 La Païva reigned for years as a popular hostess known for her lavish open houses, teas, and dinners and salon frequented largely by well-known male writers, such as Gustave Flaubert, Émile Zola, Paul de Saint-Victor, Arsène Houssaye, and others, including the painter Eugène Delacroix.The bill of fare was so lavish that she overheard two guests discussing how much she could possibly be worth.One posited 10 million francs a year, at which comment La Païva scoffed, "You must be mad.