About

The eldest daughter of the master joiner Maurice Duplay, Éléonore Duplay lived in the household where Robespierre lodged from July 1791 until 9 Thermidor. A later recollection identifies her as a pupil in the studio of the painter Jean-Baptiste Regnault, although little else about her life before Thermidor is independently documented. Her mother was found hanged in prison on 29 July 1794. Éléonore was arrested on 6 August and remained imprisoned until 19 July 1795. After her release, she lived with her family and never married. Late in her life, she declined an attempt by Philippe Buonarroti to question her about Robespierre and the Duplay household. Her sister Élisabeth later stated that she had been promised to Robespierre, while his sister Charlotte denied that any marriage was intended. No contemporary document confirms an engagement, and no correspondence between them is known to survive. Éléonore died in Paris in 1832.