Louise-Françoise Contat (16 June 1760 – 9 March 1813) was a French

actress An actor or actress is a person who portrays a Character (arts), character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek ...

Biography

She was born in Paris and made her debut at the Comédie Française in 1766 as Atalide in '' Bajazet''. It was in comedy, however, that she made her first success, as Suzanne in

Beaumarchais Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais (; 24 January 1732 – 18 May 1799) was a French polymath. At various times in his life, he was a watchmaker, inventor, playwright, musician, diplomat, spy, publisher, horticulturist, arms dealer, satirist, ...

's '' Mariage de Figaro''; and in several minor character parts, which she raised to the first importance, and as the ''

soubrette A soubrette is a type of operatic soprano voice ''fach'', often cast as a female stock character in opera and theatre. The term arrived in English from Provençal via French, and means "conceited" or "coy". Theatre In theatre, a soubrette is a c ...

'' in the plays of

Molière Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (, ; 15 January 1622 (baptised) – 17 February 1673), known by his stage name Molière (, , ), was a French playwright, actor, and poet, widely regarded as one of the greatest writers in the French language and world ...

and

Pierre de Marivaux Pierre Carlet de Chamblain de Marivaux (4 February 1688 – 12 February 1763), commonly referred to as Marivaux, was a French playwright and novelist. He is considered one of the most important French playwrights of the 18th century, writing nume ...

, she found opportunities exactly fitted to her talents. By

Louis Marie Jacques Amalric, comte de Narbonne-Lara Louis Marie Jacques Amalric, comte de Narbonne-Lara (August 1755 - 17 November 1813) was a French people, French nobleman, soldier and diplomat. Birth and early life He was born at Colorno, in the Duchy of Parma. His mother was Françoise de Ch ...

(17, 23 or 24 August 1755 – 17 November 1813), soldier and diplomat, she had one daughter Louise Amalrique Bathilde Isidore Contat de Narbonne-Lara, born at Saint Pierre de Chaillot, Paris, on 21 September 1788, who married in Paris on 2 December 1811 Dutch Jan Frederik Abbema, born in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

on 13 June 1773, and had one son Émile, vicomte d' Abbéma, who had an only daughter by his wife Henriette Anne d'Astoin named

Louise Abbéma Louise Abbéma (30 October 185329 July 1927) was a French painter, sculptor, and designer of the Belle Époque. Biography Abbéma was born in Étampes, Essonne. She was born into a wealthy Parisian family, who were well connected in the local ...

(

Étampes Étampes () is a commune in the metropolitan area of Paris, France. It is located south-southwest from the center of Paris (as the crow flies). Étampes is a sub-prefecture of the Essonne department. Étampes, together with the neighboring c ...

, 30 October 1853 – Paris, 4 August 1927). Bouillet writes of her "She played comedy to perfection and made people remark on the flexibility of her talent, succeeding equally as grandes coquettes and as soubrettes". She was part of the success of the plays of

Marivaux Pierre Carlet de Chamblain de Marivaux (4 February 1688 – 12 February 1763), commonly referred to as Marivaux, was a French playwright and novelist. He is considered one of the most important French playwrights of the 18th century, writing nume ...

and Beaumarchais. She left the theatre in 1808, and in 1809 married de Parny, nephew of the poet

Évariste de Parny Évariste Desiré de Forges, vicomte de Parny (6 February 17535 December 1814) was a French poet. Biography De Parny was born in Saint-Paul, Réunion, Saint-Paul on the Isle of Bourbon (now Réunion); he came from an aristocratic family from th ...

. Her sister Marie Émilie Contat (1769–1846), an admirable ''soubrette'', especially as the pert servant drawn by Molière and de Regnard, made her debut in 1784, and retired, in 1815.

References

External links

Louise Contat and her rôles
on CESAR {{DEFAULTSORT:Contat, Louise Actresses from Paris 1760 births 1813 deaths 18th-century French actresses French stage actresses Sociétaires of the Comédie-Française Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery

Biography

See also

References

External links