Bellanger, Marguerite (1838-1886)

Bellanger, Marguerite

ACTOR, COURTESAN (FRANCE)

BORN 10 Jun 1838, Saint-Lambert-Des-Levées, Maine Et Loire: Le Port Lambert - DIED 23 Dec 1886, Villeneuve-Sous-Dammartin, Seine Et Marne
BIRTH NAME Leboeuf, Julie Justine Marine
GRAVE LOCATION Paris: Cimetière du Montparnasse, 3 Boulevard Edgar Quinet (division 27, Ligne 7, No 15 nord)

Marguerite Bellanger was born as Julie Leboeuf. When she was fifteen years old she started working as a laundress in Saumur. After an affair with a lieutenant she joined a local circus where she worked as an acrobat and as a trick rider.

She went to Paris where she debuted as an actress at the La Tour d'Auvergne theatre under the name of Marguerite Bellanger, using the surname of an uncle. She had limited acting skills buy she was well liked, especially by army officers and she was able to live a life of luxury. the sculptor Albert-Ernest Carrier-Belleuse used her as a model and Manet possibly based his notorious "Olympia" (1863) on her looks. Émile Zola's character Nana was probably based on her as well.

In June 1863 emperor Napoleon III saw her during a ride in the park of Saint-Cloud. She became his mistress and followed him on both his private and his official travels. When he visited the troops she dressed as a colonel. Napoleon gave her a house at 57 rue des Vignes in Passy. After Eugénie discovered his secret room at the palace of Saint-Cloiu he gave Marguerite another house at the park on Montretout in Saint-Cloud, which was situated conveniently next to the gardens of the palace.

On 24 February 1864 her son Charles (d. 11 December 1941) was born and Napoleon was probably the father. After she signed a statement that he was not the father, she was offered the castle of Villeneuve-sous-Dammartin by the emperor in 1864. There she had further loves, among them General de Lignières and possibly Léon Gambetta. Her affair with the emperor lasted until his captivity in Germany in 1870. When he died in 1873 in England she went there to mourn him. Afterwards she married the British army officer Louis William Kulbach. She devoted her later years to charity and died in 1886.

Related persons
• worked as a model for Carrier-Belleuse, Albert-Ernest
• was the lover of Napoleon III Bonaparte

Images
The grave of Marguerite Bellanger and Charles Leboeuf at the Montparnasse Cimetière, Paris. Picture by Androom (31 Oct 2019)	The grave of Marguerite Bellanger and Charles Leboeuf at the Montparnasse Cimetière, Paris. Picture by Androom (31 Oct 2019)