The actor known under the stage name Mademoiselle Mars (1779-1847), a member of one of the oldest th

The actor known under the stage name Mademoiselle Mars (1779-1847), a member of one of the oldest theatre companies in the world, the Comédie-Française, seen in “Muscovite” costume in this 1814 portrait by Baron Gérard, a family friend.

Her real name was Anne-François-Hippolyte Salvetat and she chose her stage name after her unmarried mother, actor Madame Mars (Jeanne-Marguerite Salvetat). After debuting on the stage at the age of fourteen, she became one of the era’s favourite actors. She was also a staunch Bonapartist who along with the most distinguished members of the Comédie-Française was selected to give special performances in Dresden (Kingdom of Saxony, now in Germany), one of the theatre-loving Napoleon Bonaparte’s headquarters during the Napoleonic Wars and, that same year, 1813, the site of a major battle victory. She gave her farewell performance in 1841.