Grisette (French) - The Grisette in Parisian Bohemia

The Grisette in Parisian Bohemia

In the first quarter of the 19th century, Grisette also came to refer more specifically to the independent young women, often working as seamstresses or milliner's assistants, who frequented bohemian artistic and cultural venues in Paris. They formed relationships with artists and poets more committed than prostitution but less so than a mistress. Many grisettes worked as artist's models, often providing sexual favours to the artists in addition to posing for them. During the time of King Louis-Philippe they came to dominate the bohemian modelling scene. Although the grisette models were perceived to be adventurous, independent, and living only for moment, they sought not only economic support, but also emotional and artistic support in their relationships with bohemian men. Jenny whose story is recounted by Jules Janin in his essay "La Grisette" is a prototypical grisette in this sense, initially choosing to model only for artists whom she considers geniuses and declining more lucrative offers to become the lover of bourgeois or even aristocratic men. Janin considered the grisettes an integral part of the bohemian artistic scene, but viewed their sexual mores somewhat negatively and suggests that their independence was only superficial:

"Art is the grand excuse for all actions that are beyond vulgar. It is art that purifies everything, even a poor young woman's submission of her body."

The grisette as part of the bohemian sub-culture was a frequent character in French fiction of the time. She is personified as Rigolette in Eugene Sue’s The Mysteries of Paris, as Fantine in Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables and Marthe in George Sand's Horace, as well as in the protagonist in Alfred de Musset’s Mademoiselle Mimi Pinson: Profil de grisette. Notable examples in British and American fiction are Trilby in George Du Maurier's novel of the same name, and Marie in Edgar Allan Poe's short story "The Mystery of Marie Roget". Du Maurier based large parts of Trilby on his experiences as a student in Parisian bohemia during the 1850s. Poe's 1842 story was based on the unsolved murder of Mary Cecilia Rogers near New York City. Poe translated the setting to Paris and Mary Rogers to a young grisette, Marie Roget. Subtitled "A Sequel to 'The Murders in the Rue Morgue'", it was the first detective story to attempt the solution of a real crime. Possibly the most enduring grisette of all is Mimi in Henri Murger’s novel (and subsequent play) Scènes de la vie de Bohème, the source for Puccini's famous opera La bohème.