Born: 13 February 1740, France
Died: 18 October 1802
Country most active: France
Also known as: Magdeleine Sophie Arnould
The following is excerpted from “400 Outstanding Women of the World and the Costumology of Their Time” by Minna Moscherosch Schmidt, published in 1933.
Sophie Arnould was one of the graces of Paris with her wit and beauty, from 1757 to 1778. Her charming voice and her humor won for her the friendship of the most famous, as Diderot and Rousseau. Her witticisms were repeated throughout Paris, but in spite of her sarcasm, she never made an enemy. She was the queen of the Opera, but had the wisdom to leave the stage at the height of her glory.
At the beginning of the Revolution, she retired to the parsonage of Luzarche. Through irony, and in order to show her desire to say farewell to the world, she wrote the following words on her door: “Ite, missa est.”