ELDERLY COUNT GUSTAV VON SACKELBERG SET MARIE DUPLESSIS UP IN LUXURY BUT OUTDID HER AS A LIAR

Marie Duplessis was an acknowledged liar. She was said to explain her lying by saying that the habit whitened one's teeth; her teeth were beautiful. What all did she lie about? I don't know. That blog post title is my opinion and here I speculate. 

The octogenarian Count Gustav Von Sackelberg met the 21ish year old Maria in the late fall of 1844 or early 1845. He said he wanted to "rescue" her from the life she lead and that she reminded him of his daughter... He claimed to be a widower, but the truth was he was married to a woman who had given birth to eleven children and would outlive him by eighteen years. He hid his wife by setting up Maria in an apartment across the street from where he lived with his wife... My guess is his wife knew all about him.

He was said to keep a list of all the virgins he had deflowered, a hobby of his. While Maria was no virgin, perhaps her delicate femininity and youth appealed to a fantasy he had. He wanted her for himself and was willing to spend to have her. Of all the men who provided for Maria, perhaps this man spent the most to keep her. And perhaps despite his sexuality, he was also influenced by pending death.

Besides the substantial apartment, Von Sackelberg bought Maria furs and jewels, horses, carriages and drivers, maid, cook, chambermaid, the services of hairdressers and other craftsmen who created and repaired and kept up, and allowed her to spend, spend spend. Gourmet meals and baked goods were ordered in. She was now eating sweets and drinking wine - Maria bought herself an expansive wardrobe - dresses, hats, and boots by the dozens, fine furniture, and much else. She claimed to spend about five hundred francs a day. Author Virginia Rounding mentions school teachers were paid about three hundred francs a year.

While he thought of keeping her to himself, Maria was pragmatic. What came first? Her acceptance of other men or his waning interest? She went out on the town and was seen at the theatre and concerts, still advertising herself as courtesans did. In the spring of 1845 Maria met the Hungarian composer Franz Liszt, who seems to have been taken enough by the young woman to care about her health.

I wonder if knowing she had not long fueled Maria's desire to have as much as possible and to live life to the fullest. When she met the composer she had about two years to live. 

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