Talk:Rosalie Duthé

historian of blonde hair?

Is Johanna Pitman an academic? I know they're quite specialized these days, but "historian of blonde hair"? Is she perhaps a cultural historian? This is a delightful little article, by the way. Cynwolfe (talk) 01:19, 19 August 2010 (UTC)

I see the spelling is "Joanna." Also, I think DYKs can't have a redlink in the lede. Cynwolfe (talk) 01:23, 19 August 2010 (UTC)

The Amazon description of her book "On Blondes" [1] says: "Pitman, a writer for the London Times..." and "Did you hear the one about the journalist who wrote a book about blondes? No joke, it's true. Pitman, a distinguished Times of London writer...", so I'm guessing unless someone can give some good argument for classifying her as a historian, I would go with journalist/writer :) universalcosmos | talk 01:30, 19 August 2010 (UTC)

I could go either way, but since her book is a cultural history (popularizing or not), I think even if she isn't an academic, she writing as a cultural historian. I cleared out the beginning a bit, because I thought the statement ought to speak for itself; it's triple-noted and you don't want the redlink there. Pitman is identified later in the article. Cynwolfe (talk) 01:51, 19 August 2010 (UTC)

It's fine, thanks! Green Cardamom (talk) 03:34, 19 August 2010 (UTC)

Form of her last name

I get more results for Duthé than Duthe without the acute accent, and got no results on Google Books for Du The. Articles are usually titled by the most common form of the name. This is just one search, however, and not a strong argument. Cynwolfe (talk) 01:51, 19 August 2010 (UTC)

I've found a couple of references to her performing with the Paris Opera Ballet. I wonder whether Cardamom still has sources at hand to double-check? This might be a more directly relevant link than the History of ballet section. Cynwolfe (talk) 02:01, 19 August 2010 (UTC)

Regarding the Duthé/Duthe question, I would be in favour of moving the article to Rosalie Duthé, as that seems to be the original spelling of her name (as in Frédéric Joliot-Curie, for example), judging from the corresponding French article. I tried to google for "Rosalie Duthé" and "Rosalie Duthe", and the difference in the number of results didn't seem significant (but got slightly more with Duthe than Duthé, actually). universalcosmos | talk 02:33, 19 August 2010 (UTC)

Duthé seems far more common in French, and does seem to be the form favored by gossip-memoirs of the period. Duthe, however, may be more common in English. So I have no opinion. Since it's nominated for a DYK, any change should be made there too. Cynwolfe (talk) 02:51, 19 August 2010 (UTC)

Yes, it should be Duthé all around, I'll fix it. Green Cardamom (talk) 03:34, 19 August 2010 (UTC)

French speaker?

There is a good short biography of Duthe in French here, but Google Translate isn't good enough to figure it out. If anyone reads French and would like to summarize her life, the current article is not a good summary of her life (though interesting enough), the available English sources are scattered around in old texts and confusing. Green Cardamom (talk) 03:34, 19 August 2010 (UTC)

Some of the French texts I looked at last night are hazardous for the amateur scholar too — I would hesitate to use them without a "medium," because they seem often to be of the "memoirs of a randy French aristocrat" genre. (One can only be grateful that such a genre exists.) The page you link to isn't frivolous, but I'm a little wary of it because the author doesn't give sources. It's fine as an external link because of the gallery of images. A Google Books search turns up a couple of English biographical dictionaries (one in particular on dance) that seem to have entries, but these offer no online previews, so a trip to the library would be required. I think you've done a very nice job with what you have available, and I've quite enjoyed visiting the article. Cynwolfe (talk) 12:10, 19 August 2010 (UTC)

Hoin

I'm going to create a little stub for Claude-Jean-Baptiste Hoin, so you can get that redlink out of the caption. Cynwolfe (talk) 12:16, 19 August 2010 (UTC)

Yes looks great. Rosalie appears to be a hub of sorts, networked with lots of people, royalty, nobles and artists. She would make an entertaining biographical subject about the changing culture before and after the Revolution - for example notice how the paintings of her change post-1789. I'd love to expand this article and others connected to it, but it would require French *sigh*, one of these days. Green Cardamom (talk) 18:55, 19 August 2010 (UTC)

That sounds very interesting. I hadn't noticed how her portraits change; very intriguing. "Hub" is one way to put it — gave me a smile, anyway. Cynwolfe (talk) 19:14, 19 August 2010 (UTC)

Did she "ruin" the Earl?

The Wikipedia entry for the Earl of Egremont makes no mention of his ever being "ruined" -- at least not in financial terms. The impression given is that he was wealthy for life. Perhaps someone who is a specialist in this area of history can elaborate on how and when the Earl may have been "ruined" -- or document that he was not. Thanks (71.22.47.232 (talk) 00:28, 30 August 2010 (UTC))

This is what the cited source (British Library) says:

Two bust portraits in oval frames illustrate Histories of the Tête-à-Tête annexed, or, Memoirs of the Earl of Egremont and Madame Du The. An account of the 3rd earl of Egremont (1751-1837) and of his amours, especially with Mademoiselle du T e who came under his protection on quitting her French convent to marry a rich financier; she accompanied him to England and lives under his protection. She is Rosalie Duthe, a French courtesan, the first mistress of the Due de Chartres ; her liaison with Egremont, whom she is said to have ruined, was notorious.

According to this source, the "Histories of the Tête-à-Tête" were a series of magazine article portraits (biographies) that ran in The Town and Country Magazine. The Earl of Egremont's portrait can be found in Volume 5 (1773), page 177. It does not reveal anything of Egremont's "notorious ruin" mentioned in the BL source, but the Earl was only 22 years old at the time (1773) and still happily involved with Madame Duthe, so it probably predates the notorious ruining. Green Cardamom (talk) 14:19, 30 August 2010 (UTC)

Pausing

In Parisian society Duthé developed a certain "reputation by adopting the habit of pausing for extended periods of time before speaking."

Can someone explain how this makes someone "dumb"? Derender755 (talk) 01:54, 20 August 2011 (UTC)

Probably in the witty fast talking Parisian circles of the rich and famous, her long pauses were seen as rube country bumpkin and/or lack of intelligence. Green Cardamom (talk) 05:49, 20 August 2011 (UTC)

Rosalie Duthé

She was born on the 23rd of November, 1748 at the Palace of Versailles. She came from aa respectable middle class family as her father looked after the chateau, however, it has also been claimed her father was a gentleman's servant to Louis XV. Rosalie was baptised in the parish of St. Louis but her father was absent, it is possible this was due to his work. Therefore, the official document of the baptism was signed by Rosalie's grandmother and godfather. Due to being from a middle-class family, Rosalie only received a good, Catholic education. After her education in a convent, she was sent to live with her wealthy aunt known as Madame Duval. It is believed Madame Duval earned her fortune as a matchmaker. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.40.115.222 (talk) 13:17, 28 May 2022 (UTC)

References