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Napoleon III Inspiration
“Carmen, tall and slender, // was the fiery brunette, traditional, with whom it’s understood that one should not get bored. Moreover, a pretty girl who had been around everywhere, in Paris, in Nantes, in Marseille, and who ended up here because her child, a four-year-old, was raised on a farm…” André Dahl, Ces Dame du 12.
From this “pleasure house” in the province, Carmen enjoys the gentle atmosphere and the handsome gentlemen who, smoking and drinking, come for a bit of company. Like her companions, she holds onto the hope that one day, a happy liaison will elevate her from the state of a prostitute to an adored courtesan. A count, a duke, a prince? She dreams of grand private mansions and carriages, imagines herself adorned in lace and jewels. She knows well that to capture both the heart and mind of the man she possesses and rise in high society, one must not only be pretty but also clever and daring…
India Inspiration
He possesses caressing blue eyes, a face of childlike sweetness, and a silky beard: the young count does not regret having entered the doors of Maison Souquet, one of the most sought-after pleasure places in the capital. Douchka, his chosen one for the night, sensual but seemingly unaware, simultaneously naive and mischievous, perfectly embodies his feminine ideal. He doesn’t yet suspect that he will passionately succumb to this flirtatious woman with an exhilarating allure, to the great misfortune… of his wallet.
Passionate about balls, cabarets, and music halls, Douchka takes him daily to dressmakers, milliners, and jewelers to be adorned like a princess when, come evening, she parades on his arm at the Folies-Bergère or the Moulin Rouge. On December 9, 1896, the couple finds themselves at the Théâtre de la Renaissance amidst fifteen hundred people when the celebrated Sarah Bernhardt receives an ovation from the most prominent figures in arts and letters. Enthusiastic, Douchka then has only one thing in mind: to become an actress. The count is indebted? It’s high time for the ambitious woman to look elsewhere…
Napoleon III Inspiration
Her name is Emma Elisabeth Crouch. Born in Plymouth, England, the highest aristocrats of the Second Empire cannot resist the sharp charm of this extravagant brunette who loves money as much as carnal pleasures. In the 1860s, when she settles in Paris, Emma is determined to make a fortune by becoming a “galant woman.” She then adopts the more poetic pseudonym of Cora Pearl. Showered with riches by her numerous lovers, including Prince Napoleon, this lover of all pleasures throws numerous sumptuous parties and indulges in fantasies: during a Parisian evening at Café Anglais, she even had herself “served,” lying naked on a huge silver tray…
The decline of the Empire marks the end of the beautiful Englishwoman. After ruining a younger lover, Cora falls ill and dies at forty, forgotten by those who once idolized her. Her Mémoires conclude with these words: “I never deceived anyone because I never belonged to anyone. My independence was my entire fortune: I have known no other happiness.
India Inspiration
An illegitimate child, the charming Aglaé Savatier quickly understands the necessity of finding herself a protector. This would be the art collector Alfred Mosselman. Aglaé, who preferred to rename herself Apollonie, then hosts numerous artists in her salon on Rue Frochot. There are musicians such as Berlioz, painters and sculptors like Meissonnier, Vidal, Jalabert, Courbet, writers including Gautier, Dumas father, Flaubert, the Goncourt brothers, and poets such as Musset, Nerval, Baudelaire, who make her their muse or model. Enchanted by the one who inspires certain poems in ‘The Flowers of Evil’, Baudelaire becomes her secret lover. All have great respect for this free, intelligent, and audacious woman who, unlike other women of the demimonde, seeks more to learn than to please.
Before leaving her for a younger woman, Mosselman, proud to show off to everyone the irresistible curves of his mistress, had her sculpted by Auguste Clésinger: arched back and lascivious pose, Femme piquée par un serpent caused an immense scandal at the Salon of 1847 but immortalized the beautiful Apollonie forever.
With her long, bouncing red hair cascading over her milky shoulders, her sparkling black eyes, her curvaceous body, and mischievous smile, Luce is as carefree as a summer morning. Her ethos is carelessness, to avoid opening the door to melancholy. Cultivating a zest for life, she generously offers her heart and her bed, delighting in ensnaring men who hardly resist her charm. Although she may sometimes have a weakness for handsome boys, especially the dashing cavalry officers, she never forgets that, in her line of work, before looking at a man’s face, it’s wise to inspect his wallet…
Like the famous courtesan Ninon de Lenclos of the previous century, she categorizes her lovers into three types: the payers, the martyrs, and the favorites. Of her liaisons, she says: “Three months is infinity”…
Napoleon III Inspiration
“To be mute, she spoke nevertheless to the senses,” assures Gabriel-Jules Janin when discovering Marie-Ernestine Antigny in the silent role of the statue of Helen, in Adolphe Ennery’s Faust. Like all demi-mondaines from modest backgrounds, the former circus rider from Napoleon’s circus knows that her salvation lies only on the stage. If her acting proves mediocre, her generous curves are noticed: from then on, the pretty blonde is renamed Blanche d’Antigny and mingles with the cream of Russian aristocracy who shower her with jewels, fur, and rubles.
Her revelries make headlines, her dissolute life fascinates: but the voluptuous courtesan does not resist her creditors for long who, despite her wealthy suitors, make her flee to Alexandria where she performs on stage in 1873. Back in Paris, ill, abandoned by all, Blanche dies at the age of 34. Her premature end inspired Emile Zola for the character of Nana.
Japanese Inspiration
“Paris is very nice, but it’s only habitable in the good neighborhoods… In the others, there are too many poor people!” laments Marguerite Bellanger at the height of her glory. Once called Julie Leboeuf, a laundress by trade before coming to Paris and becoming a famous demi-mondaine, she hasn’t forgotten where she comes from: from the very bottom. Like all those who envelop the capital in an erotic atmosphere, the tall and blonde Marguerite treads the boards, intrigues, seduces at every turn, and lives a princely life until, in the 1860s, she becomes the mistress of Napoleon III. Madly in love with his “Margot” with a provocative charm who doesn’t hesitate to be photographed in men’s clothing and whose witty words are real “acrobatics,” they say, the emperor offers her houses and castles, carriages, jewels, and furs, until annoying the empress who will demand in no uncertain terms that she return her husband.
Napoleon III Inspiration
Alfred de Musset loves his Mimi Pinson with her upturned nose, pretty teeth, her round face under the little bonnet…
“Mimi Pinson is a blonde,
A blonde that one knows.
She has only one dress in the world,
Landerirette!
And only one bonnet.
When a good supper awakens her,
She sings out the song F
rom the bottle. S
ometimes it tilts over the ear,
The bonnet of Mimi Pinson. …”
Alfred de Musset
Napoleon III Inspiration
She was born at the lower end of Rue de la Colonie, an area of ragpickers bathed by the Bièvre which carried nauseating odors. Despite her thin thighs and pale complexion, Rita possesses a wild beauty that escapes no one, especially not her mother who doesn’t wait for her sixteen years to place her as a boarder in a house of pleasure. It takes only a few weeks for a young aristocrat, with an unattractive physique but a reasonably filled wallet, to fall in love with her and install her in a small furnished room near the Opera. How to resist the pleasure of exhibiting his fresh conquest? The young foolhardy man takes Rita to the seaside. In less than a week, she receives more business cards than she can count: she is launched into high society… and lost for her unfortunate protector!
JAPANESE Inspiration
Porcelain complexion, dark hair, lanky figure, and something angelic in her gaze that makes her unique, miles away from the scandalous women of her time: more for her natural beauty than for her talent as a dancer, “Cléo” -nickname of Cléopâtre-Diane de Mérode, illegitimate child of a Belgian baroness and an Austrian aristocrat- quickly becomes the darling of Parisian high society. The former dancer from the Opera ballet is immortalized by the famous photographer Nadar, poses for numerous painters, Degas, Forain, Toulouse-Lautrec, and sculptors: in 1896, at the Salon des artistes français, Falguière exhibits a life-size statue supposedly molded on her naked body. She claims to have only posed for the bust…
All her life, Cléo refutes her reputation as a demi-mondaine, as well as the fact of having been the mistress of Leopold II of Belgium, one of her most ardent admirers.
18th inspiration
“Fresh and sprightly with its yellow facade facing a street behind the Saint-Étienne church in Fécamp, Maison Tellier possesses the familial atmosphere of a boarding house for young ladies. Among the three young women who work on the first floor, there is the lively Rose: this ‘little ball of flesh all belly with tiny legs, sang from morning till night, with a hoarse voice, verses alternately lewd or sentimental, told endless or insignificant stories, never ceased talking except to eat, and ate only to talk, always moving, nimble as a squirrel despite the fatness and the tightness of her limbs; and her laughter, a cascade of high-pitched cries, burst forth incessantly, here and there, in a room, in the attic, at the café, everywhere, about nothing in particular.”
Guy de Maupassant, La Maison Tellier
Celeste Vénard’s life is a true novel. A child of the street, a prostitute at fifteen, this “valiant heart,” as Alexandre Dumas would later write, has only one desire: to flee the precariousness of her childhood. Gifted with impressive willpower and a certain charm, she meets both the artistic and literary bohemians of the time and powerful politicians, from Prince Napoleon to Gambetta, who help her climb the social ladder: soon adored as an actress, dancer, singer, and theater director, “La Mogador” -her stage name- joins the select circle of the most sought-after courtesans in Paris.
In 1853, her marriage to a count and her life in Australia transformed her into a woman of society. Financial ruin and widowhood later, the woman who had become the Countess of Chabrillan returned to Paris and took charge of theaters. The former mistress of politicians who tried in vain to prevent the tragedy of the Commune and inspired numerous writers was, in Dumas’ words, the “most generous valiant heart” of her time.
Chinese inspiration
Her name is Hortense Schneider and her name is linked to the famous operetta composer, Jacques Offenbach. She has a conquering smile, mischievous eyes, a pretty voice, a passion for the stage, and a gift of the gab that nothing undermines. She loves the theater so much that she easily outshines those who use it only as a stepping stone and who turn out to be more courtesans than actresses. Recruited by the famous musician at the Bouffes-Parisiens, she achieves triumph: she is launched. Hortense dines at Café Anglais, a famous restaurant that has the advantage of offering its clientele private rooms, moves in a luxurious carriage, and indulges in a liaison with a young lion of the boulevard, the Duke of Gramont-Caderousse.
En 1864, her triumph in the role of La Belle Hélène earned her European fame. Everything about her, her words, gestures, and habits, were observed and reported: Hortense symbolized unbridled pleasure and wild verve that characterized the imperial festivities. Napoleon III, Alexander II, Grand Duke Constantine, the Prince of Wales, the Prince of Orange, the King of Portugal – all courted the dazzling empress of operetta whom a jealous rival had nicknamed: “The Passage of Princes!”
Chinese inspiration
Marguerite Alibert, 24 years old, had a regal bearing and remarkably fine features. In the early 20th century, during a leave in Paris, the young officer Edward, Prince of Wales and eldest son of George V, fell in love with this courtesan he met within aristocratic circles. Their romance lasted for eighteen months of champagne-filled parties, luxury carriage rides across the capital, and letters where Edward, amidst impassioned declarations, confided his troubles with his father. When the future king ended their relationship due to a new mistress, he demanded Marguerite to destroy those letters, which she wisely chose not to do.
Despite a tumultuous life, the former courtesan never uttered a word about her royal liaison nor exhibited those youthful letters. It’s easy to imagine that a secret arrangement was undoubtedly reached between the beautiful Marguerite and Edward VIII’s entourage…
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