A sculptor, novelist and art critic, she signed with the man's name Claude Vignon, borrowed from a character in Balzac. Born in 1828, she ran off at seventeen with a defrocked priest who would become known as Éliphas Lévi, the occultist, and her father forced her to marry him. A pupil of Pradier, she carved reliefs for the Saint-Michel fountain and for the Lefuel staircase in the Louvre. She sculpted herself.
The story
Marie-Noémi Cadiot was born in Paris in 1828 and ran away at seventeen with Alphonse Louis Constant, an unfrocked priest who would become the occultist Éliphas Lévi; her father, a civil servant, forced her to marry him. In 1854 the couple lost their daughter Marie, aged seven, and separated; the marriage was annulled in 1865.
A pupil of the sculptor James Pradier, she worked on the reliefs of the fontaine Saint-Michel and on the decoration of the escalier Lefuel at the Louvre. She exhibited at first under her husband's name, then took that of Claude Vignon — a character out of Balzac — a man's name under which she also published novels, art criticism and political articles.
Active in the feminist movement born of the 1848 revolution, she ran three careers at once that the society of her time hardly granted women, and a private life for which she was much judged. In 1872 she married Maurice Rouvier, a future prime minister.
She died in 1888 at Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat and lies in Division 46. The bronze bust on her grave, signed with her name and cast by Gruet in 1883, was stolen in 2006, recovered three years later, and returned to its plinth only in 2025.
On site, do not miss
The bronze bust, returned to her grave in 2025 after nineteen years' absence: the artist sculpted herself.
Visitors' questions
Where is Claude Vignon's grave?
In Division 46 of Père-Lachaise. You find it by the bronze bust — her own work: stolen in 2006 along with other bronzes from the cemetery, recovered in 2009, and put back on its plinth in 2025.
James Pradier, her masterWhy did Marie-Noémi Cadiot sign herself Claude Vignon?
Because a man's name opened the doors her own closed. She borrowed it from a Balzac character and used it for her novels, her art criticism and her political articles, having first exhibited under her husband's name.
Marie d'Agoult, known as Daniel SternDid Claude Vignon marry Éliphas Lévi?
Yes. At seventeen she ran off with Alphonse Louis Constant, a defrocked priest who became the great occultist Éliphas Lévi; her father forced them to marry. They separated in the early 1850s and the union was annulled in 1865.
Papus, the occultistWhich works by Claude Vignon can be seen in Paris?
Reliefs on the Saint-Michel fountain and the decoration of the Lefuel staircase at the Louvre, made in James Pradier's studio. She also left a great many busts, among them the one on her own grave.
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