Jeanne Baptiste d'Albert de Luynes facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Jeanne Baptiste |
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|---|---|
| Countess of Verua | |
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| Spouse(s) | Giuseppe Ignazio Scaglia, Conte di Verua |
| Issue | |
| Maria Vittoria, Princess of Carignan | |
| Full name | |
| Jeanne Baptiste d'Albert de Luynes | |
| Noble family | House of Scaglia House of Albret |
| Father | Louis Charles d'Albert de Luynes |
| Mother | Anne de Rohan |
| Born | 18 January 1670 Hôtel de Luynes, Paris, France |
| Died | 18 November 1736 (aged 66) Paris, France |
Jeanne Baptiste d'Albert de Luynes, comtesse de Verrue (18 January 1670 – 18 November 1736) was a French noblewoman and the mistress of Victor Amadeus II of Sardinia.
Contents
Biography
The daughter of Louis Charles d'Albert, Duke of Luynes (1620–1690) and his second wife (and aunt) Princess Anne de Rohan-Montbazon (1644–1684), she had five full siblings. She was the granddaughter of Marie de Rohan. Her older half-brother was Charles Honoré d'Albert de Luynes, a private advisor to Louis XIV and the builder of the infamous Château de Dampierre. Born at the Hôtel de Luynes in Paris, she was baptised at the Église Saint-Eustache. She was named after her godfather Jean-Baptiste Colbert.
After an education at the prestigious Abbey of Port-Royal in Paris, she was married to Joseph Ignace Scaglia, Count of Verrua in between 23 August and 25 August 1683. She was thirteen and a half years old at the time of her marriage. Her husband was a colonel de dragons and a prominent Piedmontese diplomat working for the Duke of Savoy.
Jeanne Baptiste and her husband eventually had four children. Her husband was, "young, handsome, rich, and honest". His mother was a lady-in-waiting to the French-born Duchess of Savoy, Anne Marie d'Orléans.
At the Savoyard capital of Turin, the Duke of Savoy became infatuated with the young countess and by 1688 he had fallen deeply in love with her. The piously brought up countess, at first, ignored the advances of the duke who would see her in attendance on his wife, Anne Marie. Later on, the duchess and her uncle, the French king Louis XIV, "encouraged" Madame de Verrue to take advantage of the Duke of Savoy's advances. In 1689, Jeanne Baptiste gave in to the duke's overtures. The lovers became the parents of two children. The future Princess of Carignan was born in 1690. A son, Vittorio Francesco, was born in 1694 and was later given the title Marquis of Suza.
The most envied woman at the Savoyard court due to her influence over the duke, Jeanne Baptiste tried to dabble in politics. With the help of the maréchal de Tessé, she encouraged the marriage of the duke's eldest daughter, Princess Maria Adelaide, with Louis XIV's grandson, the Duke of Burgundy.
She also helped her brother's escape to France due to his heavy debts in October 1700. He took refuge with their aunt in Paris.
Jeanne Baptiste was widowed in 1704, her husband dying on 13 August in the Battle of Blenheim.
He goes on:
She returned to Paris in 1700 without her two children, Maria Vittoria Francesca and Vittorio Francesco, but with a considerable fortune.
When Jeanne Baptiste was allegedly poisoned, it was the famous Madame de Ventadour who helped to cure the ill countess. Madame de Ventadour went on to be the saviour of the infant Duke of Brittany, the future Louis XV, whose parents the Duke and Duchess of Burgundy died from measles within a week of each other in February 1712. Madame de Ventadour would be devoted to the future Louis XV.
After living as a recluse for more than three years at the request of her husband, "the eccentric countess reappeared in the world [with] her 'ésprit' as well as Jean-Baptiste Glucq," said Saint-Simon, who went on to say that the two secretly married. This, however, has never been proven. Every year, when the court was at Fontainebleau, she would stay at Glucq's residence at the Château de Sainte-Assise at Seine-Port. Later on, she stayed at the Château de Condé at Condé-en-Brie with another intimate, the marquis de La Faye.
During her time in France, she was well known at court. Jeanne Baptiste was a good friend of Monsieur le Duc, future Prime minister of France, and his mother Madame la Duchesse Douairière who was her age. Madame la Duchesse was the eldest surviving illegitimate daughter of Louis XIV and Madame de Montespan.
A great letter writer, she was interested in art, science and even kept in contact with the budding Voltaire and other philosophers. In Paris, she installed the numerous gifts she received when in Turin, at the Hôtel d'Hauterive – now destroyed since by the creation of the Boulevard Raspail – which she enlarged to house her already large collection of objets d'art. She even bought the neighbouring property owned by the Discalced Carmelites in order to help house her relations.
Having her own salon in Paris, it was attended by the Abbé Terrasson, Rothelin, the Garde des sceaux de France, Chauvelin, Jean-Baptiste de Montullé, the marquis de Lassay and his son Léon de Madaillan de Lesparre, Count of Lassay and many other that came to set up themselves close to at her home.
During the Regency, she increased her fortune greatly thanks to the Système de Law, the brainchild of John Law, a Scottish economist who was a protégé of the Regent of France. With her larger fortune, she ordered the construction of two town residences to be constructed by the architect Victor Dailly. Out of the two, one remains and can be seen at 1 Rue du Regard. That was the place where the Conseil de guerre was housed and had connections with Alfred Dreyfus. It was demolished in 1894. The hôtel de Verrue was never inhabited by Jeanne Baptiste. She instead lived at number 8 Rue d'Assas near the Palais du Luxembourg. The hôtel de Verrue was built in 1740. She also lived at the hôtel d'Aubeterre where she enlarged its gallery to better show her famous collection. That gallery was painted by Claude Audran and can be seen today at the Musée des Arts décoratifs in Paris.
Jeanne Baptiste died in Paris at the age of 66. Very generous in her will, she even left things for her birds which lived in a lavish aviary. Her epitaph went as follows:
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Ci-git, dans une paix profonde, Cette Dame de Volupté, Qui, pour plus de sûreté, Fit son paradis dans ce monde |
Here lies, in deep peace, That lady of delight, Who, as an extra precaution Made her paradise in this world |
Her collection
The collection of Madame de Verrue was renowned for its paintings of old masters, objets d'art and numerous pieces of expensive furniture. She actively increased it buying more and also buying jewellery, precious stones (more than 8000), tapestries and clothes.
She also had a great interest in architecture and buildings in general. On 12 July 1713 she acquired a house in the town of Meudon, near the old seat of le grand Dauphin. On the 27th of the same month, she ordered the reconstruction of that building to Pierre-Nicolas Delespine using plans by Jean Baptiste Alexandre Le Blond. She commissioned paintings by Lancret, Alexis Grimou, and possessed paintings by David Teniers the Younger and Antoine Watteau. She even owned a Portrait of Charles I of England by Van Dyke.
Despite a dazzling collection of art, she was one of the greatest bibliophiles of her time. She kept them in a large room furnished with Boulle pieces and overlooking the garden. She possessed around 18,000 volumes (in Paris and her house at Meudon). This vast private library was sadly dispersed in 1737. Only 3,000 of them remained together.
Her daughter married in 1714 to the Prince of Carignan. The couple had five children and through them, Jeanne Baptiste was an ancestor of the murdered princesse de Lamballe, the present Prince Napoléon and the Prince of Naples.
Portrayals
- Dumas. Alexandre, 1863, La Dame de Volupté; Mémoires de Jeanne d'Albert de Luynes, Comtesse de Verrue, Paris.
Issue
With her husband, Jeanne Baptiste had four children:
- Anna Maria Angelica Scaglia (1684 – 1745), abbess.
- Vittorio Amedeo Scaglia (1686 – 1707).
- Maria Anna Scaglia (1687 – 1745), abbess.
- Carlo Augusto Scaglia (1688 – 1706).
With Victor Amadeus II, Jeanne Baptiste had two children:
- Maria Vittoria Francesca of Savoy (1690 – 1766), Marchioness of Susa; married Victor Amadeus, Prince of Carignan on 7 November 1714.
- Vittorio Francesco Filippo of Savoy (1694 - 1762), Marquis of Susa; married Maria Lucrezia Franchi di Pont but had no issue.
