author
Claude Ferval
1856–1943
A French novelist, biographer, and poet who wrote under a pen name, she moved from painting into literature and became known for graceful historical and biographical writing. Her work often turned toward vivid portraits of notable women from the past.
1 Audiobook
Cleopatra
by Claude Ferval
About the author
Born Marguerite Thomas-Galline in Agen, France, on June 15, 1856, she wrote as Claude Ferval, the pen name of Baroness Marguerite Aimery Harty de Pierrebourg. Before focusing on books, she spent years studying painting at the Académie Julian and exhibited her work at the Salon.
She later built a literary career as a novelist, poet, and biographer. Reference sources describe her as especially drawn to biographies and historical subjects, often centered on well-known women, and her books were noted in her time for their elegance and poetic tone.
Claude Ferval died in Herbault, Loir-et-Cher, on April 20, 1943. Though less widely read today, she remains an interesting figure from French literary life for the way she bridged the worlds of visual art, fiction, and biography.