Tallien, Mme

(1773-1835) (Theresa de Cabarrus)

   style setter

   Born near Madrid, Theresa de Cabarrus, Mme Tal-lien, was the daughter of a Spanish financier of French origin, François, count de Cabarrus, who later served as minister of finance to joseph Bonaparte. Mme Tallien, as she is known, married an adviser to the Parlement of bordeaux, Davis de Fontenoy, whom she divorced in 1793. Although she had at first some sympathy for the revolution of 1789, she was disturbed by the events leading to the terror and tried to cross over to Spain but was arrested and imprisoned at Bordeaux. There she became the mistress and then the wife of jean-lambert tallien and subsequently gained the sobriquet "Notre-Dame de Thermidor" because, during the Thermidorian Convention, and especially the directory, she became one of the most famous women of the period, in particular inspiring the fashion of returning to the styles of antiquity. Divorced in 1802, in 1805 she married the count of Caraman, later prince of Chimay.