17 Olympe de Gouges

Pronunciation

Political Pamphleteer, Playwright, Activist

May 7, 1748—November 3, 1793

The fictional meeting between Olympe de Gouges and Marie Antoinette in La France Sauvée ou le Tyran Détroné is based on a visit Gouges made to the Tuileries to solicit support for a push to make the death of the Mayor of Estampes a national holiday. The Mayor was killed trying to protect the wheat supplies. Gouges started a fund and invited the Queen to contribute. She visited the Tuileries and threatened to make a scene before the Princess of Lamballe if the Queen did not participate. Marie Antoinette did make a donation but she and Gouges never met. In the play, Gouges is presented as a common woman who is wise but brash, much like the real Olympe.

Image Citation:

Fig. 1. Anonymous French draftsman, Portrait of Marie Olympe de Gouges. 1793, watercolor, 28.0 x 21.3 cm. Musée du Louvre, Paris, France. Available from: ARTstor. Accessed April 29, 2019. http://www.artstor.org.