Marie Brigitte O'Murphy (1729–1793), was a

mistress Mistress is the feminine form of the English word "master" (''master'' + ''-ess'') and may refer to: Romance and relationships * Mistress (lover), a term for a woman who is in a sexual and romantic relationship with a man who is married to a d ...

Louis XV of France Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (french: le Bien-Aimé), was King of France from 1 September 1715 until his death in 1774. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five. Until he reached ...

from 1755 to 1757. She was one of twelve children of Daniel Morfi and Marguerite Iquy. She was the elder sister of

Marie-Louise O'Murphy Marie-Louise O'Murphy (; 21 October 1737 – 11 December 1814), also variously called ''Mademoiselle de Morphy'', ''La Belle Morphise'', ''Louise Morfi'' or ''Marie-Louise Morphy de Boisfailly'', was one of the lesser mistresses (''petites maît ...

. In 1755, she was recruited to replace her sister as a ''petite maîtresse'' (unofficial mistress) of the king in

Parc-aux-Cerfs A Parc-aux-Cerfs (literally, stag park), in France, was generally the name given to the clearings that provided hunting fields for the French aristocracy prior to the French Revolution. The name is most notoriously known in history for an area in ...

Dominique Guillaume Lebel Dominique Guillaume Lebel (1696–1768) or also Le Bel, was first chamber servant, or ''valet-de-chambre'', of king Louis XV of France.Patrick Wald Lasowski, L'Amour au temps des libertins, Editions First-Gründ, 2011 He is mainly known in history f ...

. In contrast to her sisters, she was not described as a beauty nor as a prostitute, but as a virtuous girl scarred by pockmarks who supported herself by making false ornamental pearls and as an artist's model.

René Louis de Voyer de Paulmy d'Argenson René-Louis de Voyer de Paulmy, Marquis d'Argenson (18 October 169426 January 1757) was a politician who served as Minister for Foreign Affairs from November 1744 to January 1747 and was a friend of Voltaire. His younger brother, Marc-Pierre, Co ...

commented that her lack of beauty was not a problem because the king was stimulated by the fact that she was the sister of his previous mistress, as it was his taste to go from sister to sister after his affair with the Mailly-Nesle sisters.

Charles Philippe d'Albert de Luynes Charles-Philippe d’Albert Duc de Luynes (30 July 1695 – 2 November 1758) held the title Duke of Luynes from 1712 to 1758. He wrote an important memoir of life at the court of Louis XV. Early life Charles-Philippe was a grandson of Charles ...

noted that the king had two lovers in the Parc-aux-cerfs at this point and that one of them was a good painter who had painted him, and this painter is identified as Brigitte O'Murphy.Camille Pascal: Le goût du roi: Louis XV et Marie-Louise O'Murphy" Brigitte O'Murphy was fired from her position in 1757, and it is noted that she was given a pension on 26 July 1757. She never married. In 1770, her pension was extended, and it was noted in the report filed in connection to this that she lived a respectable life. Louis XVI allowed her to keep the pension when he came to the throne in 1774, at which point it is noted to have amounted to the substantial amount of 3000 francs. She attended the wedding of her nephew Louis-Charles de Beaufranchet d'Ayat in 1783. She is noted to have had a good relationship with her sister Marie-Louise O'Murphy, who left Brigitte in charge of her estate and castle Soisy in 1792, when Marie-Louise left for Le Havre during the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...

. Brigitte continued to manage her sister's property when Marie-Louise was imprisoned during the

Reign of Terror The Reign of Terror (french: link=no, la Terreur) was a period of the French Revolution when, following the creation of the First Republic, a series of massacres and numerous public executions took place in response to revolutionary fervour, ...

Robespierre Maximilien François Marie Isidore de Robespierre (; 6 May 1758 – 28 July 1794) was a French lawyer and statesman who became one of the best-known, influential and controversial figures of the French Revolution. As a member of the Esta ...

. Brigitte O'Murphy was herself not imprisoned. She died in her sister's castle in 1793, during Marie-Louise's imprisonment.

References

* Camille Pascal: Le goût du roi : Louis XV et Marie-Louise O'Murphy" 1729 births 1793 deaths 18th-century French people Mistresses of Louis XV