Éléonore Duplay (1768,

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

– 26 July 1832, Paris), called Cornélie, after Cornelia Africana of Ancient Rome, was the daughter of Maurice Duplay, a master carpenter, and Françoise-Éléonore Vaugeois. She was the eldest of five children (four girls and a boy) and was born in 1768, two years after her parents' marriage, in Paris, where she would live all her life. During the Revolution, she studied painting under

Jean-Baptiste Regnault Jean-Baptiste Regnault (; 9 October 1754 – 12 November 1829) was a French painter. Biography Regnault was born in Paris, and began life at sea in a merchant vessel. At the age of fifteen his talent attracted attention, and he was sent to ...

Relationship with Maximilien Robespierre

According to her sister, Élisabeth, who married

Philippe Le Bas Philippe Le Bas (18 June 1794 in Paris – 19 May 1860 in Paris) was a French hellenist, archaeologist and translator. He was the son of Philippe Le Bas and Elisabeth Duplay, the daughter of Robespierre's landlord Maurice Duplay. He was only 6 w ...

of the

Committee of General Security The Committee of General Security () was a parliamentary committee of the French National Convention which acted as police agency during the French Revolution. Established as a committee of the Convention in October 1792, it was designed to protec ...

, she was "promised" to

Maximilien Robespierre Maximilien François Marie Isidore de Robespierre (; ; 6 May 1758 – 28 July 1794) was a French lawyer and statesman, widely recognised as one of the most influential and controversial figures of the French Revolution. Robespierre ferv ...

, whose political opinions she shared. He said of her, "âme virile, elle saurait mourir comme elle sait aimer" ("noble soul, she would know how to die as well as she knows how to love"). They often walked together in the

Champs-Élysées The Avenue des Champs-Élysées (, ; ) is an Avenue (landscape), avenue in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, France, long and wide, running between the Place de la Concorde in the east and the Place Charles de Gaulle in the west, where the Arc ...

or the woods of

Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; ) is a former royal residence commissioned by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, Yvelines, Versailles, about west of Paris, in the Yvelines, Yvelines Department of Île-de-France, Île-de-France region in Franc ...

or Issy, although her siblings and parents were more often than not present for these walks as well. Many contemporaries and historians have suggested that she may have been his mistress, including Vilate, a juror on the

Revolutionary Tribunal The Revolutionary Tribunal (; unofficially Popular Tribunal) was a court instituted by the National Convention during the French Revolution for the trial of political offenders. In October 1793, it became one of the most powerful engines of ...

, who said, that Robespierre "lived maritally with the eldest daughter of his hosts", in reference to Éléonore. This, however, is contested by Robespierre's younger sister, Charlotte, who asserts that any notions of marriage or romance were purely on Éléonore's side and that Robespierre thought his younger brother ought to marry her rather than himself. Robespierre biographer, Peter McPhee, also supports a platonic view of the two, suggesting that if feelings were there, they were not acted upon.After his death she wore black for the rest of her life, never marrying, and was known as la Veuve Robespierre (the Widow Robespierre).L. Noiset, ''Robespierre et les Femmes'', Editions Nilsson, 1932, p. 69

Post Revolutionary Life

Though guilty of no crime, she was imprisoned with her sister Élisabeth and her six-week-old nephew, Philippe Le Bas ''fils'' after

9 Thermidor Maximilien Robespierre addressed the National Convention on 26 July 1794, was arrested the next day, and executed on 28 July. In his speech on 26 July, Robespierre spoke of the existence of internal enemies, conspirators, and calumniators, with ...

(27 July 1794). Élisabeth would later write in her memoir: and elsewhere: They would not be released until 18 Frimaire Year III (8 December 1794). Éléonore Duplay died on 26 July 1832, at the age of 64, and was buried in

Père Lachaise Cemetery Père Lachaise Cemetery (, , formerly , ) is the largest cemetery in Paris, France, at . With more than 3.5 million visitors annually, it is the most visited necropolis in the world. Buried at Père Lachaise are many famous figures in the ...

, where her grave may still be seen in the 34th division.PERE LACHAISE - PARIS
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Duplay, Eleonore 1768 births 1832 deaths Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery People from Paris People of the French Revolution