This month an exhibition opened at The Bowes Museum to mark the 200th anniversary of its co-founder who went from musical comedy actress to society hostess, artist and patron of the arts. Dorothy Blundell wonders what Joséphine Bowes was really like…
Joséphine Benoîte Coffin Chevalier was born in Paris, the third daughter of a clockmaker, on April 26, 1825. Each year, her birthday celebrations would be focused on March 19 as that was her ‘fete day’ – the feast day of St Joseph, after whom she was named, which was in keeping with Catholic custom.
Aged 22, she becomes a musical comedy actress under the stage name ‘Mademoiselle Delorme’ and meets handsome, wealthy Englishman John Bowes. For five years they are lovers. This was the decadent mid-19th century when it was expected that young women (often actresses) would seek rich “protectors” to pay their bills. But it was rare for such arrangements to end in marriage.
Five years after meeting, that’s what happens and in 1852, the new Mrs Bowes, affectionately dubbed ‘Puss’ by her adoring husband, gives up the stage and becomes accustomed to the finer things in life, such as property, luxury furnishings, fine clothes and jewellery. She begins painting lessons, and then comes the idea to build a museum…
But what was she like? We will never know if she deliberately set out to snare her hero, but we do know John was smitten by her. Slight of frame (just over 5ft tall, with an 18in waist), Joséphine had long black hair and hazel eyes and she must have had a special charisma to charm an otherwise taciturn Teesdale landowner.
Delving into the museum archives we find clues to build a pen-picture. Two authors, Caroline Chapman (John and Joséphine, The Creation of The Bowes Museum) and Charles Hardy (John Bowes and The Bowes Museum) also draw conclusions.
The full length portrait in the museum shows Joséphine in fashionable dress, surrounded by luxury…
“Were her lips often compressed into that tight line or has her smile frozen after being too long seated in the same position?” asks Ms Chapman. “There is a stubbornness about the mouth and chin, a sharpness to the hazel eyes, yet… in conversation her face became animated, even radiant when she smiled.”
Another portrait shows more of a smile: you could describe it as kittenish… or looking like the cat that’s got the cream – maybe that’s why she was called Puss.
She had a nervous energy and an excitable temperament. On stage, she cavorted, flirted, sang and danced, but off stage, it was her force of character and an ability to master whatever she set her hand to that propelled her from an occupation regarded as little more than prostitution to being a gracious hostess in fashionable society, as well as a talented amateur artist, and a patron and collector of art.
Hardy comments: “Though kind and generous she was liable to fly into a temper… whether through charm, womanly wiles or force of character, Joséphine succeeded in getting attention from her friends. John was devoted to her and they were a world to themselves.”
Having animals around must have been calming for the highly strung Joséphine. As well as Bernardine (seen in the full length portrait), there was a succession of other dogs: Palette, Bisquette, Loo Loo, Toddy and Pierrot, to name a few. She could be overly sentimental, too. She had a doe fawn at Streatlam tamed and named Daisy, and she kept a blackbird in a cage in Paris to hear it sing.
Joséphine was, in modern parlance, high maintenance. Staff were in no doubt of her likes and dislikes. Although she probably did speak a little English, communications were mainly relayed through John’s fluent French.
Female servants were told to wear flat shoes, so Joséphine was not disturbed by the click of their heels on oak floors. When staying at Streatlam, Joséphine would reputedly hide money about the house to see if it was stolen, and she insisted the carriage was ready at the door every day in case of a whim to go for a drive.
She hated thunderstorms, draughts, rats and mice. Her biggest dislike – terror, even – was travelling by sea which presented John with a tough (and expensive) task persuading her to cross the Channel.
The couple were rarely apart and when they were, there was daily correspondence between them. Sadly only one letter still exists. Written by Joséphine, it is addressed to “Darling Papa” (her pet name for John) and signed “with a million kisses” – this after 15 years of marriage.
“This letter gives the impression of a different Joséphine from the astute and somewhat imperious collector, or the charming hostess and lady of fashion,” says Ms Chapman. “It reveals a vulnerable, needy woman, utterly dependent on her husband whom she adores.”
Joséphine acknowledged her husband’s indulgence. A will made in 1865 provides first for her widowed mother and then everything else is assigned to John. “This universal bequest,” she declares, “is made by me to Mr Bowes, my husband, as an act of justice and gratitude, all that I possess having come to me from him.”
