Isabelle de charriere biography channel

She is now best known for her letters and novels, although she also wrote pamphlets, music and plays. She took a keen interest in the society and politics of her age, and her work around the time of the French Revolution is regarded as being of particular interest. She was the eldest of seven children.

Belle van Zuylen - Isabelle de

Her parents were described by the Scots author James Boswell , then a student in law in Utrecht and one of her suitors, as "one of the most ancient noblemen in the Seven Provinces" and "an Amsterdam lady, with a great deal of money". In winter they lived in their house in the city of Utrecht. In , Isabelle was sent to Geneva and travelled through Switzerland and France with her French-speaking governess Jeanne-Louise Prevost, who was her teacher from Having spoken only French for a year, she had to relearn Dutch on returning home to the Netherlands.

However, French would remain her preferred language for the rest of her life, which helps to explain why, for a long time, her work was not as well known in her country of birth as it otherwise might have been. Isabelle enjoyed a much broader education than was usual for girls at that time, thanks to the liberal views of her parents who also let her study subjects like mathematics, physics and languages including Latin, Italian, German and English.

By all accounts, she was a gifted student. He was not interested in her. Disappointed, she left Utrecht for 18 months. She saw marriage as a way to gain freedom but she also wanted to marry for love. Invited specially by Anne Pollexfen Drake and also her husband lieutenant general George Eliott to come to their London home in Curzon Street , Mayfair , Isabelle did come by boat from Hellevoetsluis to Harwich 7 November accompanied by her brother Ditie, her maid Doortje and her valet Vitel.

The couple also spent significant amounts of time in Geneva and Paris.