Olympe Pélissier
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Olympe Pélissier (May 9, 1799[1] – March 22, 1878) was a French artists' model, courtesan[2] and the second wife of the Italian composer Gioachino Rossini. She sat for Vernet for his painting of Judith and Holofernes.
Biography
Olympe Pélissier was born in Paris on May 9, 1799 to a very poor family. She was sold by her mother at age fifteen to a young duke, who installed her in a small furnished house. The duke contracted a venereal disease and had to give her up. Pélissier was then sold her to a rich Anglo-American. She soon gained her independence and began to look for other lovers.[1]
Under the Bourbon Restoration, Pélissier had been a notable figure in Parisian society, admired by the Comte de Girardin, holding salons attended by Baron Schikler, and in 1830 had a liaison with the writer Eugène Sue, who introduced her to Honoré de Balzac.[3] Pélissier and Balzac were lovers[2] for a year, starting in 1830,[3] but the affair left him full of resentments. A few years later Balzac called Pélissier "an evil courtesan" Amongst her lovers, which included aristocrats, artistic and litery figures,[4] were the painter Horace Vernet[5] and the musician Vincenzo Bellini.
The affair with Sue was longer lasting, but the relationship consisted of a frequent swing between quarrels and strong passions. It ended when Pélissier met Gioacchino Rossini. She and Rossini first met in the 1830s in the aftermath of his separation from his first wife Isabella Colbran. The couple lived in his house in Paris until a cholera epidemic forced them to leave the city in favour of Italy. At the end of 1836, they moved to Bologna, where for etiquette sake they lived under separate roofs. In Bologna Pélissier met Rossini's first wife, Isabella Colbran.[2] Pélissier felt suffocated in Bologna and pressured his companion to move. In November 1837 they moved to Milan where they held musical evenings every Friday night. Among the regular guests was Franz Liszt.[2] However she held the social position of the courtesan, companion, but not a future bride to the composer. Even Marie d'Agoult, who had abandoned her husband to follow the musician Liszt, was sceptical: "Rossini spent the winter in Milan with Mademoiselle Pélissier and tried to intoduce her into society, but no lady of class ever visited her" .
In October 1845 Isabella, Rossini's first wife died, and in August 1846 Rossini and Pélissier got married.[2] Bologna was being affected by uprisings as part of the 1948 Revolution,[4] so the couple moved to Florence. They stayed for seven years, during which time Rossini's health declined. Pélissier missed Paris,[2] and wished to return there to seek medical help for Rossini,[4] so May 1855 they returned there.[2]
In Paris they restarted their musical evenings, which became legendary within Paris society. The couple had a new villa constructed in the Passy suburb of Paris in 1859. Rossini died a rich man in 1868, allowing Pélissier to live a comfortable life after his death.[2]
In art
In Balzac's La Peau de chagrin, the incident where the hero, Raphaël de Valentin, secretes himself in Fedora's bedroom was reputedly based on an experience Balzac had with Pélissier, although Balzac denied this.[6]
In 1832, Rossini composed the cantata Giovanna d'Arco (Joan of Arc) in her honour.[7]
She was the lover of the painter Horace Vernet (for whom he posed for Judith and Holofernes in which he appeared with naked bosom, portrayed shortly before with the decapitated sword Olofernes), of the writer Eugène Sue and Honoré de Balzac .
In fiction, she appears in the 1974 French television film Eugène Sue,[8] played by Claudine Coster.
References
- ^ a b "Olympe Louise Alexandrine Descuillers dite : OLYMPE PELISSIER". autourduperetanguy.blogspirit.com. Retrieved 1 December 2018.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Christians & Groves 2016.
- ^ a b "Biographie de Honoré de Balzac". De La Littérature. Archived from the original on 22 February 2013. Retrieved 1 December 2018.
- ^ a b c Roberts 2015, p. 196.
- ^ Roberts 2015, p. 153.
- ^ Osborne 2007.
- ^ Roberts 2015, p. 195.
- ^ "Eugène Sue". Retrieved 1 December 2018 – via www.imdb.com.
Bibliography
- Christians, Ian; Groves, Sir Charles (2016). Discovering Classical Music. Pen and Sword. ISBN 9781473887879.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Osborne, Richard (2007). Rossini. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199884575.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Roberts, Warren (2015). Rossini and Post-Napoleonic Europe. Boydell & Brewer. ISBN 9781580465304.
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External links
- Rossini and his widow; Death of the latter, how she came to marry the great composer, New York Times, April 28, 1878
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