Episode 56 - Madame de Sévigné

Madame de Sévigné, one of the greatest authors of the 17th century, never wrote a single book. Instead she is known to us today as a “lady of letters”. 

Marie de Rabutin Chantal was born February 5, 1626 in the Palais Royal home of her grandparents. By the time she turned seven both of her parents had died and was being raised by her grandparents and uncle Christopher. He would teach her latin, italian and spanish when she was quite young and turned her onto the great literature of the time rarely afforded to girls. 

In 1644 at 18 she married Henri de Sévigné at the Église Saint Gervais and two children followed. Françoise in 1646 and Charles in 1648 but the marriage would be short lived, Henri was quite the philanderer and had a difficult time keeping it in check  and it would end in his death. On February 5, 1651 his life would end in a duel. Challenged by François Amenieu over Mademoiselle de Gundron, one of his many mistresses. He didn’t fare well and died as a result. 

Madame de Sévigné at 25 became a wealthy widow which gave her a place in society few women could reach. Men would pursue her but she had no interest in getting married again. To fill her time she attended the salons and events of Paris and began to write letters to friends and family describing the scene and travels of each day. Women could rarely be published unless under a man's name and while she enjoyed the process she couldn’t be bothered worrying about how ro publish, so she took to her letters. 

In 1669 her daughter Françoise married Comte de Grignan  who was a widow twice over and much older than she. Their marriage would take François from her mother and Paris to the south of France and the Chateau de Grignan. On February 6, 1671 the first of over 1000 letters sent to her beloved daughter began. 

Each letter served as a snapshot of her life in Paris and the actions of each day. So descriptive and interesting, Françoise began to read them outloud where everyone anxiously attended. Once Madame learned of this she began to compose the letters with even more drama and excitement creating a performance with each page. They became so popular people began to copy them and send them to others. 

Sévigné mixed with the elites of Paris and was widely adored which got her into many events including the execution of two women involved in the Poison Affair, that she would note in detail within the letters. 

In the spring of 1662, the trial of her friend Nicolas Fouquet began mesmerizing all of Paris for a year. Attending the trial she detailed every moment in her letters making them one of the few eyewitness accounts. After his imprisonment she continued to send him letters that woul be intervened by Louis XIV. Worried her rather flippant tone may get her in trouble. Instead he was fascinated by her and invited her to court including the fete of the year The Pleasure of the Enchanted Island party. 

Held on May 7 to 13, 1664 the lavish event was dedicated to Anne d’Autriche, mother of Louis XIV but was actually a party to seduce one of his mistresses Louis de la Vallière. Molière, Lully, serperentant of music for the king, garden architect Andrea Le Notre had only a few weeks to put together something to please the king who fancied himself an actor. 

The Pleasure of the Enchanted Island was the story of Alcine and Roger. Alcine was a seductress who would charm soldiers and then trap them. Roger fell under her charms and while in jail became her lover. Roger of course was played by the Sun King dressed in red velvet riding a horse draped in gold and jewels followed by a 25 foot long golden chariot of Apollo. 

In 1677 Sévigné moved into the Hôtel des Ligneris, that would one day become the Musée Carnavalet  and sitting on the street that bears her name. Continuing to write letters she traveled between Paris and her daughter in the south of France where she would die on April 17, 1696 at 70 years old and buried in the Église Saint Sauveur of Grignan. 

After her death her granddaughter agreed to publish 28 of her letters. Heavily edited by the publisher the originals were then destroyed. The first three editions of the book constantly changed, In 1734 more than 600 letters were published and in 1754, 772 letters. In 1834, a professor on holiday in Dijon discovered 320 letters written to her daughter and would be published more than a hundred years later in 1953. Today 1120 letters have been published, mostly in French but some have been translated and can be found online. 

The Chateau de Grignan has been turned into a bit of a museum for her and her daughter with a few of the original letters on display. 

With the long-awaited reopening of the Musée Carnavalet, her former home, a painting by Claude Lefèbvre  and many of her objects can be found today including a few of her letters. 

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Episode 55 - Jeanne DuVal

Jeanne DuVal was the beautiful muse of Charles Baudelaire and would inspire his  glowing devotion. The Black Venus and Mistress of Mistresses as he called her is mostly unknown still to this day. 

Much of the details of her life are murky due to a fire that would destroy her vital documents. Born in the 1820’s in the Dominiquine Republic or Haiti, her grandmother was a slave and her mother took Jeanne and her brother to Paris to work in the brothels. 

Jeanne was tall and beautiful and her striking looks got her a role on the stage. Performing at the Théâtre de la Porte Sainte Antoine, although she wasn’t the best actor. A girl has to eat, so she became a prostitute for a short period. Nadar, the French photographer saw her on the stage and the two began an affair that lasted a year.  It was through Nadar that Jeanne and  Baudelaire would meet, but their love affair didn’t start right away. 

One night in Montmartre Baudelaire came across Jeanne being harassed by a group of drunks and stepped in to save her. After that the two began their 20 year tumultuous relationship. Baudelaire was already working on Fleur de Mal when the two began. Jeanne would inspire the flowery devotions of love and when things were bad would also inspire the hate filled pieces.  

Fleur de Mal (Flowers of Evil) covered everything from the transformation of Paris, which he was highly against, lesbianism, eroticism and love. Many people loved it but just as many hated it. Baudelaire and his printer were prosecuted for “attack on public morals”. 

Baudelaire lived all over Paris, including the sought after Hotel Lauzun on the Ile de la Cite and he rented a place for Jeanne just down the island on Rue le Regrattier. When they went through rough patches it wouldn’t last long. He would be at her apartment giving her money and spending time together much to his mothers chagrin. 

In 1859 Jeanne was paralized on the right side of her body and shortly after started to go blind. Baudelaire was there and paid for her care at the Maison de Santé Dubois and later in an apartment in Neuilly. Calling himself her caretaker at this point of their relationship.  

Baudelaire’s close friend Edouard Manet painted a portrait of Jeanne after seeing her only once. The “Mistress of Baudelaire” 1862 captures Jeanne seated on a couch with her legs up and enveloped in a large white skirt. Her arm over the back of the couch and her feet are placed in a strange way due to her paralysis, which many may never notice as the skirt shields most of her. 

Their relationship would finally end around this time and she would die sometime shortly after. The painting stayed in his possession until his death in a sense Jeanne stayed with him those final five years before he died in 1867.

Episode 54 - Nélie Jacquemart

Nélie Jacquemart was an artist and art collector whose love of art remains today in Paris. 

Cornélie Barbe Hyacinthe Jacquemart was born July 25, 1841 in Paris. Her father worked for Alphée Bourdon de Vatry who was a wealthy politician and stock broker. Shortly after her birth he passed away and she and her mother continued on with the Vatry family and living with them in their grand home on Rue de Londres. 

Alphée married Rose Agusta Émilie Paméla Hainguerlot and was drawn to the young Cornélie. Unable to have children of her own she imparted her love of art and culture on Cornélie who soaked it all up. Armed with art supplies she started to draw, encouraged by Rose who was also able to enroll her into a workshop given by artist Léon Cogniet, one of the few artists to give lessons to women. 

In 1858 while attending the social event of the year, the funeral for Malka Kachwar, queen of Oude Nélie which she now went by, was sketching the people in attendance. An editor for L’Illustration newspaper saw her sketches and asked to publish them in their January 1858 issue. A stroke of the right place at the right time for a young female artist. 

It got the attention of the art community in Paris and two years later she was displaying her paintings at an exhibition in Versailles and just after that she was appearing on the walls of the Salon of 1863 with the biggest artists of the time. Her paintings were sold and commissions followed for portraits and paintings for the local churches. Today you can still find her paintings in the Notre Dame de Clignancourt and Saint Jacques de Haut Pas 

In 1872 Edouard André contacted Nélie to paint a portrait of the wealthy French banker who lived in the grand mansion on Boulevard Haussmann. Edouard had been a member of the military and a member of the protective force for Napoleon III before he turned to the family business of politics and banking. 

At the time Haussmann was cutting through Paris creating the vast boulevards lined with iron lined balconies. Architect Henri Parent, the runner up to Charles Garnier in the competition to design the Opera, would design the classically stunning home to house his art collection. 

Nine years after he first sat for Nélie, the two would meet again and shortly after on June 29, 1881 the two would marry. Edouard was now 48 and in ill health and his family pushed for the marriage and convinced Nélie of the union. There wasn’t a lot of love there but they did get along well and both loved art. Edouard even had one of the large rooms transformed into a studio for her painting but as soon as they were married she put down her brushes and never picked them up again. 

With a keen eye of her own when it came to collecting art, the two began to travel all over Europe, the near east and Asia to collect paintings, objects and furniture. The two happily amassed one of the greatest personal collections in Paris and even went up against the Louvre at auctions that resulted in the purchase of a Rembrant, The Pilgrims of Emmaus. On July 16, 1894 Edouard died after years of battling syphilis. His former will had given all of his wealth and property back to his family, the same family that encouraged Nélie to marry him. In the last few months of his life he changed it and named Nélie his sole heir. The family was not pleased and took her to court, but his wishes were upheld and Nélie inherited everything. 

In the following years she continued to travel, adding to her personal gallery. On a 1902 voyage around the world when she got word that the Abbey de Chaalis, the former property of Rose de Vatry was for sale. The fondest memories of her childhood centered around this lovely property 40 kilometers north of Paris. Cutting the trip short and just before she was to leave for Japan she returned to Paris and purchased the former abbey. 

The Abbey de Chaalis dates back to 1137 when it was built under the orders of Louis VI. Consecrated in 1219, over time the medieval buildings fell in disrepair and were destroyed and in the 18th century new buildings were added and eventually in 1850 Rose de Vatry purchased the property including the Saint Marie chapel and restored the fresco ceiling. 

For ten years Nélie enjoyed the abbey and filled it with her art and furniture and spent long periods there. On May 15, 1912 Nélie died and left both the mansion in Paris and the abbey to the Institut de France with very specific instructions on how her art was to be displayed. 

On December 8. 1913, less than seven months after her death the Musée Jacquemart André in Paris and the Abbey de Chaalis were opened to the public, left exactly how she intended it. 

The  Musée Jacquemart André is a wonderful museum that features her own collection of art that includes paintings by Rembrandt, Vigee Le Brun and Jacques Louis David. It is a triple threat museum, not only do you get to step into the life of Nélie and Edouard and their personal collection but twice a year they hold wonderful exhibits. 

Her collection includes more than 4000 pieces that are housed between the museum in Paris and the Abbey de Chaalis. The Abbey and it’s grounds can be easily visited, just check the hours before you go. 

Abbey de Chaalis

Musée Jacquemart André

Episode 53 - Ladies of the Louvre part deux

The Musée du Louvre and it’s list of amazing art is endless and hard to know where to even start. We will help share a few pieces that you don’t want to miss on your next trip to Paris. 

The Jardin du Luxembourg is filled with over 100 statues and monuments dedicated to artists. Authors and the illustrious women in French history and for a short period of time Jeanne d’Arc was one of them. Marie de Medici had the palace and garden created to remind her of growing up in Florence but most of what we see today was added long after she was gone. 

In 1848 Louis Philippe commissioned twenty statues for the Luxembourg. He picked each one that went from Queen Berthe to Anne d’Autriche and included Jeanne d’Arc. The Maid of Orleans was sculpted in 1845 by Francois Rude and was placed in the south side of the garden in 1852. In 1871 she was removed for safekeeping and eventually came to live in the Louvre. 

Jeanne d’Arc is normally captured in her armor and charging off to battle, but Rude decided to depict her in a dress with her armor at her feet with her right hand near her ear as she listened to the voices of the saints. 

Eugène Delacroix, the leader of the Romantic movement’s most recognized painting is La Liberté guidant le people, painted in 1830 for the Salon of 1831. The painting commemorates the Paris uprising of July 1830, known as the Trois Glorieuses, that ousted King Charles X.  

Liberty is the focal point of the painting, an allegorical figure rich with Greek imagery. Wearing the Phrygian cap that is worn by Marianne, the symbol of the French Republic and France.  With her right hand, she is holding the tricolor flag of France and her left is a bayoneted musket. Her bare breasts signifies the birth of democracy, charity and motherhood and her free flowing dress conveys her movement as she climbs over the cobblestone barricades calling for all to stand up and fight.  

Using the barricade as a pedestal, her movement evokes that of the Winged Victory of Samothrace, although the statue was discovered long after Delacroix painted this masterpiece. In the top right of the photo, the towers of Notre Dame rise from the smoke with a small tricolor flying in the wind. The painting even inspired Bartholdi when he created the Statue of Liberty, with her right arm holding up a torch instead of a flag.  

Long before there was social media one had to use large format paintings to spread their propaganda. Napoleon was a master at this and when it was time for his coronation he asked Jacques Louis David to capture the event, or the way Napoleon wanted it to be told. 

The Coronation of Napoleon (Le Sacre de Napoléon) is the immense painting that stretches 33 feet across the Pompei red walls of the Salle Daru in the Denon wing. Jacques-Louis David was commissioned by Napoleon himself, and didn't start the actual piece until a year later, with Napoleon making a few specific changes and additions to the painting that were a bit different from the actual event. The biggest being his mother, sitting in the balcony above him. She was not a  fan of Josephine, and was still in Rome and refused to attend, Napoleon asked David to add her.  The original drawing of the Pope had him sitting and looking on and the little Emperor said "I didn't bring him here to do nothing" so he was altered in the final piece to be anointing the ceremony.  Also looking down from above is the artist himself, David added himself into the balcony over the Emperor's mother. There are many other little secrets hidden in this painting, including Jules Cesar. Just behind Napoleon’s shoulder, the Roman Emperor gives Napoleon the side eye as he raises his arms. Napoleon wanted to be aligned to the great Emperors before him and had David add his likeness into this snapshot of history.

Listen to the full episode to learn even more about these three pieces including the jealous sisters that tried to foil the whole thing. 

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Episode 52 - Gabrielle d'Estrées

Gabrielle d’Estrées, a woman known more for her risque painting than of her life itself. Gabrielle was born around 1573, and daughter of Antoine d’Estrées, Baron de Boulonnois and Françoise de la Bourdaisieres. She was one of eleven children, seven of which were girls and gave them the moniker “seven deadly sins” by the Marquis de Sevigné.

Gabrielle mingled in the court of Henri III and where she met Roger de Bellegarde who was close with Henri III and Henri IV. One the occasion that Roger was meeting with Henri IV, Gabrielle was spotted at court and Henri was instantly obsessed. For six months he chased her and she resisted until she finally gave in. 

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Henri IV did not hide his relationship or his love he had for Gabrielle, even in the midst of trying to get his marriage to Marguerite de Valois annulled. To keep her close at court he orchestrated a marriage between Gabrielle and Nicolas d’Amerval on June 8, 1592. To thank him for his role, Nicolas was given the title of Baron de Benais. 

Henri was eager to end the marriage with Marguerite and to marry Gabrielle and asked Pope Clement VIII to dissolve his marriage. Clement had his own ideas and wanted Henri to marry his niece, Marie de Medici and was slow moving on giving Henri what he wanted. 

Always by his side, Gabrielle was instrumental in helping to end the many religious conflicts and converting Henri to Catholocisim in 1593. However, she wasn’t loved by the people who called her the “duchess of garbage” and attacked her spending. Nonetheless, she sat next to Henri on his triumphant return to Paris later that same year. Henri had every intention to marry her and presented her with his coronation ring in front of the court. 

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The union of Gabriele and Henri resulted in three children. Caesar in 1594, Catherine in 1596 and Alexandre in 1598. All three were legitimized in the eyes of the monarchy and the church as Henri’s children. In 1599 she became pregnant again. Each of her pregnancies were very easy, but this fourth was giving her a lot of issues. Sick everyday she struggled everyday for five months. 

On April 6, 1599 she left Henri behind at Fontainebleau, it was just a few days before their wedding planned for April 11, Easter. She cried and sobbed and had to be pulled off of him, on what would be the last time she saw her love. On April 7 she dined with Sebastion Zamet, an  Italian that had arrived in France with Catherine de Medici and was also close with Marie de Medici. That night at dinner when she said she wasn’t feeling well, Zamet gave her a frosted lemon. The next day she began having contractions and pains, she was only 5 months along. 

The baby had already died and doctors tried to figure out what to do as she got worse. After a day her face and neck suddenly turned black leaving the doctors baffled. When word finally reached Henri at Fontainebleau he travelled to Paris as fast as he could but it would be too late. On April 10, at just 26 years old Gabrielle would die, the day before their intended wedding. 

Distraught, Henri planned a lavish funeral at the Eglise Saint Germain l’Auxerrois fit for a queen. Henri dressed in black for months, shocking most as white was the normal color for royals in mourning. A lifelike effigy was created and placed in the room next to his where he would sit with her and eat his meals. 

Gabrielle was buried at the Abbey de Maubuisson where her sister was a nun and her children stayed close to their father.  Less than a year later Henri would marry Marie de Medici. 

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A painting that is sure to always catch the visitor’s eye is the presumed portrait of Gabrielle d’Estrées and her sister the Duchess of Villars. There is still a lot that is unknown of this painting, including that of the subject and the artist. Attributed to the Fontainebleau School in 1594, it is believed to be Gabrielle and her sister, the Duchess of Villars who held her nipple between her fingers, which was a gesture symbolizing pregnancy. Gabrielle would have been five months pregnant with the future Duke of Vendome, Henri IV’s illegitimate son. In Gabrielle’s left hand, she holds a ring between her fingers, the coronation ring of Henri– a token of his love and loyalty. In the background sits a woman sewing, could it be baby clothes. 

You can find this painting by following the snickering adults in the Richelieu wing on the 2nd floor in the salle Seconde École de Fontainebleau, room 824.

Episode 51 - Juliette Drouet

The life of Juliette Drouet is closely tied to Victor Hugo, but she wasn’t always his mistress. Born in 1806 and the youngest of four kids that along with her siblings became orphans when she was just two years old. 

Sent  from Fougères in Brittany to Paris to live with uncle René Henri-Drouet who wasn’t prepared for his new role as parent. Off to the convent Juliette went where two of her aunts served as nuns and could help watch over her. Juliette was already a rather headstrong young lady and was a handful and eventually sent back to live with her uncle. Juliette looked back quite fondly on these years when living with Uncle René in Paris and having free reign on the streets of Paris. 

In 1822, Juliette was presented to the Archbishop of Paris for a postulant role in the church. She managed to convince him that she wasn’t  fit for the post and her days in the church were over. These were the days of the artists and authors in Paris and the beautiful Juliette spent time in the Salons and parties mixing and mingling with them all. 

One artist she met when she was 19 years old was James Pradier. Pradier was quickly enamored by her beauty and asked her to model for him. At the same time Pradier was asked to create two of the statues in the Place de la Concorde. The statues over the guardhouses of Lille and Strasbourg fell into the hands of Pradier and he used the lovely Juliette as the face of Strasbourg that can still be seen today close to the Rue de Rivoli. 

Their time together quickly turned into an affair resulting in a child. Claire was born and Pradier refused to take responsibility for her but later Claire would spend most of her time growing up with her father. Pradier had given Juliette a taste of the finer things, showering her with clothes and jewelry and when their relationship ended she found a new way to keep her in the lap of luxury. 

Juliette’s beautiful head turning looks was garnering the attention of Paris, especially the men. In a way to help fund her shopping sprees, a life as a courtesan and on the stage fit the bill. Not exactly a natural actor, but her looks got the attention of the producers and audience and repeatedly got her roles onstage at the Theatre du Parc de Bruxelle in Paris. In 1833 a small role in Victor Hugo’s Lucretius Borgia would instantly catch the famed writer's attention. Mrs. Hugo, Adele even sent her a note that her husband would love to meet her. 

The first six months after they met it stayed very friendly until he couldn’t resist the fiery Juliette who had a reputation as a dominatrix. Toto, as she called Hugo in no time, paid off her debts and rented an apartment for her near his Place des Vosges home on the Rue Sainte-Anastase, but came with a very high cost. Her old ways on stage or as a courtesan had to stop and wasn’t allowed to leave her home without Victor Hugo. 

For fifty years, the two stayed together and she served as his secretary and copied each of his books and articles he wrote. Adele was aware of their relationship and even left in her will that her sons look after her in case Victor died before her. Adele had her own relationship with a former close friend of her husband Sainte-Beauve resulting in their  somewhat open marriage. 

The rules for Juliette were very strict including the need to write him a letter every day, sometimes multiple times a day. However, Hugo had different rules for himself. Many other ladies came in and out of his life including Léonie. Placing an ultimatum on Hugo to end his relationship with Juliette. Hugo refused and broke it off with Léonie, who in turn decided to wrap up all the letters Victor had sent her and to send them onto Juliette. Instead of upsetting her it only drew her closer to him. 

Shortly after, Hugo was forced to exile to Brussels and out of the clutches of all the other women. Juliette set up his papers and a place to stay and traveled with him and stayed nearby allowing them to have a somewhat normal relationship. During his exile, Adele died back in Paris in 1868 and upon his return in 1870 Juliette was finally allowed into the doors of the Place des Vosges home and home on the now Avenue Victor Hugo. 

After 50 years together, on May 11, 1883 Juliette died of stomach cancer, she was 77 years old. Hugo was destroyed and would die two years later.

Episode 51 - Madame de Berry

Marie- Caroline de Bourbon-Siciles, aka the Duchesse de Berry was born in Naples the daughter of the Crown Prince Francis Duke of Calabria and Marie Clementine of Austria, niece of Marie Antoinette. At the time of her birth in 1798 Napoleon was charging his way through Italy forcing the family to flee to Palermo and later pushing them into Sisily. 

Marie-Caroline found her way to France after her marriage to Charles Ferdinand, Duc de Berry son of Charles X. Louis XVIII was in power and without an heir Sixty years old and a widow he declared his nephew his rightful heir to the throne. Charles Ferdinand needed a wife, although he had many mistresses and children in France and England.  The two were married in Notre Dame de Paris on June 17, 1816.

Their marriage would be short when her husband Charles was stabbed as they left the Opera by a Bonapartist. She was two months pregnant at the time. While on his deathbed he revealed his wife was pregnant and also that he had illegitimate children. In September of 1819 De Berry gave birth to a son, Henri “the miracle child” in the Tuileries. Following his death she would move into the Palais des Tuileries into a set of rooms in the Pavillon de Marsan.

In 1830 after the Three Glorious Day in July the family was forced to exile as Charles X was ousted. De Berry believed her son Henri who now took on the self appointed title Henri V should be the king of France. Trying to gather enough support from other legitimate royal family members that she was trying to boost as she exiled to Italy. Gathering an army she quietly returned to France hoping to meet thousands of men who would help her fight for the monarchy. Arriving in Marseille only a small group of sixty men stood up to fight. 

As word spread that she had returned she was a wanted woman.In Nantes she hid in the home of Madame Duguigny across from the chateau of the Duke of Brittany. De Berry met her match in Simon Duetz who had learned of her hiding place and reported to the police who arrived to arrest her. Needing a place to hide she crawled up into the chimney, a great place to hide until one of the men lit a fire. Forcing her out she was arrested on November 7, 1832 and placed into jail. 

The plot thickens when she announces she is pregnant. The exiled royal family got word and turned their back on her. While she said she had secretly wed Hector-Lucichese-Palli, the dates weren’t adding up and was exiled from France to Palermo and her children were left with Madame Royale, daughter of Marie Antoinette in Goritz. 

Her final years were spent between the Chateau in Brunnsee, Austria and in Venice. A large supporter of the arts, she and her first husband had collected over 1000 works of art that she slowly sold off to help fund her life that was mostly spent alone in those later years. On April 16, 1810 she died in Austria at 71 years old. 

The Palais des Tuileries may be gone, but the Pavillon de Marsan still stands and is now part of the  Musée des Arts Decoratifs on the northwest end of the Louvre. Named for the Countess de Marsan who was the governess of Louis XVI & XVIII. She would live in the pavillon that would later take her name before the Duchess de Berry. Today you can walk through the museum and the Marsan that was rebuilt in 1874 and imagine de Berry spending her days painting and supporting the arts. 

A little farther through the museum is a room dedicated to de Berry with a large painting of her by Alexandre-Jean Dubois-Drahonet dominating the room. She stands in a green gown in her lavish room and large windows. The room itself is filled with a few of her personal pieces including her Psyché mirror, toilette and fauteuil gondole. The room also features furniture from the period including the lovely bed by Francois Baudry. With the curved lines of the nacelle that were popular during the Restoration and light woods bending the sheets of veneer to master the form.  Presenting his work at the 1827 Exposition he won a bronze medal presented to him as seen in the painting by the Duc d’'Angoulême, the Duchesse de Berry’s brother in law. My favorite thing in this room may be the wallpaper with its column and draping fabric that was just as much a work of art as anything else. Find all these treasures in one of my favorite museum’s permanent collections in the rue de Rivoli end of the Louvre. 

Episode 49 - Ladies of the Louvre

It’s a big day today for Paris History Avec A Hemingway podcast! It’s the 50th episode! It also happens to be my birthday and the same number. When trying to decide who we would talk about for this epic episode it was almost impossible. Then it came to me, it had to be about something in my favorite place to spend a day, the Musée du Louvre. 

The Louvre is filled with thousands of pieces of art, however most people only visit a few when they spend a few hours inside the historic walls. The three most popular ladies of the Louvre, may hang and stand there waiting for the thousands to take a selfie with but they each also have a story. 

The Mona Lisa, the most famous painting in the world, her image is recreated onto everything but few people know she was a real person. Lisa Giocondo was a Florentine woman married to Francesco who had commissioned Leonardo to paint his wife. They had five children, sadly only two made it to adulthood. When she sat for Leonardo it was just after one of her children died, he captures her in her morning attire. Francesco would die before he could ever pay for the painting and the painting would travel to France with the artist and later bought by Francois I. 

My favorite of the three is the Winged Victory of Samothrace. The majestic headless lady that stands high above the steps looking like she is about to take flight. Discovered in 1863 and dating back to the 2nd century BC. When she arrived at the Louvre in 1864 she was in 118 pieces. Her torso, left wing and lower body were first displayed without any plans to restore her. In 1871 a new restorer took on the task of putting her back together to the beautiful lady we see today. 

The Venus de Milo, may not even be Venus after all. The famous armless figure of beauty could be Amphitrite, goddess of the sea. Discovered by a Greek farmer on April 8, 1820 while looking for some rocks. Purchased for 1000 francs by the Marquis de Riviere on behalf of the French and after much negotiation she was finally sent to Paris as a gift for Louis-Philippe. He gave it to the Louvre, where she has been since 1821. 

Learn even more about these three Ladies of the Louvre on today’s episode available now

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.