Sophie de Condorcet

Who was Sophie de Condorcet?

Sophie de Condorcet, best known as Madame de Condorcet, was a prominent salon hostess from 1789 to the Reign of Terror, and again from 1799 until her death in 1822. She was the wife, then widow, of the mathematician and philosopher Nicolas de Condorcet, who died during the Reign of Terror. Despite his death, and the exile of her brother Marshal Emmanuel, Marquis de Grouchy between 1815 and 1821, she maintained her own identity and was well-connected and influential before, during, and after the French Revolution.

As a hostess, Madame de Condorcet was popular for her kind heart, beauty, and indifference to a person's class or social origins. Unlike her fellow-Girondist hostess Madame Roland, Madame de Condorcet's salons always included other women, notably Olympe de Gouges. De Condorcet was also a writer and a translator in her own right, highly educated for her day, completely fluent in English and Italian. She produced influential translations of Thomas Paine and Adam Smith.