lily

Élisabeth de Gramont, Duchess of Clermont-Tonnerre
Natalie called her: Lily

as drawn by Romaine

"The one I marry shall not be called my wife, nor my slave, nor my spouse, which are sexual terms for fleeting times – but my one, my eternal mate."

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Relationship to Natalie: her primary partner for ~45 years until her death in 1954, she met Natalie during the year of Renée's death and the relationship intensified later that year, following her passing. Natalie's primary muse for a bulk of her later career, her jealousy of Romaine inspired Natalie to draft an open marriage contract in order to declare each other as primary and lifelong lovers; the three then formed a precarious trifecta which remained mostly stable for the rest of their lives.

While Natalie mourned Renée, Dolly, and Romaine very destructively and deeply, Lily's death seems to have affected her in a very different way, a long sadness she didn't often verbalize – perhaps this is owed to the fact that the three lovers had each individually left her before their passing, whereas Élisabeth died while wholeheartedly being hers.

Francesco Rapazzini notes:

"Élisabeth had betrayed Natalie very badly: she had died. And the Amazon held that against her."

Affairs:

Mimi
Liane, which Natalie introduced to her in hopes of starting a threesome: the pair's growing relationship was interrupted and smothered by Natalie's own jealousy.

Rivals:
Romaine, for whom Élisabeth's jealousy inspired Natalie to draft a marriage contract

Written by Élisabeth:

Memoirs (4 volumes)

Volume 2, Les Marronniers en fleurs, contains portraits of her network:
- Ch. II: Colette,
- Ch. V: Lucie and J.C. Mardrus
- Ch. VIII: Renée, Lucie, Barney
- Ch. X: Romaine Brooks

Volume 3, La Treizième Heure, Lucie Delarue-Mardrus, in which she visits Lucie

Other works

  • Portraits, tableaux, dessins (1952), a catalogue of Romaine's art. Élisabeth wrote the introduction, and the volume was financed by Natalie.

Poetry

Contributions

Correspondence

  • "A Marriage contract" with Barney (drawn June 20, 1918)

Written about Élisabeth:

Natalie

  • Aventures de l'esprit ch. 22 – 5-page portrait; Villa Trait d'Union

  • Souvenirs Indiscrets ch. 3 – her own chapter (28 pages)

  • Pensées d'une Amazone (1920) – dedicated to her: "To tell only you the name of my enchantment"

  • The Woman Who Lives with Me (1911) – prose poem, printed in only 2 copies: "She came to me because her life was broken"

  • L'adultère ingénue (1911-12, unpublished) – semi-autobiographical novel; Élisabeth as heroine; violent husband Philibert with pistol

  • She appears in Women Lovers, or the Third Woman as the "Woman N. Had Loved the Most"

  • "Je suis en deuil d'amour" (1954, unpublished), written following her death.

Others

Liane described her love affair with her in My Blue Notebooks:

Citations

#lovers