Blanche d'Antigny (9 May 1840 – 30 June 1874) was a French singer, actress and courtesan[1] whose fame today rests chiefly on the fact that Émile Zola used her as the principal model for his novel Nana.

[4] She became the mistress of the Russian police chief Mesentzov who took her to St. Petersburg[7] and, when she was forced to leave Russia by special order of the Tsarina.

[10] Blanche d'Antigny played the leading roles in many of the hits of Hervé, Offenbach, and their disciples (Le tour du chien vert, L'œil crevé, La Vie parisienne, La Cocotte aux œufs d'or, etc.

Her lovers showered her with gifts and spent enormous sums of money on her, but she was unable to hold on to any of it.

When she was asked why she had taken along to Cairo not only her chambermaid but also her coachman, although she had neither horses nor a coach there, she is reported to have answered: "What the hell!