Valtesse de la Bigne was a celebrated nineteenth-century Parisian courtesan. She
was painted by Manet and inspired Emile Zola, who immortalised her in his scand
alous novel Nana. Her rumoured affairs with Napoleon III and the future Edward V
II kept gossip columns full.
But her glamourous 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 enchantr
ess who possessed a small fortune, three mansions, fabulous carriages, and art t
he envy of connoisseurs across Europe.
