Book cover featuring painting by Marianne (Gendron) L'Heureux. The Black Musketeer - Reevaluating Alexandre Dumas within the Francophone World
Edited by Eric Martone.
Historical painting in France of father of Alexandre Dumas: Marquis Alexander de la Pailletrie, Brigadier General under Napoleon Bonaparte.
Portrait of Alexandre Dumas by Marianne S. L'Heureux
In Private Collection.
Alexandre Dumas, French Writer
In 1999 L'Heureux saw a painting of Alexandre Dumas, attributed to Honore Daumier, in the home of family friend, Mr. Spencer Samuels of Santa Monica, California. She was given permission to do a "painting of the painting", from sketches and measurements she took of the original, adding her signature gold leaf to the art work.
Biography of Dumas:
Dumas Davy de La Pailletrie (later know as Alexandre Dumas) was born in Villiers-Cotterets in Picardy, France (1802 – 1870). Dumas was a French writer, best known for his historical novels of high adventure. Translated into 100 languages, these books have made him one of the most widely read French authors in the world. Over 200 movies have been made based on his books. The Count of Monte Cristo; The Three Musketeers; and The Man in the Iron Mask are among his most famous books.
Dumas’ father was a brigadier general under Napoleon Bonaparte in the French Revolution and a French Marquis from Normandy, France. Alexandre Dumas' grandmother was an Afro-Caribbean slave from Haiti, named Marie-Cesette Dumas.
Dumas Demise and Legacy: At his death in 1870 Dumas was buried at his birth place of Villiers-Cotterets. In 2002, for the bicentennial of Dumas birth, the French President, Jacques Chirac, had a ceremony honoring Dumas by having his remains reinterred at the Pantheon mausoleum where Voltaire and Balzac are buried. The proceedings were televised. The new coffin was draped in a blue velvet cloth and carried on a caisson flanked by four mounted Republican Guards costumed as the four Musketeers. The caisson was transported through Paris to the Pantheon.
In his speech President Chirac said: “With you, we were D’Artagnan, Monte Cristo, or Balsamo, riding along the roads of France, touring battlefields, visiting places and castles – with you, we dream,”
For more biographical information please cut and paste into your browser this link below.