Details

Name

Anne Marie Thérèse Colombier

Brief Biography

1844–1910, French

Occupation

Actress; writer; celebrity

Description

Marie Colombier is part of the provenance/ownership history of Sir William Burrell's collection for the work entitled 'Marie Colombier' by Edouard Manet. Epitomising the life of the demi-monde in late 1800s' Paris, the actress and writer, achieved world-wide notoriety due to her acrimonious and bizarre relationship with the renowned French actress, Sarah Bernhardt.

Her father, Pablo Martinez, was an army officer who had found refuge in France. However, by the time Marie was seven years old she and her mother were living in Paris. Precocious from an early age, at 15 she went to Belgium to enrol for acting lessons at the Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels.

Returning to Paris in 1862, she entered the prestigious Conservatoire National Supérieur d'Art Dramatique, obtaining in 1863, a first and second place prize for tragedy and comedy, respectively. Making her debut in 1864, she worked diligently, mastering her craft and in 1870 was 'discovered' by the illustrious George Sand, who employed Marie to play in her new work, 'L'Autre', whose leading lady was the famous Sarah Bernhardt.

In 1880 Marie embarked on an eight-month tour of America and Canada with her friend and fellow actress. Relationships soured somewhat on the trip, perhaps due to Bernhardt's preference for another actress in the rôle of the company's secondary female lead. Whatever transpired, by the time the company had returned to France, Marie had begun work on two pamphlets about Bernhardt's behaviour on the tour and in general, the first being entitled, 'Voyage de Sarah Bernhardt en Amérique' published in 1881, followed by the even more scurrilous, 'Les Mémoires de Sarah Barnum' in 1883.

The scandal was enormous and a huge financial success, with the first edition of the 'Les Mémoires' of 10,000 books selling out in Paris in just three days. Vilification by Bernhardt's supporters as an 'outrage aux bones moeurs' only served to heighten the popularity, with 15,000 copies per country being sold in Germany, Italy and Russia.

This notoriety proved too much for Bernhardt and her friends and family, who had been attempting 'to take the high ground'. Her friend and admirer, the novelist and art critic Octave Mirbeau, challenged the publisher of the book to a duel and slightly injured him. To make matters worse, Bernhardt, her son and two friends, went on a punitive expedition to wreck Marie Colombier's apartment in December 1883. This ended with the infamous story of Bernhardt horsewhipping Colombier into the street, then an hour later, playing her rôle in 'Nana Sahib' at the theatre.

This led to the 'Mémoires' having 92 editions in France alone and netting Marie Colombier an estimated 200,000 francs. This remarkable woman is buried in Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris, as is her one-time friend and nemesis, Sarah Berhardt.