Méry Laurent
Méry Laurent, born Anne Rose Suzanne Louviot, was a demi-mondaine and the muse of several Parisian artists. She used to run her own “salon” where she hosted many French writers and painters of her time: Stéphane Mallarmé, Émile Zola, Marcel Proust, François Coppée, Henri Gervex, James Whistler, and Édouard Manet.
Biography
Anne Rose Suzanne Louviot was born in Nancy in 1849. She was the daughter of a woman who worked as a laundress in Marshal Francois Certain De Canrobert's household, and of an unknown father. Her laundress mother sold her 15-year-old daughter's virginity to Canrobert, so that her daughter would become Canorbert's mistress and receive an annuity for life of 500 francs per month. When she turned 16, this enabled her to go in Paris, where she started a career as an actress. She played im light comedies at The Théâtre des Variétés; the most well known role there was the Venus Anadyomene, posing naked on her shell; at the Théâtre du Châtelet, she also played Offenbach's féeries such as La Belle Hélène.In 1874, she met Thomas W. Evans, an extremely wealthy American dental surgeon who tended to many high-profile people, and even royal families. He made her his mistress and helped her settle down at 52, rue de Rome, where she held her “salon”, hosting all of the Parisian artistic avant-garde. Through this occasion, she became the mistress of Francois Coppée, Stéphane Mallarmé, Antonin Proust, as well as Edouard Manet's mistress and model. Mallarme dedicated many poems to her, and they left behind a wealth of correspondence.
When Laurent died, she bequeathed her wealth to Victor Margueritte, her last favorite and "protégé", with the exception of her allegoric portrait of Autumn, which went to the Museum of Fine Arts of Nancy.
Laurent was buried in the Père-Lachaise cemetery.