Isabella Eugénie Boyer (17 December 1841 – 12 May 1904) was a French-American model and heiress.

Biography

Boyer was born in Paris to Louis Noël Boyer, a French confectioner, and his English-born wife Pamela Lockwood (also known as 'Pamilla'). In 1863 in New York City, she married Isaac Merritt Singer, the founder of the Singer sewing machine company, when Singer was 52 and Isabella was only 22. Singer had a previous

common-law wife Common-law marriage, also known as non-ceremonial marriage, marriage, informal marriage, de facto marriage, more uxorio or marriage by habit and repute, is a marriage that results from the parties' agreement to consider themselves married, follo ...

, Mary Ann Sponsler, who had Isaac arrested for

bigamy In a culture where only monogamous relationships are legally recognized, bigamy is the act of entering into a marriage with one person while still legally married to another. A legal or de facto separation of the couple does not alter their mar ...

. Isabella and Isaac moved to

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 ...

, then to Oldway Mansion in

Paignton Paignton ( ) is a seaside town on the coast of Tor Bay in Devon, England. Together with Torquay and Brixham it forms the unitary authority, borough of Torbay which was created in 1968. The Torbay area is a holiday destination known as the Engli ...

, on the

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

coast in England, because New York society frowned on his many "families." They had six children: Sir Adam Mortimer Singer (1863–1929), Winnaretta Eugénie Singer (1865–1943), Washington Merritt Grant Singer (1866–1934), Paris Eugene Singer (1867–1932), Isabelle-Blanche Singer (1869–1896) and Franklin Merritt Morse Singer (1870–1939). Isaac Singer is reported to have had a total of 22 children with his many paramours. Singer died in 1875 and left an estate of about $14 million. His two wills created family tension and lawsuits. Isabella was declared his legal widow. On 8 January 1879, Isabella married the Dutch musician and settled in Paris. Reubsaet was an internationally successful singer and violinist who was born in 1843 in

Sittard Sittard (; ) is a city in the Netherlands, situated in the southernmost province of Limburg. The town is part of the municipality of Sittard-Geleen and has almost 37,500 inhabitants in 2016. In its east, Sittard borders the German municipal ...

(Limburg), as Nicolas Reubsaet, the son of a shoemaker. Pretending to be of noble descent, he falsely claimed the title Vicomte d’Estenburgh. In 1881, he did obtain the title of Duke of Camposelice from Italian King Umberto I, in appreciation for a generous act of philanthropy in favor of the Italian colonies. Boyer, now the Duchess of Camposelice, was still a striking lady when she met the sculptor Bartholdi. Internet rumours have suggested she was his model for the

Statue of Liberty The Statue of Liberty (''Liberty Enlightening the World''; ) is a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor, within New York City. The copper-clad statue, a gift to the United States from the people of French Thir ...

, though this claim was rated "false" by

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide writing in 16 languages. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency ...

. Reubsaet died in September 1887 and Isabella was married, for the third time, in December 1891, to the art collector Paul Sohège. Boyer died on 12 May 1904 in Paris, aged 62. She is buried in

Passy Cemetery Passy Cemetery () is a small cemetery in Passy, in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, France. History The current cemetery replaced the old cemetery (''l'ancien cimetière communal de Passy'', located on Rue Lekain), which was closed in 1802. ...

References

External links

The story of Isaac and Isabella at Caught in the Web – Bytes of Torbay's Past
1841 births 1904 deaths American expatriates in England Models from Paris French artists' models Duchesses in Italy {{model-stub