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Lola Montez: The Scandalous Seductress Who Shook the World
Updated: Aug 8
Dancer, actress, courtesan, adventurer, political provocateur, Lola Montez was one of the most colorful women of the 19th century.
Born Eliza Rosanna Gilbert in Ireland, she reinvented herself as the exotic Spanish dancer Lola Montez and became notorious across Europe for her beauty, temper, scandalous performances, and relationships with powerful men. Her extraordinary life eventually brought her to California during the Gold Rush, where she made her home in the mining town of Grass Valley.
More than a century later, Lola's legend lives on in books, landmarks, popular culture, and even a song by Danish rock band Volbeat.
Who Was Lola Montez?
Lola Montez was born Eliza Rosanna Gilbert in Ireland in 1821. As a young woman, she reinvented herself as “Lola Montez,” presenting herself as a Spanish dancer despite having no Spanish ancestry.
Her performances, and especially her infamous Spider Dance, made her a celebrity, but Lola became equally famous for her turbulent personal life and fiery personality. She traveled throughout Europe, attracted wealthy and influential admirers, and became the mistress of King Ludwig I of Bavaria.
Her influence over Ludwig became so controversial that she was made Countess of Landsfeld and became entangled in Bavarian politics. Amid growing public opposition and political unrest, Lola fled Bavaria in 1848.
After further adventures in Europe and the eastern United States, she headed west to California in 1853, arriving in a state transformed by the Gold Rush.
Was Lola Montez the First Woman Photographed Smoking?
Lola Montez is widely credited as the first woman ever photographed smoking. In a provocative daguerreotype made by the celebrated Boston photography studio Southworth & Hawes around 1851–1852, Lola posed with a cigarette held prominently between her gloved fingers—an especially daring image at a time when public smoking by women defied Victorian social conventions.
What Was Lola Montez's Spider Dance?
Lola Montez became famous—and notorious—for a performance known as the Spider Dance. During the dance, Lola pretended that spiders had become trapped in her clothing. As she frantically tried to shake them loose, she lifted her skirts and exposed glimpses of her legs and undergarments to the audience.
By modern standards, the performance might sound relatively tame. To audiences in the mid-19th century, however, it could be scandalous. Lola's suggestive movements, revealing costume, and unapologetic stage presence challenged the strict expectations placed on female performers of the Victorian era.
The Spider Dance became inseparable from Lola's public image. It helped build her reputation as an exotic and provocative performer, although her fame eventually extended far beyond the stage through her relationships, political influence, fiery temper, and talent for attracting controversy wherever she went.
Accounts of exactly how Lola performed the Spider Dance vary, and contemporary descriptions helped sensationalize the act. Like many parts of her life, the performance became a mixture of history, publicity, and legend—which was something Lola herself knew how to use remarkably well.
Lola Montez and the California Gold Rush
In 1853, Lola Montez arrived in California, where the Gold Rush had transformed San Francisco and the mining towns of the Sierra foothills into bustling centers of opportunity, entertainment, and ambition.
After performing in San Francisco and Sacramento, Lola made her way to Grass Valley, one of California's booming gold-mining towns. She married newspaper publisher Patrick Hull and purchased a small house there—the only home she is known to have owned.
Lola's time in Grass Valley added another chapter to her already extraordinary life. Far from the royal courts and theaters of Europe, she became part of a rapidly changing California filled with miners, merchants, entertainers, immigrants, and adventurers from around the world.
Her Grass Valley home still stands today and is designated California Historical Landmark No. 292, preserving a tangible connection between one of the 19th century's most notorious celebrities and California's Gold Rush history.
Lola Montez's Legacy in California
Lola's time in California was relatively brief, but her name remains scattered across the landscape of Nevada County and the Sierra Nevada.
Mount Lola, rising to 9,148 feet, is the highest point in Nevada County and bears her name. Nearby, Upper and Lower Lola Montez Lakes also preserve the memory of one of Gold Country's most colorful residents.
Her most tangible connection to California remains her home at 248 Mill Street in Grass Valley. Built in 1851 and later owned by Lola, the house is now designated California Historical Landmark No. 292.
More than 170 years after she arrived in California, Lola Montez remains part of the history—and folklore—of the Sierra foothills.
Why Did Volbeat Write a Song About Lola Montez?
More than 150 years after Lola Montez scandalized audiences across Europe and America, her larger-than-life story found a new audience through Danish rock band Volbeat.
Released in 2013, Volbeat's song Lola Montez draws on the real woman's reputation, particularly her infamous Spider Dance, beauty, fiery personality, and ability to captivate—and scandalize—the people around her.
The song has introduced generations of rock fans to a woman they might otherwise never have encountered in a history book. And yes—if a Volbeat song is what brought you here, Lola Montez was very real, and her actual life may have been even stranger than the legend.
The Inspiration Behind Our Lola Fragrance
Lola was a fragrance that had a name before it had a scent.
When I began creating our collection of California Gold Rush-inspired fragrances, I knew Lola Montez needed one of her own. It had to be feminine and sophisticated, but also luxurious, mysterious, and impossible to ignore.
When the final blend came together, I knew that—like its namesake—Lola was a star.
Today, Lola remains one of our best-selling fragrances, loved here in California's Mother Lode and by customers across the country.
Lola is available in 10 oz coconut soy candles, 3 oz coconut soy candles and soy wax melts:
Lola is a best seller among the locals of the Mother Lode and across the country.
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