Alexandre Dumas père (1802-1870) is without a doubt the most prolific artist of the Romantic movement in French literature, with 91 plays, hundreds of volumes of fiction (The Three Musketeers, The Count of Monte Cristo, and more), a biography, and a cookbook (which he considered the peak of his literary career). But there was another field in which Dumas was considered especially prolific (pun intended): love.
Alexandre Dumas père never stopped for a moment
From the moment he lost his virginity at age 17 until his death at 68, Alexandre Dumas never slowed down. Since he could never stay faithful to one woman, he never demanded it of his partners either. The story goes that he once found his wife in bed with his friend Roger de Beauvoir. Since it was a cold, rainy night, he suggested that Roger share their bed. In the morning he told his friend, “There’s no reason two good friends should quarrel over a woman, even if she happens to be one of their wives,” and shook Roger’s astonished hand.
Alexandre Dumas fils surprises his father (and then goes his own way)
Alexandre Dumas himself was caught off guard more than once during “delicate situations,” and more than once it was his own son, Alexandre Dumas fils (1824-1895), who did the surprising. Which explains why the scene of Dumas père running through his house stuffing his mistresses into closets while a servant announced his son’s arrival happened more than once.
Dumas’s son didn’t care much for his father’s lifestyle at first and called him an “overgrown child,” but as time went on, father and son came to an understanding and even became close friends. Just how close they were is clear from the following exchange, which one of their friends happened to overhear:
“You know, Father,” said Alexandre Dumas fils, “it’s a bit annoying that you give me your old mistresses to sleep with and your new shoes to break in.” “I don’t see why you’re complaining,” replied Dumas père. “Take it as a compliment that you have a thick… and a narrow foot”…
Dumas never stopped, right to the bitter end
As the stories so far make clear, Dumas never believed in the institution of marriage, and the one time he did marry, it was the result of blackmail. Although he earned good money from his many works, Dumas, who loved the good life, was often buried in debt.
Ida Ferrier, an actress he was involved with, asked a friend to buy up all of Dumas’s debts and threaten him: marry her or go to debtors’ prison. The Vicomte de Chateaubriand (François-René de Chateaubriand, 1768-1848), who served as a witness at their wedding, glanced at the bride’s chest and whispered to his friend, “You see, my friend, everything I bless falls apart.”
Sure enough, four years later Dumas’s marriage collapsed when his wife ran off with an Italian nobleman (much to his relief). Ida Ferrier was not the only actress the writer had a love affair with, and on one memorable occasion, three actresses he was simultaneously involved with all appeared together in a play he had written and directed, leading to no small amount of awkwardness.
Even in his 60s, Alexandre Dumas kept living a turbulent life. His last love was Adah Isaacs Menken (1835-1868), a Jewish actress from New Orleans who, as a kind of “literary groupie,” carried on romances with quite a few famous writers of her time, including Mark Twain (1835-1910).
Adah, who became famous as “the naked lady” because in one of her plays she appeared on stage riding a horse and wearing nothing but a sheer bodysuit, was everything the writer was looking for in a woman. Their love blossomed, and the actress managed to convince Dumas to be photographed with her. The photo quickly became the talk of Paris and destroyed what little prestige Dumas had left.
Shortly after, Dumas died of syphilis, which he had contracted from one of his many mistresses. But the Franco-Prussian War, raging at the time, meant his death went almost unnoticed. One of his friends eulogized him with these words: “Alexandre Dumas kept chasing women right up to the end, even as his illness paralyzed both his mind and his legs”…
Château de Monte-Cristo
The Château de Monte-Cristo, which Alexandre Dumas père built in 1844 and named after his famous novel The Count of Monte Cristo, is without a doubt one of the lesser-known secrets of Île-de-France. It sits in a small town called Port-Marly (near the palace beloved by Louis XIV, which was torn down long ago).
It’s a bit tricky to get there, and you’ll have to pass by a hospital along the way, but as you’ll see in the video below, it’s absolutely worth it.
This is a neo-Renaissance building that now serves as a kind of museum to the writer’s literary and design legacy. Like Victor Hugo, Dumas also had a weakness for interior design. Here you’ll find photographs, letters, paintings, and other items connected to his work. It’s a “mini museum,” meaning a place that’s neither too big nor too overwhelming, which you can see in about an hour or two (and of course you can also stroll through the lovely park around it).
As such, it can be a great option during a trip around Île-de-France, especially if you’ve already seen a big palace that same day and are looking for one more small attraction to round out your day. Here are a few things you’ll find there:
- The Dumas family coat of arms
- A room in Moorish style that will make you think you’ve traveled back to the Spain of the Muslim Golden Age (built by craftsmen brought in especially from Tunis).
- A tiny house surrounded by a moat, in the château’s garden. This is where Alexandre Dumas used to write his books.
Unfortunately for Dumas, he was not as skilled at managing money as he was at writing or cooking, and in 1848 he was forced to sell his home. He stayed on there for a few more years with the buyer’s permission, but in 1851, hounded by his creditors, he was forced into exile in Belgium.
The Château de Monte-Cristo passed through quite a few hands over the years and gradually fell into disrepair, until in 1969 it was decided to demolish it and build hundreds of housing units on the land. Luckily for us, two preservation societies (one dedicated to the Château de Monte-Cristo, the other the Society of the Friends of Alexandre Dumas) decided to buy the château and restore it. I highly recommend seeing the result on your next trip to France.
For more information about the Château de Monte-Cristo, feel free to visit this site.
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