Hortense (Delaroche-Laperrière) Howland (1835-1920)

She was born at Digne in the Alpes-Maritimes. Tutored by the philosopher Victor Cousin, "she became the toast of all the Salons of Paris in the Second Empire". In 1855, she married William Edgar Howland of the American shipping firm Howland & Aspinwall. He eventually left her - with an annuity of 20,000-Francs and a house at 16 Rue de la Rochefoucauld - for another woman and moved back to the States, when she circulated in artistic circles in Paris: she kept up a long correspondence with Eugène Fromentin (who was hopelessly in love with her), was the longtime mistress of Edgar Degas and was friends with the Halévys, Maupassant and Proust. She later moved to 55 Rue de Longchamps in Neuilly Saint-James where her salon was described by Proust as a meeting place of the Jockey Club. Like many of her contemporaries, Hortense also dabbled in photography. She was much enamoured by FDR whose father - Mr. Howland's brother-in-law - James Roosevelt was trustee of her estate. She had two children.