A letter signed “the Stranger”, sent from Ukraine, opened seventeen years of correspondence with Ewelina Hańska: he married her on 14 May 1850 and died three months later. Dying, he called for Doctor Bianchon, a character from his own novels. The bust by David d'Angers was cast in his lifetime.
The story
In 1822 Laure de Berny became Honoré Balzac's mistress, encouraged him and financed his ventures into printing — which failed. Success came in 1829 with Les Chouans; from that year the writer took the aristocratic particle for good and signed himself de Balzac.
In 1832 he received a letter signed “l'Étrangère”, the foreign woman. It came from Ukraine: Countess Ewelina Hańska, married. So began eighteen years of correspondence, broken by meetings, running the whole length of the building of La Comédie humaine — that plan, settled in 1841, to set down an entire society.
The count died in 1841, and still eight years of waiting followed. On 14 March 1850 Balzac married Ewelina at last, in Ukraine; the couple settled in Paris on 20 May. He died on 18 August, five months after the wedding, worn out by twenty years of driven work, of debts and of black coffee.
Victor Hugo, who came to his bedside, set down in Choses vues the detail that went round the century: the dying man called for Doctor Bianchon — a character out of his own novels. At the funeral it was Hugo again who spoke: “All his books make up a single book.”
He lies in the Hańska family plot, where his widow joined him in 1882. The grave is still one of the most flowered in Division 48.
The grave
A bronze bust by David d'Angers, dated 1844 and dedicated “to his friend de Balzac” — the writer was still alive when it was cast. Beside it, a bronze book resting on the stone serves as an emblem. The grave is that of the Hańska family: the main inscription is not in Balzac's name but in that of “Anne Marie Joseph, Countess Hańska, widow of Georges Count Vandalen Miniszeck”.
On site, do not miss
Look for the dedication on the bust: it is in the present tense, and to friendship — the sculptor cast it while his model was alive. Then read the name engraved in large letters on the stone; it is not the one you came to see.
Visitors' questions
Where is Balzac's grave?
In Division 48, in the central, upper part of the cemetery, on the way from Chopin's grave to the eastern divisions.
Henri BarbusseWho sculpted his bust?
Pierre-Jean David, known as David d'Angers, the official sculptor of great men of the nineteenth century, himself buried at Père-Lachaise.
BeaumarchaisWho delivered Balzac's eulogy?
Victor Hugo, on 21 August 1850, in the rain. His speech has remained famous: “All his books form but a single book.”
Roger de BeauvoirWhat can be seen on Balzac's grave?
A bronze bust by David d'Angers, dated 1844 and inscribed “to his friend de Balzac”, and a bronze book resting on the stone. The main inscription, though, bears the name of Countess Hańska: the plot belongs to his wife's family.
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