Draft:Rose Anselme

• Comment: There is just too much unsourced here. Not enough sources in general, either. Rambley (talk) 12:06, 22 June 2025 (UTC)

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Rosette Anselme, engraving by Paulus Constantijn la Fargue

Rose Albertine Françoise Anselme, known as Rosette Anselme (born 21 September 1740 in Valenciennes, France; died after 1784), was a French-Dutch actress and singer.

She is adopted in the 1001 Vrouwen uit de Nederlandse geschiedenis; 1001 biographies of famous women of the Netherlands.

Biography

Rosette Anselme was born on 21 September 1740 in Valenciennes. She was the daughter of musician and theatre entrepreneur Jean Baptiste Anselme (1699–before 1775) and the actress and singer Françoise Gravillon (c. 1710–1781). She was the eighth of nine children. She likely spent her early years in Valenciennes, as her youngest brother Jean François was also born there in 1743. Around 1750, the family moved to the Netherlands and settled in The Hague, where her parents joined the French theatre company Comédie in the Casuariestraat. Four of her brothers—Jacques (1732–?), Joseph François (1736–1809), Joseph Jean (1739–?), and Jean François—also became actors, singers, and/or musicians. Her sister Marie Blandine Sophie (1734–?) became a dancer.^[1][2]

She likely made her stage debut at age 14. In July 1754, "Miss Batiste the daughter" sang an aria with the "French comedians." She then went to Paris, where she joined Jean Monnet’s troupe and performed at the Opéra-Comique. There, she reportedly had a brief affair with writer Restif de la Bretonne, who later described the encounter in one of his erotic stories. In 1756, she returned to The Hague with her father's troupe. From November 1759, Rosette and her mother were officially in charge of the French theatre in The Hague, although her exact role is unclear—Françoise Gravillon likely had the main authority. Her father had previously been in charge, but it's unclear why he stepped down. When mother and daughter needed a guarantor for a lease in 1760 and 1762, Jacob Jan van Wassenaer Obdam served that role. Obdam, a member of the Dutch nobility and a freethinker, was possibly acquainted with the Anselme-Gravillon couple through the Freemason lodge De Juste, the first Dutch lodge to admit women.

Rosette likely began a relationship with Jacob Jan Obdam around 1760. Although she officially had her own address in The Hague, they mostly lived together and were reportedly happy.^[1]

In the French theatre, Anselme was the leading singer and played supporting roles in both tragedies and comedies. She also performed male roles, such as Leuxis in Jean-François Marmontel’s tragedy Aristomène. François Antoine de Chevrier remarked on her performance: "l'illusion aurait été entière si les grâces de son sexe ne l'auraient trahies" ("the illusion would have been complete if the charms of her sex had not betrayed her"). The troupe mainly performed during the summer in a theatre near Overtoom in Amstelveen (then Nieuwer-Amstel). Starting in 1758, Rosette also gave concerts in The Hague, Rotterdam, and Amsterdam.^[1]

She also sang at the court of the Stadtholder and received a gratuity of 1000 guilders in 1766. The following year, Rosette and her mother stepped down from managing the theatre, and Rosette was dismissed from the French company. It's said that the court chamberlain of William IV was involved in this, and that his son played a part in her dismissal after just one season. The episode sparked several publications, and Rosette spent time in Spa with Obdam.^[1]

Around 1768, Rosette and Louis Compain des Perrières (the company’s lead singer) were frequently engaged for court concerts—Rosette was paid twelve ducats (63 guilders), up from ten in 1764. She remained affiliated with the French theatre.^[1]

In February 1769, she applied for a three-month medical leave due to lung problems. Although approved, she never returned to the stage. Her final performance was on 2 March 1769—a benefit for herself. Afterward, she gave occasional concerts but no longer acted. She cared for Jacob Jan Obdam, who became ill. In 1774, he wrote a will in her favor, acknowledging her loyalty and care. The inheritance would have allowed her a luxurious life: a pension of 2000 guilders per year, a house on Noordeinde, and all his movable possessions. However, upon his death in 1779, it emerged that his estate consisted mainly of enormous debts, likely incurred jointly with Rosette. A settlement between her and the Van Wassenaer Obdam family was only reached in March 1784.^[1]

In 1782, Rosette married François Lobjoy, then tutor to the children of the French ambassador in The Hague. After the 1784 settlement, no further information about Rosette Anselme is known. She may have returned to France with her husband.

References

1. Anna de Haas, Digitaal Vrouwenlexicon van Nederland, accessed 28 December 2024
2. "Rose Anselme". biografischportaal (in Dutch). Retrieved 19 June 2025.

This page will be placed in the following categories if it is moved to the article namespace.

Categories:

• Dutch stage actresses
• French stage actresses
• Dutch women singers
• 1740 births
• 18th-century deaths
• French women singers
• 18th-century Dutch women
• 18th-century French women
• Date of death unknown
• People from Valenciennes