Describes the biography of Comtesse Valtesse de la Bigne, a famed 19th-century Parisian courtesan who successfully hid her low birth and childhood spent in squalor to become a wealthy woman with several mansions, an art collection and the darling of the gossip columns.
Comtesse Valtesse de la Bigne was a celebrated nineteenth-century Parisian courtesan. She was painted by Manet and inspired Emile Zola, who immortalized her in his scandalous novel Nana. Her rumored affairs with Napoleon III and the future Edward VII kept gossip columns full.
But her glamorous existence hid a dark secret: she was no Comtesse. She was born into abject poverty, raised on a squalid Paris backstreet; the lowest of the low. Yet she transformed herself into an enchantress who possessed a small fortune, three mansions, fabulous carriages, and art that drew the envy of connoisseurs across Europe. A consummate show-woman, she ensured that her lifeand even her deathremained shrouded in just enough mystery to keep her audience hungry for more.
Catherine Hewitts biography tells the forgotten story of a remarkable woman who, though her roots were lowly, never stopped aiming high.
