D’Épinay was very fond of Rousseau and lent him a cottage on her estate, where he wrote some of his most notable works. But relations deteriorated when he introduced her to Grimm, who became her long-term lover. D’Alembert, Holbach, Marivaux and other major figures of the Enlightenment were regular guests, as was Galiani, who corresponded for twelve years. Mozart was welcomed into Grimm’s and d’Épinay’s home. Diderot, Rousseau and Grimm feature fictionally in her memoirs. It is for her ideas about women and education that she is now probably best known.