MADAME DE SÉVIGNÉ (February 5, 1626 - April 17, 1696), Marie de Rabutin-Chantal, Marquise de Sévigné, French writer, an appreciated example of epistolary literature. Widowed at the age of 26, already a mother of two children, she did not remarry, but attended socializing salons and kept for over thirty years a close correspondence with her daughter and illustrious friends, among whom was François de La Rochefoucauld. His letters, in which he dealt with various subjects with naturalness and humor, providing a pleasant cross-section of the society of his time, were first published without his knowledge, later with his approval. Portrait of a painting by Robert Nanteuil (1623 - 9 December 1678) of the seventeenth century