Marie Du Deffand [ Art and Literature ]
… Charles-Jean-François Hénault, who shared her love of repartee and sociability. The marquise du Deffand was a spirited woman with a sharp tongue. She presided over the salon she established in 1747 from her tonneau (a great hood chair), … wrote in 1766 to his friend, the poet Thomas Gray, he chronicles the multifaceted sociability of an active elderly woman with a busy social calendar. Madame du Deffand […] is now very old and stone blind, but retains all her vivacity, …
Correspondence | France | Friendship | Salons
Encyclopedia