ALICE KEPPEL : LA MAITRESSE DU ROI IN FRANCE : STILL HE WAS NEVER FAITHFUL

The King spent much time in France at the seaside resort Biarritz on the Atlantic coast and France might have been where he felt most at ease. It was in France that Alice was treated as through she were the Queen. And if you're wondering, yes her family went along on many of these trips.

Excerpt page 229 ; " ... For the sake of appearances she would neither be met by the King nor accommodated in his hotel. Her host would be Sir Ernest Cassel, who would have rented the luxurious Vila Eugenie - the restored seaside residence of the Second Empire court - which would be run for him by his windowed sister. Alice Keppel would have a floor to herself, her daughters being accommodated in the nursery wing which had once housed the late Prince Imperial. ....

However, the King and Mrs. Keppel would stroll together on the promenade and they lunched together in his suite at the Hotel Du Palais. One of the reasons he preferred Biarritz, however, was because few royals went there, nor did politicians, and he was also not approached there by women who hoped to seduce him.  King Edward VII was not faithful to Alice Keppel - or any woman - in his lifetime. He was a philanderer and in his sixties he was still out and about with the ladies.  Some of his conquests are known by name and so I must wonder, yes he was a King, rich, but also balding, fat, and - well, some say he was actually unable to perform in the last decade or so of his life - so WHAT WAS IN IT FOR THE WOMEN - SOME WHO TRIED, SOME WHO SUCCEEDED, in SEDUCING HIM?  I tend to think that for some women in that time and place, seducing a King was like a groupie seducing a rock star.  One might not think a night of passion would lead to a relationship, but it might also be worth the chance, even knowing that other women had the very same mind-set.

In past posts in previous months, I've written about the final days of the King, and the way Alice reacted in grief.  No doubt about it, she loved Edward and the life he gave her and her family.

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Interested in Groupies?  You may want to go into my archives: 

October 2016

GROUPIES - Are They Really So Different Than Mistresses?

WHAT MISTRESS OF THE MONTH ATTRACTED YOU TO THIS BLOG?

I know that the more hits a subject or post gets, the higher up in the ranking, and sometimes that just isn't fair because I spend a lot of time researching for newer subjects and posts too.

I wonder.  WHICH MISTRESS ATTRACTED YOU TO THIS BLOG?

Missy

BARBARA VILLIERS PREGNANCY CRISIS : A VOLATILE LADY GETS A KING TO BEG FORGIVENESS BUT HE HAS TAKEN UP WITH OTHER MISTRESSES : MOLL DAVIES, NELL GWYNN, AND LOUISE DE KEROUALLE

Was Barbara Villiers on the way out or King Charles II's favorite? Knowing she was living this controversy, Barbara decided to create a situation in which the King would be tested. The two of them did sometimes have a violent argument and this time, pregnant again, the issue was the paternity of the child she was - yet again - pregnant with. The King was having financial problems, his advisors had less influence on him that she did but he had not slept with Barbara in several months, but she insisted that he accept the child.

Excerpt page 105 from The Illustrious Lady by Elizabeth Hamilton

Somebody had said that the Countess of Castlemaine in one of her rages was less like Medea than one of Medea's dragons...

***

This time, based on the King's behavior and Barbara's, it seemed like they were breaking up for good. She left the Palace and stayed close by until the King came begging for forgiveness. Meanwhile Frances Stuart, who had married and was now Frances, Duchess of Richmond, came back to London with her husband and was rumored to be back as the mistress of the King.  And other women were being introduced to the King as others attempted to distract him and gain influence, among them actress Moll Davies, and actress Nell Gwynn.  He would also have a son by mistress Louise de Keroualle. Rumor had it, also that Barbara had fallen in love with another man.

Excerpt page 117 from The Illustrious Lady by Elizabeth Hamilton

Lady Castle Maine was not 'frightened' by her new rival. As always, she had come to terms with the situation, she accepted the fact that she must share the King's affection and remained calm. She saw to it that in spite of the new threat from the world of the there she still extracted the full measure of reward for the trouble she took in bearing the King's children..... gossamer Moll and Cockney Nell would never usurp the position that the shrewd and discerning Barbara had made for herself in the inner circles of government and power.

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THE DIVINE SARAH BERNHARDT FILM TRAILOR AKA LA DIVINE

IMBD : THE DIVINE SARAH BERNHARDT FILM

I note that there's been some commentary that this film, staring Sandrine Kiberlain, isn't exactly accurate in its portrayal, but then again, most "biographical" films do have their particular viewpoint and there are limits in what can be focused upon in the limited time of one. This French film is said to focus on the world famous stage actress at the height of her fame.

WOMEN WITH GRAPES AND FRUIT

By Alphonse Mucha

An image of plenty, a bodacious women, bountiful fruit and grapes...

GIVE THANKS

SARAH BERNHARDT -1917 - MOTHERS OF FRANCE - MERES FRANCAISES : FILM SUPPORTING FRANCE IN WORLD WAR I

Born in 1844, by 1917 Sarah Bernhardt was in her sixties... She was a stage actress who made it into silent films and some consider her to be the best actress of all time. I can't make that judgement but I see Sarah as someone whose notoriety propelled her to fame also. 

She had a leg amputated but insisted on being carried to the front lines!

YOULE VAN HARD : CRUEL COURTESAN MOTHER OF SARAH BERNHARDT? : DID SHE KNOW WHO SARAH'S ABSENT FATHER WAS? OR TELL MORE THAN ONE MAN HE WAS THE FATHER?

While reading Sarah by Robert Gottlieb I found myself speculating quite a bit and I realized something. The story of Sarah Bernhardt's childhood as the daughter of a Courtesan who was sent away to be raised by others or put into a convent, reminds me of other women I've featured here at MISTRESS MANIFESTO who were sent away... Do you know who I mean?

***

Not one of the 'Grand Horizontals', but a woman with a "protector" or a few, according to author Robert Gottlieb, Sarah's mother, Youle Van Hard - also called Judith or Julie Van Hard - was a pretty blond with some lazy charm but surprising strong willpower... And seems to have been too busy elsewhere to give a damn about Sarah. Though the story is not straight and there are varying accounts.

Excerpt page 3: "Youle conducted a relaxed salon to which a group of distinguished men gravitated, among them her lover Baron Larrey, who was the Emperor Louis-Napoleon's doctor and composer Rossini, the novelist and playwright Dumas's father, and the Duc de Morny, known as the most powerful man in France, who was Louis-Napoleon's illegitimate half-brother. It was Rosine, Youle's younger, prettier, livelier sister, who was Morny's mistress except when Youle herself was; in these circumstances it hardly mattered..."

.

"Youle (Sarah's mother) and Rosine (Sarah's aunt) had come a long way. Their mother, Julie (or Jeanette) Van Hard, a Jewish girl of either German or Dutch in origin, had married Maurice Bernard, a Jewish oculist in Amsterdam. When their mother died and their father remarried, Youle and Rosine struck out on their own, first to Basel, then on to London and le Havre, where in 1843 Youle - perhaps fifteen years old - gave birth to illegitimate twin girls, both of whom died within days... 

Undeterred, the ambitions Youle quickly set out for Paris, her daytime occupation seamstress, her nighttime career a quick ascent into the demimonde."

It seems to me that a mother's remarriage would not necessarily be the whole story on why two teenagers left home knowing they'd have to support themselves and found that way by becoming courtesans.

Rosine became a courtesan in Paris, while sister Henriette made a decent and respectable marriage. And then Youle was pregnant again, this time with Sarah. It is understood that Youle simply was never much interested in Sarah, while she did take interest in the next child she gave birth to, another girl, who was also illegitimate. (Youle would eventually have three daughters and it is understood that she tried to introduce Sarah into her world.)

Youle's disinterest in Sarah might have had something to do with who the father was. The best candidate?

It's implied that the Duc de Morny might have been Sarah's father.

There was a young navy officer, surname Morel. There was some money intended for Sarah from Morel or his family - eventually.

Sarah's father might have been a college student. 

The father's name on her birth certificate, Edouard Bernhardt, is also a confusion. One wonders if Youle just made up the name. (It is awfully close to the name Bernard.)

Sarah had memories of being a young child who was sent away to a small village in Brittany where a nurse substituted for her mother as a kind of foster parent. (Eventually she and the nurse were moved closer to Paris.) Sarah would write that her father had been in China for a couple years, which sounds to be something Youle - or Sarah - made up to explain the absence of a father to Sarah. Her mother was only nineteen when Sarah was three, and her youth and circumstances might be partly to blame for being uninvolved in her daughter's life. But, be it that an Edouard Bernhardt was the name given on her birth certificate as her father, or not, there was no consistent presence of a father figure as she grew up. At best she might have had a few visits from him at school or understood him as interested in her education and religion. In her memoir, 'A Double Life,' Sarah gave credit to her father for her attendance at an elite convent - ie. boarding school.

It is just as likely, in my opinion, that Youle may have told more than one man he was the father of her child, or come up with the money for Sarah's boarding through her own efforts. (Which could include investing money she'd been given or paid.)

Though author Gottlieb doesn't suggest this, it comes to me that perhaps Youle's rejection of Sarah, which caused her so much emotional pain throughout her life, while being clearly capable of loving her next born daughter, might have been due to something more horrible than not knowing which patron was Sarah's father. For Youle, according to Sarah, was, in my word choice, abusive. It was reported by the wife-author of one of Sarah's lovers that Sarah said her mother was not just distant but disapproving and cruel and had the power to wound her. 

However, Sarah herself reported that during her childhood, both her Aunt Rosine and her Aunt Harriet were somewhat in her life and it occurs to me that, however judicious in his reportage author Robert Gottlieb has, we may not get too close to the whole story.

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SARAH BERNHARDT : DAUGHTER OF COURTESAN YOULE VAN HARD : TRANSFORMED HERSELF INTO A WORLD FAMOUS ACTRESS AND A NATIONAL ICON OF FRANCE KNOWN FOR HER OWN "SCANDALOUS" LIFE

SARAH BERNHARDT  

(1844-1923) 

Baptized Sarah Marie Henriette Bernard but born Jewish

Eventually Called The Girl With The Golden Voice

I've had Sarah Bernhardt, who was considered the best actress of her generation, on my list of future subjects for some time. My search for books in English that are well regarded lead me to this one by author Robert Gottlieb, which is primary reference for this month's posts, along with some interesting web sites and YouTube videos. Gottlieb states that Sarah herself spun stories and that some of the people who wrote about her had agendas and so, perhaps, it's not possible to know the true or whole story. But he does try.

I think Sarah Berhardt had a hard life but like many of the people profiled here, she made the best of what she had to deal with.

What surprised me was learning that Sarah's mother, Youle Van Hard, was a courtesan in Paris and that she was born illegitimate and unloved. I was also surprised to learn that after Youle took Sarah out of school, she encouraged her to become a teenage courtesan. Youle had three illegitimate daughters over the years. You could say she set her daughters up to be courtesans, and, though youthful Sarah did have patrons for at least some of the time in her youth, her younger sister reportedly became a prostitute and had an even harder life. 

Sarah's eventual successes may have begun because it seems that her mother, a patron, or most likely her birth father, were willing to provide an education for the girl. This was a time when women often went without an education. She took an early interest in acting and the theater and was educated at a good convent school and then a school for acting, but she was also born into a world where her gender - her family's situation - her class at birth - and her Jewishness came with limits. If you've been reading Mistress Manifesto, then you know that many a courtesan in previous centuries was also an entertainer. It was beauty, talent, and fame that attracted patrons and who knows what came first. Acting has become a respectable profession but it wasn't always. It was long assumed that any actor, any theater person, was living a scandalous life.

Sarah Bernhardt eventually became world famous - a celebrity - while also known for her 'love life.' I think that Sarah was expert at marketing and promoting herself, kind of like the way the singer-dancer Madonna, an expert at reinvention, has been. As an example, in her youthful days, Sarah posed with a hat that had a bat on top rather than a bird and took a coffin with her on her travels, and may have slept in it, which is sort of "ghoul school." Or was that just for a photo? I suspect that, if she took her coffin seriously, it was to remind herself to live life to the fullest rather than any darker reason such as thinking of herself as a Parisian vampire.

Sarah Bernhardt may have been known to love her independence. Was she a feminist? We can't say that just becoming an unmarried mother who has to support a child makes a woman a feminist. What went on in Paris, where courtesans had their place in society was one thing. Her behavior and attitudes were even thought to be part of an exaggerated or unstable personality. And maybe she did have some sort of breakdown at one point or another. 

Sarah Bernhardt was Jewish by birth but her father was Catholic. She, and her sisters, were baptized eventually. She was placed in a Catholic orphanage. But who really was her father? 

It wasn't common for a discarded orphan to leave a convent at thirteen years old and begin school at the Conservatoire de Musique et Declamation in Paris. Someone was interested in her education and her religion and wanted to give her a chance at success. Was that person her mother, who she believed - with good reason - didn't love her but who might have set aside some money? A father?

Excerpts from EBSCO.com: "Although she won second prize for tragedy in 1861 and second prize for comedy in 1862, she regarded the conservatory’s methods as antiquated. She left the conservatory in 1862 and accepted a contract with the national theater of France, the famed Comedie Francaise....In 1867, when Bernhardt was twenty-two years old, she became a member of the company at the Odeon, where she found definite successes in roles such as Cordelia in a French translation of William Shakespeaer's play King Lear (pr. c. 1605-1606), as Zanetto in François Coppée’s verse play, La Passant (1869), and as the queen in Victor Hugo's Ruy Blas (1838). Indeed, it was Hugo himself who called Bernhardt the girl with the Golden Voice (vox d’or)—a name that stayed with her throughout her life. Meanwhile, Bernhardt’s success was so immediate that she even gave a command performance for France’s Emperor Napoleon III. However, the Franco-Prussian War interrupted her rising career with the closing of the Paris theaters in 1870."

Like several of the women I've featured here, Sarah was a woman who inspired artists to portray her. Alphonse Mucha, whose posters are rather well known to this day, was a collaborator with Sarah. She posed for him and he also designed costumes, sets and jewelry for her. He even enjoyed a seven year contract with Sarah. Their professional relationship began when Mucha designed this poster for her, as she starred in the play 'Gismonda.'

These posters were all over Paris the first of January, 1895.

Also, like several of the women I've featured here, a flower was created and named for Sarah, which is a peony.

In Robert Gottlieb's book we learn early that Sarah was not exactly the most truthful person, though her lies, as I see it, were out of concern for her reputation, her career, and ultimately her ability to support herself and her son. He says on page one that she was "a complete realist when dealing with her life but a relentless fabulist when recounting it." One of the questions was what year she was born and where. The 1844 above is the earliest year. One page 2 he says, "There are three basic components to her experience of childhood, two of them enough to derail an ordinary mortal: Her mother didn't love her and she had no father. What she did have was her extraordinary will: to survive, to achieve, -and - most of all - to have her way."

Sarah Bernhardt's son, Maurice Bernhardt was well loved. Never loved by her own mother, Sarah was determined to love him. She had been sent away to be raised by others and then introduced to the world in which men gave money to women for sexual favors, although that's not to say that there was always the possibility that the relationships her mother had - or she had - entailed far more. For at least a couple years after the birth of her son, someone supported her. And she took lovers, even when someone might be considered to be far too old for her.

She was bisexual, had romantic affairs with both men and women and played both male and female parts on stage. She was creative. Besides her talent for acting and singing, she became an accomplished painter and sculptor. She was also a woman of business.

Sarah married one time, to a Greek military officer and actor ,Aristides, also called Jacques, Damala. They married in 1882 when she was in her late 30's He was a decade or so younger than her, they separated, but stayed married until his death in 1889. Damala was an opium and morphine addict and a womanizer who died of an overdose.

Perhaps she proved her strength of spirit and courage most during World War I. In 1915 she had a leg amputated but soon after she volunteered to perform for the troops, to improve moral, and insisted on being carried to the front lines. She appeared in propaganda films and patriotic plays.

Gottlieb's book is short but sweet. I'm challenged to post what would be most interesting to my readers about this fascinating woman! Read on!

Missy

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*** She was photographed sleeping in a coffin.

The following web sites and articles are reference or this post

MUCHA FOUNDATION ORG See other posters that featured Sarah Bernhardt and read about the artist.

EBSCO RESEARCH : SARAH BERNHARDT

NOVEMBER'S MISTRESS MANIFESTO POSTS BEGIN TOMORROW!

This poster by Alphonse Mucha is a clue ...

"Alfons Maria Mucha, known internationally as Alphonse Mucha, was a Czech painter, illustrator, and graphic artist. Living in Paris during the Art Nouveau period, he was widely known for his distinctly stylized and decorative theatrical posters, particularly those of _________________________."

MARTHE DE FLORIAN : REMAINS A MYSTERIOUS COURTESAN THOUGH A LOVELY FICTION BOOK HAS BEEN WRITTEN ABOUT HER

In search of a biography of Marthe De Florian, without success, I ordered this fiction book which was written by Alyson Richman, who is said to have done research on the mysterious woman herself.

The Velvet Hours is a lovely book but I didn't know how much was fiction and how much was fact I could depend upon. I wanted to could elect Marthe as a Mistress of the Month but there just wasn't enough. The story, as it is written by Richman, suggests that Martha DeFlorian was supported by a man, "Albert," into her late thirties, which only ended at his death, and that he provided for her everything needed as well as luxuries. Like many of my readers, I was amazed to learn through the media that a descendent of Marthe's inherited her Paris apartment that had been locked and left "as is" after her death. The most amazing thing about the apartment was a glorious painting of Marthe that "Albert" had commissioned. It was painted by  Boldini and in it the beautiful woman wears the jewelry and gown he bought her. She might have had a sexless flirtation with the artist.  However, other newsy accounts suggest that she was a Courtesan who had a number of wealthy patrons or providers.

Like other women who became Mistresses that I've covered here at Mistress Manifesto, the woman had a child young who was given over for someone else to raise, a son. With the severe limits on what a woman could do to support herself, she started as a seamstress.

Mathilde Héloïse Beaugiron 

1864 – 1939

Painted when she was about twenty-four years old.

Other artists also painted her but this masterpiece is worth 

at least three million dollars - maybe four.

It is possible that "Albert" renamed Marthe.

Other books have been written about her .... Other bloggers have tried to capture the woman and her moment. Marthe was secluded while her man was alive.  After his death she became more social. Her apartment was found looking as it had in 1939 in 2010. 

OFF THE RECORD BY TONY JONES - WORD PRESS - MARTHE DE FLORIAN  is also a fictive imagining of a memoir or diary excerpt written by Tony.  I enjoyed reading this!

ISSUU - THE CHAP (Beautiful photos of the apartment and more interesting information.)

Excerpt:  There was also a remarkable psyche console (a kind of dresser); drawers full of letters; a multitude of trinkets; faded lace and even an extravagant stuffed ostrich in the entrance. Try to imagine the amazement of Maitre Olivier Choppin de Janvry upon discovering this place, entirely frozen in its 1900 state.

Everything was made of quiet luxury and voluptuousness, all in the full rococo style so typical of Paris at the turn of the century. Through the grey fog of dust and the saturated atmosphere, a bright life could be imagined. An existence frozen in time, not unlike the hands of time on the dial of the small golden alarm clock, situated in the middle of hairbrushes and mignonette perfumes. Ming vases and Louis XVI shepherdesses were shaded by dusty curtains with shell prints. The first time he entered this chamber, Maitre Choppin de Janvry made a spatio-temporal journey that the Situationists would have described as psychogeographical; entering this apartment, untouched

Mignonette perfumes under a carpet of 100-year-old dust...

Missy here!  If you know of a biography or memoir about Marthe, please leave me a comment with the title or location!

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OLGA RUDGE VIOLINIST MISTRESS OF POET EZRA POUND : WRITING LETTERS TO EACH OTHER BEGAN AND PRESERVED THEIR LONG RELATIONSHIP

WHAT THOU LOVEST WELL by Anne Conover Carson is a primary reference for this month's posts.

OLGA RUDGE

(Olga Ludovica (Louise) Rudge)

1895-1996  (one hundred and one years old!)

EZRA POUND  

(Ezra Weston Loomis Pound)

1885-1972

Olga outlived the love of her life by twenty-four years. She did not consider herself to be his mistress because, she said, he never supported her. That's attitude is of interest here at Mistress Manifesto as we attempt to define and understand unconventional and alternative relationships. Does being a Mistress require being Kept?  I don't think so! Both Olga and Ezra earned some money but also depended on money from family - in his case from his wife's - and patrons of the arts.

Ezra's grave is at San Michele cemetery in Venice, Italy. Olga was taken in my their daughter Mary when she could not longer live alone, but she was buried next to decades-long love.

***

Anne Conover Carson's book is about the love story of an accomplished poet and his accomplished violinist mistress, both American ex patriots, his fame enduring, her's not as well known. He was a married man who never divorced. She never married but when it came to their daughter, saw the positives in him divorcing and marrying her. Early in their relationship, but when she was closer to thirty than twenty, Olga made the exceptional choice to bear a child by Ezra and had a daughter they named Mary Rudge. Mary would have children and Olga, who lived to be 101, became a grandmother and great-grandmother.  

Olga Rudge experienced conflict with Ezra, who may have had narcissistic personality disorder and clearly had episodes of mental illness. He may have wavered in his intentions or may have keenly felt himself between his wife and mistress.  No doubt the women had to share him.

Ezra and Olga met in Paris at the famous salon held by Natalie Clifford Barney.   

Excerpt: page 3

Barney was some twenty years Olga's senior and was the leader of a freedom-loving and bohemian group of intellectual women in the early 1900's - Collete,  Anna de Noailles, and the spy Mata Hari. Another generation, Olga's contemporaries, succeeded them : English suffragettes, militant feminists and lesbians, tolerant heterosexuals and asexual androgyns. .......  Musical reputations were established at Barneys; salon, and Renata Borgatti, Olga's accompanist, incited her there after the two women returned from a sun-filled action on the Isle of Capri.  Olga recognized Ezra, the tall American wearing a signature brown velvet jacket, as someone she had seen at concerts in London the year before.  

***

In 1895 when Olga Ludovica (Louise) Rudge was born in Youngstown, Ohio, of Irish heritage, it was a polluted mill town but boasted an opera house. Her mother, Julia, studied voice in London and Paris and had aspirations to have an operatic career but married at twenty-nine, then considered to be spinsterhood, to one of the most eligible bachelors in town. Olga's father's family traced their origins to 17th century England and had been Anglicans but had converted to Catholicism in Youngstown. In Olga's early childhood her mother was on tour. 

Olga didn't think of marriage as a career and hated Ohio. From an early age, perhaps influenced by her mother's attitude, despite her parents obviously traditional marriage, she had other ideas. In 1904, when she was nine, her mother sent her to boarding school in England. Olga saw the voyage and all else as a great adventure and was not resentful of being sent away to the convent. She was already learning to play the violin. In 1910 her mother moved the family to Paris and they began to vacation in Italy. Olga's was an advantaged upbringing, though the assumptions about her family's wealth was exaggerated.  Olga did need to earn a living and was able to do so as a violinist playing recitals and converts primarily in Europe.

Olga's first love began in Florence, where she fell for a young man named Egerton Grey, a friend of the family, who also lived an international life.  He went to one of Olga's concerts and then began to pursue her with romantic ardor but after he married and then annulled his marriage, she was left conflicted. Egerton was slow to give up on marrying Olga.

In 1910 Olga's mother decided it was time to send her to the Paris Conservatoire to study under Maestro Leon Carambat who was the 1st violinist at the Opera Comique. She moved the family - sans her husband who remained doing business -  into an exclusive and beautiful six story apartment building.  It could be said that Olga's had the perfect mother for her own aspirations.  Julia Rudge was perceptive, she honored her daughter's talent and sought her development as a musician, and she was a companion to her daughter who furthered their acceptance by society where important patrons could afford to support the arts and the artist. Olga started performing at afternoon teas, gaining experience in front of small audiences, and the patronage of important hostesses.   

Ezra Pound was married to Dorothy Shakespear, and English woman who was reportedly austere.  In January 1921, Ezra and Dorothy were living in Paris, though they also traveled to and lived in London and would move to Italy. Though he was 36, he and his wife rented and lived humbly, almost impoverished, on stipends from his publications, his wife's money, and contributions from his parents. Ezra had respect as a poet, musician, and all around creative.  American ex-patriots writer Ernest Hemingway and his then wife were visitors, the influential Gertrude Stein (who also ran a salon) was negative, but Ezra Pound was welcomed and admired at Barney's.  He and Barney had been writing to each other about literature and poetry for over a decade. Ezra wrote the score for an opera, his contribution to the new music trends of Paris just as there were new poetic rhythms. He was a pianist and also played drums. Olga was a violinist of talent and skill and her work in the new music of Paris in the 1920's composed by another American ex-patriot, George Antheil, was remarkable.

Pound met many important and famous artists and writers at the Barney salon. He had long been seen socializing around town without his wife and what must be assumed is that she was dedicated to their marriage but left alone quite a bit. They were childless when Ezra met Olga and there was speculation that Dorothy had never warmed up to sex. 

Ezra and Olga began a correspondence in 1923, which is known, but exactly when and how their love first bloomed or they began to have a sexual relationship or if continued one, or for how long is not. The evidence of it is the birth of their only child, Mary. (Mary de Rachewiltz was her married name.)

Please check in again here at Mistress Manifesto as I continue the story of Ezra Pound and Olga Rudge!  Can you understand their unconventional love?  

Here is a question I have, which ties into our exploration of defining Mistress. I've heard of this relationship called a 'menage a trois' but I think that is incorrect, unless there is evidence that Dorothy and Ezra and Olga went around together, and perhaps included sexuality in the relationship.  Yes, at one point the three of them lived uncomfortably together, but only out of necessity.

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The introduction of this book mentioned the names of people who have already appeared here at Mistress Manifesto. I just knew this was my kind of book, and the kind of book that my loyal readers would want to read. If any of the books I've read and featured here at Mistress Manifesto appeal to you, please do the authors the honor and get a copy!

These archived subjects may be of interest to you. Living in Italy, Olga Rudge played her violin for Mussolini.  At Barney's salon, Mata Hari was one of the people she socialized with.  Isadora Duncan was a contemporary in Paris who mixed with some of the same artists.

November 2014
MATA HARI

Tantalizing Courtesan and Spy Who Got the Death Penalty

September 2015
NATALIE CLIFFORD BARNEY : Lesbian in Paris who Kept Other Women

You might also be interested in: 

February 2016

ISADORA DUNCAN

Mother of Modern Dance and Mistress of Paris Singer; She Did Positive Affirmations to Attract a Wealthy Patron

March  2011   

CLARETTA PETACCI

Mistress who Died By Hanging With Her Man, Italian Dictator Benito Mussolini

MARIA LACZYNSKA WALEWSKA and NAPOLEON'S EX WIFE EMPRESS JOSEPHINE BECOME FRIENDS : NAPOLEON GOES INTO EXILE and MARIA DIES

Josephine, Napoleon's now ex wife extended an invitation to Maria Walewska that they should meet.  Obviously during her passionate romance with the Emperor, Maria had hoped to someday, perhaps when her man was done with war, to have a domestic life with him, to become his wife perhaps.  Whatever her feelings for Josephine, she had avoided contact with her. Now the two women had Napoleon's ongoing influence in their lives in common.  And so Maria went, with the small son that she had with Napoleon to meet Josephine.

Excerpt page 192:...  Mademoiselle Avrillon, Josephine's lady-in-waiting, recalled in her memoirs that 'the ex-Empress developed great affections for Madame Walewska.  She often talked of her unusual qualities and went to great lengths to stress that this woman, so essentially kind and good-natures, had never caused her any pain.  She set her frequent small gifts and showered presents on the little boy, whose features so reminded her of the Emperor.'

Josephine was only to live another year, and Maria would live another four.  But before she passed, Maria met a cousin of Emperor Napoleon's Philippe Antoine Ornano, a newly appointed general, age appropriate, good looking, a charmer with a good character. She would marry him.

Napoleon was finally defeated enough to be forced to abdicate and had to go into exile in Elba, Italy. He'd tried to commit suicide with poisons before he signed the agreement and Maria had traveled to see him in Elba. She intended to live there with him and their son if he would allow it and even brought her jewels in order to provide money.  The lovers once again had a romantic interlude but when the word got out, Napoleon panicked and sent Maria away.

Eventually Naples became the place that Maria lived.  It was a part of Europe that was enjoyed by many of European's nobles and aristocrats, because of the weather and because they could meet up with each other. The winter warmth, boating, hunting, and celebrations abundant.

In 1815 Anastase Walewski died.  Napoleon fled Naples.  Maria went back to Paris with their son.  She married Ornano in early September 1816 and was soon pregnant. In January 1817 she arrived back at Walewice, Poland and there was found to be seriously ill with kidney disease. She had been warned in her previous two pregnancies not to breast feed because of this kidney problem but had anyway.  Now her health was precarious.  She gave birth in Liege in 1817 to Rodolphe Auguste Ornano, her third son.  She died at thirty one, in December of 1817.

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****

MARIA LACZYNSKA WALEWSKA and NAPOLEON BONAPARTE : THE BEGINNING OF THE END

After  months with Napoleon in Austria at the Schonbrunn estates, the time came for Napoleon to move on.  She was pregnant with his child, and he was ready to quickly divorce Josephine.

Excerpt page 139:  On the last day before her departure from Schonbrunn she presented Napoleon with a ring, a gold and enamel band with a lock of her hair entwined under the surface and inscribed: "When you have stopped loving me, remember that I love you still.' It did not cross her mind that their idyll was nearing its end.

***

Maria was depressed and near a nervous breakdown, her pride wounded too, when she realized Napoleon's machinations.

There is no doubt in my mind that Maria's husband must have been contacted.

Except page 143: In April (1810), in a ceremony of golden splendour, the Emperor (Napoleon I) married Marie Louise of Austria.  Maria Walewska learned about the event from the newspapers. She was back in Poland by then, living at the castle of Walewice (her home as the wife of the owner), as in the first years of her marriage - invited there by her husband, to await the birth ' of a Walewski descendant.'

How had this surprising reversal come about?  Walewie was the last place Marie had expected to return to for the birth of Napoleon's child.  She had planned to have the baby in Paris, but after a few weeks in the French capital she sadly came to the conclusion that it would be less painful for her to withdraw from the scene and return home to Kiernozia.  The truth was that she had become an embarrassment to Napoleon...

Maria had known that he was divorcing Josephine but... Napoleon had an intermediary speak to Maria's husband, who was seventy-three years old, and was open to doing Napoleon a favor. Her family luckily greeted her with open arms.  She gave birth to Alexander Florian Joseph Colonna Walewski on May 4, 1810, and he would become the Foreign Minister of France decades later.  The birth record states the Walewski is the father and is signed by the doctor.

Alerted that he had a son, Napoleon sent a gift of lace but then for three months she heard nothing from him.  Napoleon finally wrote to her, but he called her Madame. He asked her to come to Paris and assured her of his affections.

***

Maria had been married when she became the mistress of a married man, who had now remarried.  In November of that year, Maria took her two sons with her as well as maids, cooks. nurses and other servants and traveled to Paris.  The Parisians had liked Josephine and their attitude was that Napoleon should have just stayed married to her.  Napoleon did not want her womanly love any more.  Paris was to be her permanent home and this time around she would not shy away from society.

***

Excerpt page 152-153:  He ordered that she be received at Court and treated as a distinguished foreign friend, and of course it was right, according to the custom of the day, that he should handsomely provide for her and their son.

As if to compensate Maria for the change in their relationship Napoleon saw to it that she was installed in Paris in princely fashion.  The house i the rue de la Houssaye was refurnished in elegant Empire style, and a country residence was acquired for her ... Free tickets to all Paris theaters were put at her disposal, and she had her own special box at the Opera and the Theater re Francais.  She was also granted free entry to the various museums in tow,... According to the records of Napoleon's Private Purse, she received a monthly allowance of ten thousand francs, a handsome allowance by all standards... Sometime in 1811, Maria was presented at Court and had to meet Napoleon's wife. Soon Napoleon would war with Russia. He was in his early 40's and was showing his age.

***

In 1812 Napoleon decreed that the estates situated in the Kingdom of Naples would be given to his son, Count Alexander Florian Joseph Colonna Walewski...  In his way Napoleon I did in fact take care of his ex mistress and his son. In fact she was now a rich woman, rich enough to provide funds to the Polish military. In this way, her allegiance to the Polish nation which had been an impetus for her involvement with Napoleon.  However, after Napoleon was forced to abdicate the King of Naples took back the lands so that this son was left without estates. In 1814, however, the lands were returned to Alexander.

C 2023  Commentary and selection of excerpts. 

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NAPOLEON I

N Laugier, graveur; Charles de Steuben, editeur, baron (1788–1856)

Location : Musée Carnavalet

He was about five foot six, but then men were not as tall as they are now generally.  There was even talk that he's special parts were insignificant.  He was also compartmentalized.  He was a natural leader and he changed history.  Thousands fought with him and for him, believing his military campaigns would benefit their countries or their politics.  Thousands died on the battlefields as soldiers but also as civilians.

Interested in all things Napoleon?  Learned that there is an online website devoted to him and here's the link: NAPOLEON ORG and FOUNDATION OF NAPOLEON

JEFFERSON's DAUGHTERS by CATHERINE KERRISON GIVES US VITAL INSIGHT INTO SALLY HEMING'S and HER DAUGHTER HARRIET

Back in July 2018 I dedicated a month to Sally Hemings, the mistress of Thomas Jefferson, one of the founding Fathers of the United States and our 3rd American President who built the estate called Monticello in Virginia:

SALLY HEMINGS - WAS SHE A WILLING MISTRESS of THOMAS JEFFERSON or A RAPED SLAVE?

There has been a debate about the relationship between Thomas and Sally because she was a slave from birth, went to Paris where she was a maid to his daughters as a teenager, and became pregnant by Jefferson at that time.

In France, Sally and her older brother, who was learning to be a gourmet French chef, were not slaves. They could have stayed there, though how they would do in Paris is a question. When they returned to Virginia with Jefferson they were again enslaved. It would be easy to think that Sally would be willing to be left behind and proceed to support herself somehow, but return to the home and life she knew is what she did. The question is if the long relationship between Thomas and Sally, which likely produced several children, was akin to marriage or a master raping his slave woman...

I picked  up this book, published in 2018, as a whim and ended up loving it and recommending it to everyone. It's the result of excellent scholarship and I'm now more in favor of the notion that Sally and Thomas were of their time but also in loving long term relationship.

It was not legal for him to marry her, though she was significantly of the White race, because slavery was passed on by a persons mother's condition as a slave. Now that I know that he would have been defying the law of the land, I see that it was not all about personal choice for him either.

Here are some of my notes from portions of the book:

The summer of 1789 brought an enormous transition in the life of Sally Hemings as well. It is difficult to reconstruct her life at the Hotel de Langeac (this is the townhouse that Jefferson and his family lived in, in Paris, which was also used as a place the public could come to as an official residence of a diplomat...)  We do know she left the house for five weeks...  Annette Gordon - Reed has suggested that Hemings' stay with Dupre (*a boarding house) overlapped with the Jefferson's girls' illness (which was typhus) when Maria *(the younger daughter) was at her lowest ebb (she could have died.) Perhaps Jefferson sent Sally Hemings away to prevent her from contracting the disease, easily spread through body lice, after seeing the harrowing effects on Maria.  (Notes from page 112)  

When the girls returned in April (From their exclusive boarding school in Paris) Sally Hemings' duties may have changed as well. The care of Martha Jefferson's new silk gowns may have fallen to her, as well as dressing her hair, mending, running errands, and generally attending to the girl's requirements of a lady's maid. But Jefferson's expenditures rose for Sally as well, as she more frequently accompanied them in public...

But if anyone was confused about Sally Hemings' place in the Jefferson household, with knowing French discretion, they refrained from asking their wealthier connections ... nor were sexual predations of masters on their female servants unusual either. The young but worldly wise Botidoux*** took the unusual household configuration in stride, diplomatically using the honorific 'mademoiselle' (which normally was never used to address servants) to signal her acceptance of Martha's lead that Hemings was not an ordinary servant. (Notes from page 113)

That was just one of many ways in which Hemings learned something about her position in French society. Whatever her status in Virginia, as far as Parisians were concerned Sally was not a slave in France. Sally Hemings saw a great deal of aristocratic Paris in her attendance on Martha Jefferson. She ate fine French cooking (her brother was a master chef after all) she chatted with Martha's aristocratic friends, and she learned about French social mores from overhearing their talk. Thus, Paris had taught Sally Hemings a great deal about society, rank, presentation, dress, and language in addition to her skills as femme de chambre by the time Jefferson decided to return to Virginia.

Although of course both James and Sally Hemings returned to slavery. Although France's revolution was just beginning, the American Revolution was over, concluded with the Treaty of Paris in 1783. But the changes it had effected for enslaved Americans was severely limited.  Jefferson's own attempt to condemn slavery in the Declaration of Independence had been defeated by the Continental Congress. ...

***This is of interest:  https://history.cass.anu.edu.au/events/mysteries-mademoiselle-de-botidoux  Botidoux was a faithful letter-writing correspondent to Jefferson's daughter Martha.

Also of great interest is what happened to Harriet, who was born as a slave to Sally, but was only one-sixteenth Black. You will want to read this book for the tremendous research that author Catherine Kerrison did in attempt to find her.  Harriet was trained to be a weaver and left her home of Monticello with her older brother as Thomas had promised Sally he would free all her children when they reached adulthood. It is possible she passed as White and married in Washington, D.C.

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EIFFEL TOWER

Link here to the official web site of the Eiffel Tower and learn what a tremendous engineering feat it was.

There were those who were opposed to it being built. 

TOUR EIFFEL PARIS

"It was at the 1889 Exposition Universelle, the date that marked the 100th anniversary of the French Revolution that a great competition was launched in the Journal Officiel."

NATALIE CLIFFORD BARNEY and RENEE VIVIAN : NATALIE WASN'T MONOGAMOUS, and VIVIAN ?

Though the relationship with Courtesan Liane de Pougy put an end to the rumors and outed Natalie Clifford Barney to the world, especially after Liane published a 'fiction' novel that faintly disguised herself, Natalie, and other characters, that was popular, perhaps the relationship that Natalie was most known for was with Renee Vivian.  This is because, though there were others, it was the most enduring.

Born plain old Pauline Mary Tarn in 1877, Rene was the daughter of an American woman and English man who settled in Paris. After her father's death, her mother sent her off to live in England and her mother lived beyond her means. When Vivian finally got her inheritance at 21, she moved back to Paris and rented a small apartment. As she did not keep a chaperone, she became a persona non gratis to society.  Even some Americans in Paris snubbed her and she no longer received invitations. Preferring to have a small group of friends was more her style anyway.

The two women were different enough to be considered an odd couple. What they had holding them together was first, that they met young and were contemporaries, the same generation and lesbian. Secondly, they both adored poetry and wrote it, especially French poetry, though their poetry also revealed their differences. Last but not least, the two women were part of the wave of feminism that came out of the Victorian era. It was a time in which most women did not go to college or have careers. It could be argued that the restrictions were worse for elite women than poor women. It helped that they shared a sense of humor.

Temperamentally the two women were opposites. Natalie was outgoing and loved the social scene and going places and travel while Renee so loathed engaging with others that she was capable of staying in her room reading and writing while a party was taking place in the other rooms. She was shy and introverted and no doubt experienced depression. Rene was also a drug addict and alcoholic who ruined her body. She mixed a drug called Chloral Hydrate, a hypnotic, with booze, and that started when she was in her teens.  It was a sleep medication and she overdosed at least once. So, her mother had tried to put her into a mental hospital.  

Renee was also in love with Natalie. She put her on a pedestal and wrote all her love poetry to Natalie, while Natalie's poetry was to or about the various women she had loved. Young, she published a book that was titled Quelques Portraits - Sonnets de Femmese.

Was Natalie in love with her?

There are many ways to love.

Natalie's nature was not so sensitive. It was said that while the free spirit had her feminist ideals and could be a great friend to those who she chose to have in her life, she was not especially concerned with the masses. She was a bit oblivious to how most people had to live. She left her exclusive boarding school, Les Ruches, in France as a teenager with a sense of entitlement and knowing she was part of the upper crust. She went through her debut without fuss, even though she had an aversion to marriage and would soon decide that it was not even her nature to be monogamous. She even flirted with men, and the suspicious and jealous Renee wondered about Natalie's relationships with men.  In America, though there was gossip, she also continued to participate in society functions.

One of the issues in their relationship was sex. Renee was disgusted by the idea of sex with men. Natalie's role was to be the pursuer, in today's way of thinking, she took the dominant role, the male role if it were a traditional heterosexual relationship. She had sought out many experiences and became a great lover, but Renee was, shall we say, indifferent. She was a challenge to Natalie because she was difficult to impossible to stir.  The challenge frustrated Natalie.  It also meant that Natalie could not be satisfied with Vivian in that way.  Would Natalie ever be able to settle down with just one person anyway?  She was considered a "conquering Amazon."

The Quelques Portraits - Sonnets de Femmese.book got reviewed in Town Topics, Natalie got called a Sappho, her father saw the article, and his rage had no end. He blamed her mother. While he bought out the publisher and tried to destroy any copies of the book, Natalie's mother wrote to her in great distress, telling her she had sinned against nature and the law. Yet, she did come to accept her daughter as lesbian. The Barney family had allowed Natalie and Renee to move in together in Paris, so long as chaperone was present.  They hired an older lesbian to be the chaperone.

While Renee was known to have other affairs, she and Natalie were never quite through with each other.  Believe it or not Renee did get around to having an affair with... Liane de Pougy!

When Renne commit suicide, it was thought that her love for Natalie, perhaps her obsession, was the reason for it. Natalie was asked to write about it when she was 83 years old, and though her emotions and thoughts may have been all over the place about Renee, from the distance of a life well lived into old age, she typified Renee as a weak person, sad and tragic, and that only enhanced her reputation as being a Lady Killer.

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The primary reference for this book report post is Wild Heart by Suzanne Rodriguez.  My notes were taken especially from pages 191, 122-123.  It's a highly interesting book and I do hope you will read it!

THE COURTESAN PRINCESS ENDS HER YEARS A DEVOUT CATHOLIC

This is about  Liane de Pougy, married name Princess Anne-Marie Ghika of Roumania, and her later-in-life involvement in Catholicism. 

Born Anne-Marie Chassaigne in 1869, Liane had been born into a Catholic family. After her retirement as a courtesan, due to her marriage to the Prince, she again became acquainted with her faith. She was not especially happy in her marriage as the years went on. She sought some advice on marriage, and she was told that it would be most honorable and spiritual if she stuck with it, though her husband and her were not compatible in important ways. He was younger than she, he was apparently desperately alcoholic and in ill health, and he may also have sought sex with prostitutes. At one point she wanted to leave him and live separate lives.

The Dominican Sisters at Saint Agnes cared for children who were fundamentally disabled.  From her Blue Notebooks, here is an excerpt of how she became familiar with their work. She would chose to fund raise for them and the fashion designer and once-upon-a-time Mistress, CoCo Chanel was a generous donor to the same !

Here is an excerpt:

"We were punctual.  She took us to the playground... and there I saw sixty-seven unhappy creatures between eight and sixteen years old, ... the most inexorable suffering.  I nearly fainted. ... Oh! Those cries!  Those contortions, those grimaces, that smell...  Once you have seen that, never never again can you complain of anything.  I was ashamed of having talked so much about myself to Sister Marie Xavier. I pressed the poor tremulous, rather dirty hands which reached out towards me.  I searched those wandering, fixed or mad eyes for some glimmer of light.  I laid my hand on those foreheads, tumultuous or stunned. feverish, so pale... I gave five hundred francs.  George Ghika (her husband) gave a hundred, and I knew that he was more disturbed than he liked to admit.   (page 219 of The Blue Notebooks)

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