 Born Caroline Louise Victoire Courrière in June 1852 in Lille, de Courrière set out for Paris at age 20 and first became the mistress of General Georges Boulanger and several ministers.The sculptor Auguste Clésinger, son-in-law of George Sand, remarked on Courrière's full form and gigantic proportions, bringing her the nicknames "la grande dame" ("the big woman") or "Berthe aux grands pieds" ("Bigfoot Bertha").She was his model for the bust of Marianne for the Sénat as well as for the colossal statue of the Republic for the 1878 Exposition Universelle.