Countess de Monsoro. Dumas A.

The novel “Countess de Monsoro” by Alexander Dumas is the second part of his trilogy dedicated to the Huguenot wars. The first novel of the series is “Queen Margo”, the third is Roman “Forty -Five”. The trilogy takes place in the second half of the 16th century against the background of almost constant skirmishes between French Protestants and Catholics. This confrontation regularly shook France at the last kings of the Valois dynasty. The heroine of the first novel by the trilogy Dumas made Margarita de Valois. She was the daughter of Catherine Medici, who actually ruled France for her son - the fifteen -year -old King Francis II.

The main character of the second novel of the series is also a woman, beauty Diana de Meroridor, subsequently Countess de Montsoro. Her romance with a brilliant Count de Bussy unfolds among the court and political intrigues during the reign of France Henry III. Diana had a real prototype - Francoise de Merridor. Her first husband was Protestant Jean de Caesme, and the second was Charles de Shambr, Count de Monsoro. However, Dyuma wrote not a historical chronicle, but an exciting novel, so the life lines of the heroine of the work and the real woman do not coincide, while the spiral of the event in the novel is spinning more dramatic and brighter than in life.. The fate itself was destined to become an artist. Maurice was born in the middle of the XIX century. In the family of French painters. His father was a battalist, his mother - a watercolist; She illustrated the works of Walter Scott, Victor Hugo and many other writers. Maurice’s grandfather was also a talented painter. It is not surprising that young Leloar followed in the footsteps of his parents. He tried himself in different genres, but book illustrations were especially successful. Several generations of the French saw Paris of the XVII century. And the famous musketeers through the eyes of Maurice Leluar. His drawings are distinguished by historical reliability: Leloar scrupulously loomed the details of the architecture, furniture and clothes of that time; Love for accuracy to the artist was instilled in his father Jean-Batist Auguste Leloar.

In Paris, he became the founder of the Society of the History of Costume and throughout his life led this circle. In his youth, Maurice examined hundreds of drawings in which the history of his country was captured in the details of clothing and ammunition. He later became the author of the History of the costume from antiquity to 1914, as well as the Dictionary of the costume and its accessories, weapons and fabrics. It is not surprising that illustrations for the "three musketeers" and "Countess de Monsoro" brought Leluar World Glory.