Pougy, Liane de (1866–c. 1940)
Pougy, Liane de (1866–c. 1940)
French courtesan. Name variations: Princess Ghika. Born Anne de Chassaigne c. 1866; died after 1936; dau. of an army officer; educated at the Sacred Heart in Rennes; married a naval officer at age 19 (div. soon after); m. Prince Georges Ghika of Moldavia (penniless Romanian aristocrat and nephew of the queen of Greece).
One of the most important grande horizontals of the Belle Epoque, had beauty, style, poise, and class, not to mention her skill at the guitar and piano; admirers included Pierre de Nolhac, curator of the Versailles museum, Henri Meilhac, a book writer for operettas, Jean Lorrain, a columnist, and poets Catulle Mendès and Robert de Montesquiou. Eighty small volumes written by de Pougy, which contain her memoirs, reside at the Bibliothèque Nationale.
See also Women in World History.