Camille Doncieux

Camille-Léonie Doncieux was born in the town of La Guillotiere, later merged into Lyons, France, on 15 January 1847.

A few years after the birth of a second child, Geneviève-François, in 1857, the family moved to Batignolles, which became part of northwestern Paris.

[3][4] In Paris on 8 August 1867, Camille Doncieux gave birth to Jean, her first son with Claude Monet.

[5] He returned to Paris at the end of the year for the holidays and stayed in the cold one-room apartment that Camille shared with Jean.

[6] In 1868 Monet went to live with Camille and Jean in Paris, hiding that fact from his father and aunt who thought he had abandoned "his mistress and child".

To escape his creditors and live in a less expensive place, in the spring the three moved to Gloton, a small scenic village near Bennecourt.

Although Monet's father was not present because he did not approve of the marriage, Camille's parents attended the ceremony.

[4] On her deathbed, last rites were given on 31 August 1879 by a priest who also religiously sanctioned the Monets' civil marriage.

[1][3] Camille features in fifty of Monet's paintings,[15]: xvi  including for the painting Camille (The Woman in the Green Dress), which received critical acclaim at the Paris salon and earned him 800 francs when sold to Arsène Houssaye.