Thérésa Tallien
Thérésa Tallien | |
---|---|
Hainaut, Belgium | |
Known for | Liaisons with high-profile men - and the role as symbol of the end of terror in France (Notre Dame du Thermidor) |
Spouse(s) | 1 Marquis de Fontenay (annulled) 2 Jean-Lambert Tallien (annulled) 3 François-Joseph-Philippe de Riquet, Prince de Chimay |
Children | 11, by various husbands and lovers |
Thérésa Cabarrus, Madame Tallien (31 July 1773 – 15 January 1835) was a Spanish-born French noblewoman and socialite who became Princess of Chimay during her lifetime.
Life
Early life
She was born Juana María Ignacia Teresa de Cabarrús y Galabert in
From 1778 to 1783, Thérésa was raised by nuns in France. She was a student of the painter Jean-Baptiste Isabey. She returned home to the family castle briefly in 1785, and then her father sent her back to France at twelve years old to complete her education and get married.
The first of her many love affairs was with
When her husband fled at the outbreak of the Revolution in 1789, she resumed her
Thermidor and Directory
In February 1794, Tallien was denounced by
Pregnant with their daughter, she married Tallien on 26 December 1794.[9] Their marriage was relatively short-lived however as Theresa began divorce proceedings against Tallien in February 1797. Tallien accompanied Napoleon to Egypt but was captured by the British on his voyage back to France and held prisoner. On his release in 1802, the divorce was finalised.[10]
Thérésa became one of the leaders of Parisian social life.
Marriage to Riquet
After her divorce from Tallien Theresa had a brief flirtation with Napoleon.
She had become one of the most famous women of her age, and she resented this role. Once when she appeared at the Louvre accompanied by her children, so many spectators flocked to see her up close, that she had to escape down a staircase to save herself. The marriage to Caraman meant that she returned to the class in which she had been born - and educated.
The couple invited musicians such as
Thérésa died in Chimay, where she was interred with François-Joseph de Riquet under the
Children
Thérésa bore eleven children by various husbands and lovers.
Issue by a man via an affair named Ferdinand Louis Félix Lepeletier.
- Antoine François Julien Théodore Denis Ignace de Fontenay (Lepeletier) (1789–1815); had illegitimate issue.
Issue by Jean Lambert Tallien:
- Rose Thermidor Laure Josephine Tallien (1795–1862), married Count Felix de Narbonne-Pelet in 1815;
Issue by Paul Barras:
- Francis Barras, born in 1797, who died at 1833; had illegitimate issue.
Ouvrard was the father of five of her children, born during her marriage to Tallien and after her divorce:
- Clemence Isaure Thérésa Ouvrard (1800–1884), married Colonel Hyacinthe Devaux, no issue; as a widow she became a nun;
- Jules Adolphe Edouard Ouvrard de Cabarrus, Doctor Cabarrus (1801-1870), married Adélaïde de Lesseps (1803-1879);
- Clarisse Thérésa Ouvrard (1802-1877), married Achille Ferdinand Brunetiere in 1826; had illegitimate issue.
- Auguste Stéphanie Coralie Thérésa Ouvrard (1803-?), married Amédée Ferdinand Moissan de Vaux, son of the Baron of Vaux, in 1822.
- Elisabeth Gabrielle Ouvrard (1804-1857)
She and Riquet had three children together:
- Joseph Philippe de Riquet (1808–1886), 17th Prince de Chimay, Prince de Caraman; married Émilie Pellapra; had issue
- Michel Gabriel Alphonse Ferdinand de Riquet (1810–1865), father of Marie-Clotilde-Elisabeth Louise de Riquet, comtesse de Mercy-Argenteau;
- Marie Auguste Louise Thérèse Valentine de Riquet (1815–1876), married Georges, Marquis du Hallay-Coétquen. No issue
Cultural references
As Teresa Cabarrús, she is a prominent character in Baroness Orczy's novel The Triumph of the Scarlet Pimpernel.
She was played by Carolyn Jones in the 1954 film Désirée, starring Marlon Brando, and by Florence Pernel in the 2002 Napoléon (miniseries).
Bibliography
- Castelnau, Jacques (1937). Madame Tallien (Hachette) (in French).
- Chimay, Princesse de (1936). Madame Tallien (Plon) (in French).
- Chronicle of the French Revolution. Longman. April 1989. ISBN 978-0582051942.
- Diaz-Plaja, Alberto (1943). Teresa Cabarrus (Olimpo) (in Spanish).
- Gilles, Christian (1999). Madame Tallien: la reine du Directoire : biographie (in French). Atlantica. ISBN 9782843941214.
- Gueniffey, Patrice (2015). Bonaparte. Harvard University Press. ISBN 9780674368354.
- Jumièges, Jean Claude (1967). Madame Tallien ou Une femme dans la tourmente révolutionnaire (in French). Éd. Rencontre.
- Paxton, John (1988). Companion to the French Revolution. Facts on File. ISBN 9780816019373.
- Adams, C. (2016). Mistresses and Merveilleuses: The Historiographical Record on Female Political Players of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries. Medieval Feminist Forum 51(2), 95-103.[17]
- Freund, A. (2014). Portraiture and Politics in Revolutionary France. Penn State University Press.[18]
- Freund, A. (2014). The Citoyenne Tallien: Women, Politics and Portraiture during the French Revolution. The Art Bulletin (93)3, 325-344.[19]
- Hesse, Carla. (2018). The Other Enlightenment: How French Women Became Modern. Princeton University Press.[20]
- Rauser, A. (2020). The Age of Undress: Art, Fashion, and the Classical Ideal in the 1790's. Yale University Press.[13]
- Abrantes, Laure Junot (Duchesse d'). 1832. Memoires of the Duchesse d'Abrantes (Madame Junot). J&J Harper.[21]
References
- ^ a b c d "Thérésa Tallien". monumentshistoriques.free.fr. Retrieved 27 April 2019.
- ^ Gilles 1999.
- ^ Jumièges 1967, p. 11.
- ^ a b Paxton 1988, p. 184.
- ^ Chronicle of the French Revolution 1989, p. 330.
- ^ Chronicle of the French Revolution 1989, p. 373.
- ^ Chronicle of the French Revolution 1989, p. 394.
- ^ Chronicle of the French Revolution 1989, p. 407.
- ^ Chronicle of the French Revolution 1989, p. 463.
- ^ Chronicle of the French Revolution 1989, p. 671.
- ^ Gueniffey 2015, p. 197.
- ISBN 9780300241204.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-300-24120-4.
- ^ a b "Thérésa Tallien, "Incroyable", "Merveilleuse" et Première Dame!". Point de Vue (in French). 16 October 2017. Retrieved 27 April 2019.
- ^ a b Huguenaud, Karine (March 2005). "Madame Tallien". napoleon.org. Retrieved 27 April 2019.
- ^ Cherubini: Mass in F (Chimay), Classical Music Review, accessed February 2018.
- ISSN 1536-8742.
- ISBN 978-0-271-06569-4.
- S2CID 153406511.
- ISBN 978-0-691-18842-3.
- ^ d'), Laure Junot Abrantès (duchesse (1832). Memoirs of the Duchess D' Abrantés (Madame Junot). J. & J. Harper.