The Queen of Flowers

She became a very young widow, and in her second marriage married the Marquis de Rostaing, owner of the Neïsson estate in Seillans, a village that had serious economic difficulties. It was on these lands, in the early 1880s, that Jeanne de Rostaing decided to revive the commune by setting up a flower-growing company whose production would go directly to the grasse perfumeries. It soon expanded in order to transform essences into perfumes (not to mention beauty creams, perfumed powders, etc.).

Jeanne's third husband, the Viscount of Savigny de Moncorps, contributed to the expansion of the « Scenteries of Seillans » by making land available to them which he himself had acquired near Neishson. Thanks to the vision and competence of its founder and his faithful collaborators, the company enjoyed for decades an international commercial success. Appreciated by the public in France and around the world, they also received numerous medals at national and international exhibitions.

It is not surprising that the First World War reduced the activity of perfumery (which also developed some products to relieve war wounds). One of its buildings was, at the beginning of the war, transformed into a field hospital at the expense of the owner, who never received the financial compensation initially promised by the French government.

After the conflict, Jeanne advanced in age and needed money not only to live but also to continue her charitable activities. So she decided to sell her perfumery and continued to live in Neïsson, which she resolved to live on. After the unexpected death of its purchaser in the late 1920s, the company was taken over by the Chauvet family (who was treating lavender in the department which was still called the Lower Alps) in association with a New York company, Fritzsche Brothers Inc. Alain de Savigny concluded his book with the observation of the company's decline as early as the 1930s and then during World War II.

It resumed its commercial activity during the sixty years following the conflict, but without the dynamism of its first decades, and it eventually disappeared. The novel also evokes the small world of privileged people who, since the 1860s, had taken up residence on the Mediterranean coast. This was the case, for example, of Alphonse Karr with whom
Jeanne and her husbands long maintained ties of neighbourhood and friendship. Like him, she owned a house in Saint-Raphaël, the Oustalet dou Capelan, in the present Santa Lucia district. The title of the Oustalet was that in the spring of 1866 Gounod composed his opera Romeo and Juliet.

This romantic biography of Jeanne de Villers-la-Faye, Vicomtesse de Savigny de Moncorps, Marquise de Rostaing has multiple interests, but the emphasis is on her energy, ambition and professional talent during a period when the role of business manager was almost exclusively in male hands deserves our attention.