Anne Victoire Dervieux (1752-1826)[1] was a French ballerina, opera singer, and courtesan.[1][2]
Life
Dervieux was the daughter of a washer woman in Paris.[3]
Stage career
She was engaged at the Paris Opera in 1765, (aged 13),[4] where she was active as a ballet dancer before she retrained to become an opera singer.[5] As a singer, she performed at the Concert Spirituel, and her greatest triumph was said to have been her performance in Pygmalion in 1772.
She became known for her extravagant residence, a palace she had constructed in rue Chantereine Paris, filled with her valuable fine art collections. The building was originally designed by architect Alexandre-Théodore Brongniart and later re-worked by the architect François-Joseph Bélanger[1]
Later life
Dervieux married François-Joseph Bélanger[6] in 1794[7] and retired from her stage career as well as from her career as a courtesan. She adopted a girl around this time.[8] She was imprisoned during The Terror of Robespierre,[9] but avoided execution. Dervieux died in Paris in 1829.[7]
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