Élisabeth van Rysselberghe

Élisabeth van Rysselberghe was born on 15 October 1890 in Brussels, Belgium.[1] She was the daughter of neo-impressionist painter Théo van Rysselberghe and his wife Maria Monnom.[2] As a child, she became acquainted with André Gide, a close friend of her parents, and the two became good friends.[3]

Élisabeth had an affair with Rupert Brooke when she was twenty years old, and by 1913 the two might have become lovers "in a complete sense".[4] However, Brooke, who was involved also with other women,[5] died during World War I.[6]

After the war, in 1920, Marc Allégret, Gide's adopted son, fell in love with Élisabeth.[6] The two had wanted a child, but the wish did not come true.[6] In 1923, Élisabeth gave birth to a child, Catherine. The father was André Gide, who at the time was married, and recognised the child only after the death of his wife, adopting her in 1938.[7] Élisabeth had wanted a child "at all costs",[3] while Gide had passed her a note during a trip on the train with friends years before, where he explained that he could not bear to see her or himself childless.[6][8] Eventually, Élisabeth married French journalist Pierre Herbart in 1931.[9] After her marriage to Herbart, the friendship between the latter and Gide was upset.[9] The two divorced in 1968.[10]

She was an avid reader and an excellent translator.[11] She translated Donald Windham and John Keats into French.[12] She translated the Letters of John Keats with Charles Du Bos,[13] including Quatre lettres inédites[14] and Lettre à John Hamilton Reynolds.[15] Van Rysselberghe is the French translator of Windham's The Dog Star (French: Canicule)[16] and Emblems of Conduct (French: Emblèmes d'une vie).[17] In 1953, her translation of Justin O'Brien's Les nourritures terrestres d'André Gide et les Bucoliques de Virgile was published.[18]

She died on 29 July 1980 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, Île-de-France, France.[1]