author
marquise de Delphine de Sabran Custine
1770–1826
A vivid figure of post-Revolutionary French society, she was known for her wit, intelligence, and literary circle as much as for her striking presence. Her life touched some of the era’s most dramatic turns, from aristocratic salons to the upheavals of the French Revolution.
1 Audiobook
Chateaubriand et Madame de Custine: Episodes et correspondance inédite
by Émile Chédieu de Robethon, vicomte de François-René Chateaubriand, marquise de Delphine de Sabran Custine
About the author
Born in Paris on March 18, 1770, into the old House of Sabran, she became the Marquise de Custine through marriage and moved in the highest circles of French aristocratic life. She is remembered as a society hostess and woman of letters, admired by contemporaries for her charm and sharp mind.
Her life was marked by the violence of the Revolution. Her husband and father-in-law were executed during the Terror, and she herself survived those years to rebuild a place in French cultural life. In the years that followed, she became associated with an influential salon and with leading literary figures, including François-René de Chateaubriand.
She was also the mother of Astolphe de Custine, who later became a well-known writer and traveler. Delphine de Custine died in Bex, Switzerland, on July 13, 1826, leaving behind the image of a graceful, resilient woman whose life linked the old aristocracy with the literary world of modern France.