Adrienne Lecouvreur | |
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![]() Portrait of Lecouvreur (ca. 1725), by anonymous artist, based on her first appearance at the Comédie-Française, and located in the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Châlons-en-Champagne | |
Born | Adrienne Couvreur 5 April 1692 |
Died | 20 March 1730 | (aged 37)
Nationality | French |
Employer | Comédie-Française |
Partner | Maurice de Saxe |
Adrienne Lecouvreur (5 April 1692 – 20 March 1730[1]), born Adrienne Couvreur, was a French actress, considered by many as the greatest of her time.[2] Born in Damery, she first appeared professionally on the stage in Lille. After her Paris debut at the Comédie-Française in 1717, she was immensely popular with the public. Together with Michel Baron, she was credited for having developed a more natural, less stylized, type of acting.[3]
Despite the fame she gained as an actress and her innovations in her acting style, she was widely remembered for her romance with Maurice de Saxe[4] and for her mysterious death.[5] Although there are different theories that suggest she was poisoned by her rival, the Duchess of Bouillon, scholars have not been able to confirm it.[1]
Her story was used as an inspiration for playwrights, composers and poets. The refusal of the Catholic Church to give her a Christian burial moved her friend Voltaire to write a poem on the subject.