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 female lover of a married man
** Royal mistress
* Maîtresse-en-titre, official mistress of a ...
to
Louis XV of France
Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (), 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 maturity (then defi ...
from 1755 to 1757. She was the king's ''Petite maîtresse'' (unofficial mistress), not his
Maîtresse-en-titre
The ''maîtresse-en-titre'' () was the official royal mistress of the King of France.
The title was vaguely defined and used in the Middle Ages but finally became an acknowledged, if informal, position during the reign of Henry IV (), and c ...
(official mistress).
She was one of twelve children of Daniel Morfi and Marguerite Iquy. She was the elder sister of
Marie-Louise O'Murphy. In 1755, she was recruited to replace her sister as a ''petite maîtresse'' (unofficial mistress) of the king in
Parc-aux-Cerfs by
Dominique Guillaume Lebel
Dominique Guillaume Lebel (1696–1768) or also Le Bel, had the important court role of ''Premier valet de chambre'' for King Louis XV of France.Patrick Wald Lasowski, L'Amour au temps des libertins, Editions First-Gründ, 2011 He is mainly known ...
.
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 ('' born again'' or ''reborn'' in French) is a common first name in French-speaking, Spanish-speaking, and German-speaking countries. It derives from the Latin name Renatus.
René is the masculine form of the name ( Renée being the femini ...
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, 4th Duke of 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 ...
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. Brigitte continued to manage her sister's property when Marie-Louise was imprisoned during the
Reign of Terror
The Reign of Terror (French: ''La Terreur'', literally "The Terror") was a period of the French Revolution when, following the creation of the French First Republic, First Republic, a series of massacres and Capital punishment in France, nu ...
of
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 fer ...
. 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