Rosalie Duthé

Catherine-Rosalie Gerard Duthé (1748–1830,alt: Duthe or Du The) was a celebrated French courtesan. A companion of French kings and European nobility, she has been called "the first officially recorded dumb blonde." Duthé was an often requested subject for portraits, including partial and full nudes, many of which still exist in museums and private collections.

After quitting a French convent, Duthé became the mistress of wealthy English financier George Wyndham, 3rd Earl of Egremont (1751–1837), "whom she is said to have ruined." She then became a dancer at the Paris Opera Ballet, and the companion to various noblemen, including the Duc de Durfort, the Marquis de Genlis, and the young Comte d'Artois, the future Charles X of France. In an incident around 1788, Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, presented Duthé to his fifteen-year-old son Philippe (later King Louis Philippe I) to "learn some facts of life." When she was later seen in Philippe's royal carriage on the Champs-Élysées, some young aristocrats took offense, as normally only princes rode in royal carriages; they sang a song set to a popular tune using the lyrics "La Duthé a dû téter", roughly translated as "La Duthé must have suckled royally."

In Parisian society Duthé developed a certain "reputation by adopting the habit of pausing for extended periods of time before speaking." She appeared not only stupid, but dumb in the literal sense. This inspired a one-act satire about her called Les Curiosités de la Foire (Paris 1775) that "kept Paris laughing for weeks." Although the origin of the stereotype of the dumb blonde is not entirely clear, cultural historian Joanna Pitman has noted that “Rosalie Duthé acquired the dubious honour of becoming the first officially recorded dumb blonde.”

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