The+Story+Behind+Chloe



‘Chloe’ was the most famous painting in the 19th century, painted in Paris by Lefebvre in 1875. It is a painting treasured by Melbournians and can be seen hanging in the hotel ‘Young and Jacksons. As admirable as this painting is, many do not know the sad story behind the girl in the painting. The poser is actually named Marie and it is in this page where you will find out about this girl’s tragic past. Marie was born in 1856 into a poor family living in Paris. She and her sister left home at a young age and ventured into the city were they both posed for artists. They got a lot of modelling work and Marie’s beauty was soon well known. At age 19, she posed naked for the painter ‘Lefebvre’. He became very close to Marie and they eventually fell in love with each other. The painter was 40 and she was only 19 at the time but nonetheless he loved her dearly. Unfortunately, he also had a strong physical attraction for Marie’s older sister. One year after ‘Chloe’ was painted; Marie made a proposition to Lefebvre. He had to choose between her or her sister. He decided to leave Marie and he married her sister. After a year of devastation, Marie threw a party for her friends and family. During the party she thanked her friends and relatives for everything and then quietly slipped into the kitchen where she crushed various poisons into her soup which she then drank. She was only 21 when she died.

Since the suicide, there have been quite a lot of ‘sightings’ of Marie outside the Young and Jacksons hotel. Maybe something supernatural. This particular ghost is famous for the smell of lavender. As a poor girl, she had to carry lavender around with her to mask bad smells. Many people have smelt the lavender outside the hotel and thought nothing of it. What’s bizarre about this, is that no lavender can be found anywhere near the hotel. Many have experienced cold chills around the area and people have reported, at night, seeing a young girl with a large gash from her neck to her heart. As for the large gash, there was a murderer in Melbourne named Fredric Daemon who killed his victims in a similar way. The two stories, however are completely unrelated…or not. Whether there actually is a ghost outside Young and Jacksons hotel is yet to be proven.

Back to John's Homepage