Antoinette Cazal

Antoinette Cazal (1862–1902), nicknamed "Trognette", was a French brasserie server, anarchist, and illegalist. She is known, among other things, for being targeted during the Trial of the Thirty with her group, the Ortiz gang.

Born into a poor family and affected by tuberculosis, she became a brasserie server where she met the illegalist anarchist activist Léon Ortiz. Cazal entered into a relationship with him, and the two collaborated on burglaries, the fencing of certain goods, and other actions. They also had a conflicted and complicated relationship. Following her arrest, Cazal was accused of receiving stolen goods during the Trial of the Thirty along with other members of the gang.

She was acquitted and married Ortiz, with whom she wished to maintain a connection, and whom she wanted to visit and follow into deportation, as he himself was sentenced to fifteen years in a penal colony. Lacking resources, she was unable to do so and remained in France. She died in 1902, likely from tuberculosis.

In addition to being an interesting historical figure due to the historiographical questions posed by her biography, Cazal is possibly the model for Édouard Manet's painting Woman Reading (1879).