and rule alone. 

Berthe tried to reason with Charles who was not going to change his mind and in turn sent his mother away from court and to Choisy-au-Bac near Compiegne. Berthe would die on July 12, 1783 at 63 years old. Buried at the Église Saint Étienne in Choisy-au-Bac she was later moved to the Basilique Saint Denis to lay next to her husband Pepin. 

As for Charles, you may know him better as  Charlemagne, king of the Franks and Emperor of the Romans. 

Berthe, the lovely woman that went through so much to become the mother of the Father of Europe is rarely talked about. On the upper eastern terrace of the Jardin du Luxembourg, I love her statue by Eugène Ouidné created in 1856. With a strong fierce look on her face, in her hand she holds a small throne that her son Charlemagne sits on under the rustling trees on a perfect fall day.