Juliette Drouet
Juliette Drouet , born Julienne Gauvain (born April 10, 1806 in Fougères , † 1883 in Paris ) was a French actress and the muse of Victor Hugo .
Life
Because her mother died shortly after her birth and her father died a year later, she was taken in by her uncle René Drouet, who later handed her over to a strictly Catholic boarding school as a child. Around 1825 she became the model, friend and muse of the sculptor James Pradier , who was the father of her illegitimate daughter who died early. In 1829, Pradier encouraged her to begin training as an actor, which took her temporarily to Brussels . Back in Paris, she took her uncle's name and quickly became a celebrated actress here. In 1833 the poet Victor Hugo saw her in the role of Princess Négroni in Lucrezia Borgia and was overwhelmed and soon fell in love with her. It was no different for her. She not only left her boyfriend, but also ended her acting career in order to dedicate herself exclusively to Victor Hugo as muse, lover and editor . In the years that followed, she rarely left the house, at most when he was with him. In 1852 she followed him into exile to Jersey and again in 1855 to Guernsey . Hugo did not confess to her as long as he was married, and even after the death of his wife he did not marry Juliette Drouet. She was buried on the small Cimetière Nord in Saint-Mandé .
Juliette Drouet wrote thousands of letters to Victor Hugo over the decades. The writer Henri Troyat read it, rated it as great literature and wrote a monograph on it in 1997 .
Juliette Drouet is still present to Parisians and tourists today. On the Place de la Concorde she has been sitting on a cannon barrel for a good 150 years and watching the hustle and bustle from above. James Pradier created Madame Strasbourg based on her model.
literature
- Juliette Drouet, Evelyn Blewer (Editor), Victoria Tietze Larson (Translator): My Beloved Toto: Letters from Juliette Drouet to Victor Hugo 1833-1882. State University of New York Press (June 2006) ISBN 0-7914-6572-1
- Henri Troyat : Juliette Drouet: La prisonnière sur parole . Flammarion 1997. ISBN 2-08-067403-X
- Simone de Beauvoir : La Vieillesse ( The Age ) (1970) Dt. by Anjuta Aigner-Dünnwald u. Ruth Henry. ISBN 3-498-00433-6
Web links
- FemBiografie Juliette Drouet by Andrea Schweers with quotes, links and literature
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Drouet, Juliette |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Gauvain, Julienne (maiden name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | french actress |
| DATE OF BIRTH | April 10, 1806 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Fougères |
| DATE OF DEATH | 1883 |
| Place of death | Paris |