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Anne Victoire Dervieux (1752-1826)[1] was a French ballerina, opera singer, and courtesan.[1][2]

Anne Victoire Dervieux
Born	1752
Died	1826 (1827) (aged 74) Paris
Nationality	French
Occupation	Ballerina, opera singer and courtesan
Spouse(s)	François-Joseph Bélanger

Life

Dervieux was the daughter of a washer woman in Paris.[3]

Stage career

She was engaged at the Paris Opera in 1765, (aged 13),[4] where she was active as a ballet dancer before she retrained to become an opera singer.[5] As a singer, she performed at the Concert Spirituel, and her greatest triumph was said to have been her performance in Pygmalion in 1772.

Courtesan

She attracted much fame for her parallel career as a courtesan. She has been referred to as the rival of Madeleine Guimard. Among her clients where the Louis François Joseph, Prince of Conti[3] and the brothers of Louis XVI, the count of Artois[3][6] and the count de Provence;[3] she also shared her client Charles, Prince of Soubise[7] with Madeleine Guimard.[3] Derievux, as well as Guimard, were celebrities of their time and frequently portrayed in the scandal press.[3]

Residence

She became known for her extravagant residence, a palace she had constructed in rue Chantereine Paris, filled with her valuable fine art collections. The building was originally design by architect Alexandre-Théodore Brongniart and later re-worked by the architect François-Joseph Bélanger[1]

Later life

Dervieux married François-Joseph Bélanger[6] in 1794[7] and retired from her stage career as well as from her career as a courtesan. She adopted a girl around this time.[8] She was imprisoned during The Terror of Robespierre,[9] but avoided execution. Dervieux died in Paris in 1829.[7]

References

Bibliography

• Baxter, Denise Amy; Martin, Meredith S. (2017). Architectural Space in Eighteenth-Century Europe: Constructing Identities and Interiors. Routledge. ISBN 9781351576079.
• Blanc, Olivier (1997). Les libertines: Plaisir et liberté au temps des lumières (in French). Perrin. ISBN 9782262011826.
• de Duras, Louise-Charlotte (1801). "Prison Life During The French Revolution". Prison Journals During the French Revolution by Duras. Translated by Carey, Martha Ward. Project Gutenberg.
• Goodman, Dena; Norberg, Kathryn (2007). Furnishing the Eighteenth Century: What Furniture Can Tell Us about the European and American Past. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 9780415949538.
• Jenkins, Jessica Kerwin (2010). Encyclopedia of the Exquisite: An Anecdotal History of Elegant Delights. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. ISBN 9780385533652.

Further reading

• Baschet, Roger (1943). Mademoiselle Dervieux, fille d'opéra: illustré de huit planches hors-textes (in French). Flammarion.
• Homans, Jennifer (2013). Apollo's Angels: A History Of Ballet. Granta Publications. ISBN 9781847084545.

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