Natalie Victurnienne, Marchioness of Rougé

Victurnienne Delphine Nathalie de Rochechouart de Mortemart, Marquise de Rougé (5 January 1759 Paris - 25 December 1828), was the daughter of the Jean-Baptiste de Rochechouart.

Life

Coat of Arms of the House Rougé

In 1777, she married Bonabes, Marquess of Rougé, who died five years later while returning from the West Indies on board the ship of the line Zele, after having fought in the War of American Independence.

She had two sons with Marquis de Rougé, Alexis Bonabes, Marquis de Rougé (1778-1838) and Adrien, Count de Rougé (1782-1861),^[1] who are portrayed beside her in a painting by Vigee-Lebrun, (exhibited at the National Gallery of Art).^[2]

In 1789, she and her sons left France for Switzerland; they returned in 1790 and lived in seclusion with her husband's aunt, the Princess of Lorraine, Duchess d'Elbeuf, at the Chateau de Moreuil. In 1791, she, her children, her mother, and Mme de Pezay emigrated to Germany, settling first in Heidelberg.

Joseph-Thomas, comte d'Espinchal, encountered them there, and noted in his journal:

I have found living here since the winter, the Duchess de Mortemart, mother of the Duke and of the Marquis de Mortemart, both of whom are deputies to the Estates-General ... and both members of the majority of the conservative nobility. The Marquise de Rougé, their sister, a pretty and amiable widow, is here with her children (she looks more like their sister) ... and Mme de Pezay ... who is her intimate friend.^[3]

In 1796, the Marquise de Rougé moved to Neustadt, near Vienna, where Adrien was admitted to the military academy. She lived in Altona and Munster before returning to Paris in 1798. As her lands had been expropriated and sold, at first she had to take room and board in a home run by former nuns. Her sons joined her in France in 1800. She died on December 25, 1828.^[4]

References

1. ^ "Généalogies des familles royales et nobles européennes - GeneaNet". Gw4.geneanet.org. 2007-01-19. http://gw4.geneanet.org/index.php3?b=meuropeennes&lang=fr;p=victurnienne+delphine+nathalie;n=de+rochechouart+de+mortemart. Retrieved 2010-08-13. 
2. ^ "The Marquise de Pezay, and the Marquise de Rougé with Her Sons Alexis and Adrien". Nga.gov. http://www.nga.gov/collection/gallery/gg56/gg56-50215.html. Retrieved 2010-08-13. 
3. ^ Joseph Thomas Anne Espinchal (comte de) (1912). Ernest d'Hauterive. ed. Journal d'emigration du comte d'espinchal. Perrin et cie. pp. 242–243. http://books.google.com/books?id=HcoJAAAAIAAJ&dq=inauthor%3A%22Joseph%20Thomas%20Anne%20Espinchal%22&pg=PA242#v=onepage&q&f=false. 
4. ^ "Catalog Number 24". Batguano.com. http://www.batguano.com/catno24.html. Retrieved 2010-08-13.