The Book of the Courtesans Part 6: Gabrielle de Rouvières

This previously unknown artist's model inspired Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Édouard Manet, and others.

Detail of Argenteuil, by Édouard Manet, 1874. Oil on canvas, 149 × 115 cm. Musée des Beaux-Arts de Tournai, Belgium. The models are Rudolf Leenhoff, Manet’s brother-in-law, and Gabrielle de Rouvières.

Hi everyone,

I had wanted to share an essay with you today, but I’m completely snowed under with work on my book, so I thought I’d share this bit of research from it with you instead. The topic is something of a crossover between my biography of Victorine Meurent that is still in the works, The Parisian Sphinx, and my ongoing Book of the Courtesan series. Like Victorine, this woman modeled for the painters Édouard Manet, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Alfred Stevens, and likely others. This entry is a bit more informal and less polished than some of my previous posts in the series, but I hope you enjoy!

In the archives of the Paris police there is a leather-bound volume known as The Book of the Courtesans, containing the criminal files of a group of women called Les Insoumis— The Rebels. These are their stories.