Madame Recamier
Jeanne
Francoise Julie Adélaide Bernard (Born in 1777 Died in 1849 in Paris), otherwise
known as Belle Juliette, was above all a celebrity known throughout Europe , famous for her beauty and virtue.
The
daughter of sollicitor Jean Bernard, she was born in Lyon .
At fifteen she married the well known banker Jacques Rose Récamier. Juliette
was also intelligent, well read and affectionate. A good dancer, she also sang
and could play both the harp and the piano. Her beauty and kindness helped
build her reputation as an exceptional woman. It was said that she was able to
charm, entertain or dispense with the over ardent without making enemies.
At the
Abbaye-aux-Bois, where she held her salons for over thirty years, her influence
on literature and politics was well known. Among the innumerable regular
visitors were notable characters such as René Chateaubriand, her only real
love, Germaine de Stael, her best friend, André Marie Ampère, Auguste de
Prusse, Lucien Bonaparte, The Duchess of Devonshire, Pierre Simon Ballanche,
Talma, Balzac, Delacroix, Lamartine, Sainte Beuve…
À partir de 1797,
Juliette Récamier commença sa vie mondaine, tenant un salon qui devint bientôt
le rendez-vous d'une société choisie. La beauté et le charme de l'hôtesse,
l'une des « Trois Grâces » du Directoire, avec Joséphine de Beauharnais et
Madame Tallien, lui suscitèrent une foule d'admirateurs. Le cadre de l'hôtel
particulier de la rue du Mont-Blanc (hôtel de Jacques Necker ancienne rue de la
Chaussée-d'Antin), acquis en octobre 1798 et richement décoré par l’architecte
Louis-Martin Berthault, ajoutait à la réputation de ses réceptions. Elle fut
l'une des premières à se meubler en style « étrusque » et à s'habiller « à la
grecque » et joua de ce fait un rôle non négligeable dans la diffusion du goût
pour l'Antique qui allait prévaloir sous l'Empire. L’hôtel Récamier acquit une
renommée telle qu'il devint rapidement une curiosité parisienne que tous les
provinciaux et étrangers de marque se devaient de visiter. L'année 1800 marqua
l'apogée de la puissance financière de Jacques Récamier : il devint alors
Régent de la Banque de France. Mais Juliette Récamier ne tarda pas à exciter
les ombrages du pouvoir. Amie de Madame de Staël, elle fut une figure clé de
l'opposition au régime de Napoléon. Les réceptions de son salon qui jouait un
rôle non négligeable dans la vie politique et intellectuelle de l'époque,
furent interdites par un ordre officieux de Bonaparte ; Madame de Staël, Adrien
de Montmorency, tous deux proches de Juliette et assidus de son salon, furent
exilés de Paris ; quand Napoléon devint empereur, Juliette refusa à quatre
reprises une place de dame d'honneur à la cour.
Les difficultés
de la Banque Récamier, à partir de 1805, obligèrent le couple d'abord à réduire
son train de vie puis à vendre l'hôtel particulier de la rue du Mont-Blanc. À
ces revers de fortune s'ajoutèrent pour Juliette des chagrins personnels : le
décès de sa mère en 1807 ; une histoire d'amour puis une rupture avec le prince
Auguste de Prusse rencontré lors d'un séjour au château de Coppet près de Genève
chez Madame de Staël ; l'obligation de s'éloigner de Paris par ordre de la
police impériale.
" Went to the house of Madame Recamier. We were
resolved not to leave Paris
the most elegant house in it, fitted up in
the new style.
There are no large rooms nor a great many
of them ; but
it is certainly fitted up with all the
recherchJ and expense
possible in what is called le gout antique.
But the
candelabra, pendules, &c., though
exquisitely finished,
are in that sort of minute frittered style
which I think so
much less noble than that of fifteen or
twenty years ago.
All the chairs are mahogany, enriched with
ormolu, and
covered either with cloth or silk ; those
in the salon
trimmed with flat gold lace in good taste.
Her bed is
reckoned the most beautiful in Paris
mahogany, enriched with ormolu and bronze,
and raised
upon two steps of the same wood. Over the
whole bed
was thrown a coverlid or veil of fine plain
muslin, with
rows of narrow gold lace at each end, and
the muslin
embroidered as a border. The curtains were
muslin,
trimmed like the coverlid, suspended from a
sort of carved
couronne des roses, and tucked up in
drapery upon the wall
against which the bed stood. At the foot of
the bed stood
a fine Grecian lamp of ormolu, with a
little figure of the
same metal bending over it, and at the head
of the bed
another stand upon which was placed a large
ornamental
flower-pot, containing a large artificial
rose-tree, the
branches of which must nod very near her
nose, in bed.
Out of this bedroom is a beautiful little
salle-de-bain.
The walls are inlaid with satin-wood, and
mahogany, and
slight arabesque patterns in black upon
satin-wood. The
bath presents itself as a sofa in a recess,
covered with
a cushion of scarlet cloth, embroidered and
laced with
black. Beyond this again is a very little
boudoir, lined
with quilted pea-green lustring, drawn
together in a bunch
in the middle of the ceiling." *
*1 Miss Berry
16
 |
Swan
Juliette’s
sensibility and tastes were refined over time, thanks to her contacts with the
artists, critics and art lovers she frequented, as well as her visits to
Délécluze
tells that he came across her one day talking with Jean-Jacques Ampère about
his chronic of the 1824 salon that was published in the newspaper “Débats”.
Even then, the very carefully studied décor of the hôtel on rue Mont-Blanc –
with its numerous ornaments in the shape of stars or swans, soon to be
essential elements of the Empire style – was proof that Juliette knew much
about elegant neo-classicism, as shown by her collection. Mario Praz suggested
a link between the “chaste sensuality” the Juliette was so famous for, and the
icy, contemplative eroticism of Canova’s sculpture, a link that would have made
their friendship easy to forge. Juliette Récamier, muse and patron of the
arts – Beaux Arts Museum of Lyon.
This is why
we decided on a swan as the most fitting symbol for the logo of the hotel La
Belle Juliette.
Staring as
a young, timid lady from the provinces, she blossomed to become the muse of the
salons of the time, so such a point that she was referred to as La Divine, La
Belle Juliette, considered to be the most beautiful woman in Europe. Also, the
white of the swan was the favourite colour of Juliette Récamier.
And finally,
because the swan is the animal most represented in furniture of the period,
notably thanks to the Jacob brothers, who included it in several places in
Juliette’s bedroom at the Hôtel du Mont Blanc.
|
Au temps de la puissance financière des Récamier, les arts sont mis à contribution par le couple pour conforter sa position sociale.
L'acquisition en
1798 d'un hôtel particulier situé rue du Mont-Blanc, dans le quartier à la mode
de la Chaussée d'Antin à Paris, leur offre l'opportunité d'en faire un
laboratoire du goût nouveau.
A travers ses
choix d'aménagements intérieurs et les œuvres d'art qu'elle acquiert, Juliette
exprime une préférence marquée pour un néo-classicisme raffiné et gracieux,
librement inspiré de l'Antiquité.
Dans tout Paris,
le goût de la maîtresse des lieux, à la pointe de la mode, est rapidement
salué. Ce souci de Juliette d'évoluer et de recevoir dans un intérieur raffiné
demeurera une constante au fil de ses habitations successives, et ce jusqu'à sa
retraite à l'Abbaye-aux-Bois.
L'hôtel de la rue du Mont-Blanc :
les années fastes
Les Récamier
confient la décoration de leur hôtel à un jeune architecte : Louis-Martin
Berthault. Probablement aidé de Charles Percier, déjà réputé, le jeune homme
imagine un décor harmonieux conçu comme un ensemble : boiseries, tentures,
meubles exécutés par l'ébéniste Jacob, se répondent ou s'opposent par de
subtils jeux de matériaux, de couleurs et de miroirs. Les pièces de réception
jouent un rôle clé dans la demeure.
Comme cela se
pratiquait alors, Juliette accueille également dans sa chambre à coucher,
désireuse d'y faire admirer son goût pour les dernières tendances. Reproduits
et diffusés, les aménagements que l'architecte Berthault fait réaliser pour
l'hôtel Récamier sont vite connus et célébrés. Comme l'écrivait la duchesse
d'Abrantès, la chambre à coucher a « servi de modèle à tout ce qu'on a fait en
ce genre » et le mobilier de Juliette Récamier provoqua en effet une telle
admiration qu'il fut rapidement imité.
Attribué à Jacob
Frères, Lit de repos provenant du salon de Madame Récamier, vers 1800, bâti de
noyer, placage d'espénille de Saint-Domingue et d'amarante, espénille massif,
noyer massif peint, 78 x 60 x 170
cm , Paris, musée du Louvre, département des objets d'art
(c) RMN / © Daniel Arnaudet
À l'avant-garde,
elle se plaisait également à faire visiter la chambre conjugale dans l'hôtel
particulier de la rue du Mont-Blanc, à Paris. Aquarelles et plans donnent une
idée du faste de la décoration et de l'ameublement commandé à Jacob frères,
dont on découvre certaines réalisations en acajou décorées d'appliques en
bronze doré (voir ci-dessus). Ce « laboratoire d'un goût nouveau » présente ce
que Stéphane Paccoud considère comme « les premiers meubles de style Directoire,
ouvrant la voie au style Empire ».
C'est dans les
murs de cet hôtel particulier aujourd'hui disparu, avant les premières
difficultés financières du couple qui surviennent dès 1805, que Juliette
Récamier construit la réputation de son salon. D'abord couru par les figures
mondaines de l'Empire, les cercles de madame Récamier s'élargissent aux
artistes de son temps.
Son appartement
devient, après la mort de Germaine de Staël, en 1817, l 'antichambre de
l'Académie française. Balzac, Mérimée ou Lamartine se croisent dans son
deux-pièces à l'Abbaye-aux-Bois, ici reconstitué. On y admire l'imposante
Corinne au Cap Misène, hommage à madame de Staël. Un portrait de la romancière,
réalisé par François Gérard, et un autre de Chateaubriand, exécuté par Giraudet,
veillent sur le salon de Juliette Récamier.
Bénévent TOSSERI,
à Lyon / http://www.la-croix.com/Semaine-en-images/Juliette-Recamier-au-Musee-des-beaux-arts-de-Lyon-_NG_-2009-04-17-533758
A GREAT COQUETTE :
MADAME RECAMIER.•
THIS clever and entertaining book will be
found well worth reading, though M. Joseph Turquan's lively and peculiarly
French style loses some of its original effect in translation. Madame Recamier,
his beautiful, amiable, and coquettish heroine, has always been something of a
riddle to her countrymen, from the disappointed lovers who crowded round her in
the days of the Directory, the Consulate, and the Restoration to the biographer
of to-day, who-seeks to discover the real secret of her power over society, and
of the traditional charm which lingers round her name.
Readers of M. Turquan's books need hardly
be told that he is generally angry with his heroines. By way of being a candid
and impartial biographer, his aim is rather to pull down than to exalt. As far
as contemporary opinion is flattering, he regards it with a sharply suspicious
eye; while enemies and scandalmongers are tolerably sure of a favourable
bearing. And this method is not without its advantages, both for a reader who
is sure of an extra large pinch of " Gallic salt" in books written on
this principle, and, strange as it may seem, for the subject itself of such a
biography. For instance, this book, in no single way flattering to Madame
Recamier, being more than a little blind to her virtues and very unkind to her
faults, leaves us much where we were before, with a conviction of her
conquering charm, a respect for her character, and a certain compassion for a
woman so tormented, as well as adored, by men, among whom Benjamin Constant,
that creature of unreasonable affectations, was an outstanding specimen. M.
Turquan blames Madame Recamier severely for her heartless treatment of Constant
and a dozen others. No doubt she flirted with them all: she was, as Madame de
Boigne wrote of her, "coquetry personified": but it was always plain
that she cared rather for friendship than for the more passionate kind of love,
and the same writer —not usually indulgent—bore witness to a kindliness and
human sympathy which resulted in the life-long attachment of nearly all the
lovers whom she had reduced to temporary despair. For this cold coquette, with
the genius for self- preservation which rouses such indignant scorn in her
latest biographer, was in reality the moat patient, compassionate, and
charitable of women. " I never knew anyone," wrote Madame de Boigne,
"who knew so well how to pity troubles of all kinds, and to make
allowances, without irritation, for those which had their source in the
weaknesses of humanity." It would have been only natural if a woman of
Madame Recamier's beauty, wealth, influence, and popularity had inspired more
envy and dislike than admiration in a clever, keen-witted, and rather
ill-natured contemporary. Madame de Boigne's high appreciation, expressed in
several passages of her memoirs, is more valuable as testimony than the volumes
written by Madame Recamier's devoted niece, Madame Lenormant, and may be taken
as an antidote to much prejudiced gossip on the other side.
M. Turquan has an amusing story to tell,
and he tells it in his accustomed lively manner with much characteristic
detail, including the curious whispers as to Madame Recamier's marriage and the
explanations of her early life and love affairs which were current in the
malicious world of her day. Jeanne Francois° Julie Adelaide Bernard—always
known as Juliette—was born in 1777, and was married in 1793 in Paris to M. Jacques
Recamier, a business man like M. Bernard, but more prosperous, being a clever
speculator and the head of an important banking concern. He was more than
double his wife's age and a man of low moral character, but a kinder or more
indulgent husband would have been difficult to find, and during the years of
the Directory Madame Recamier, considered "the most beautiful woman in
Paris," was, with Madame Tallien and Madame de Beauharnais, one of the
leaders of a society more extravagantly bent on pleasure than any under the old
regime. She was the most graceful dancer at Barras' famous Luxembourg
In the case of Madame Recamier the illusion
was lasting and triumphant. M. Recamier bought a house in the present Rue de la
Chaussee-d'Autin—then Rue du Mont-Blanc—and furnished it in the finest and most
expensive fashion of the day. Here his hospitality—even if merely " a
commercial manoeuvre "—and the gracious manners of his beautiful and kindly
wife attracted an immense variety of people. Madame Recamier's salon was a not
unsuccessful imitation of those before the Revolution, though it differed from
them in its less exclusive character. This could not have been otherwise, and
the disadvantageous comparison with Madame du Deffand, which M. Turquan is
uncritical enough to make, certainly borders on the absurd. You cannot compare
an amiable, ambitious bourgeoise with a highly trained, keen-witted aristocrat
; it is more than unfair to blame the one for unlikeness to the other. But
Madame Recamier had her own way of attracting both men and women, and in the
end she was certainly more successful than Madame du Deffand. A blind old age
was the destiny of both ; but in the one case surrounded by old lovers and old
friends, in the other embittered and lonely.
The first period of Madame Recamier's
popularity in society ended with the rise of the Empire. During the Consulate
her salon was crowded with people of every shade of thought : there regicides met
émigrés, Napoleon's young generals met Louis XVI.'s officers, literary men and
women found their advantage in making friends with bankers and contractors.
Thither came Talleyrand, Fouche, Madame de Stael—in short, everybody who was
anybody, including, at the time of the Peace of Amiens, a number of foreigners,
among whom the English were conspicuous. In the summer of 1802 Madame Recamier
paid a visit to London Paris Rome and Naples Paris
All this story is told by M. Turquan in a
gay and somewhat mocking spirit. If he cannot deny Madame Recamier charity and
discretion, beauty and attractiveness, he can at least insist on her
self-consciousness, worldliness, and vanity, while throwing doubts on her
general goodness and intelligence and dwelling on the weaknesses from which of
course she was not exempt. Otherwise, to judge from all contemporary accounts
which are not those of her declared enemies, she would have been a quite
unnatural piece of perfection.
Certainly few women, of Madame Recamier's
day or any other, can point to such a string of men—men mostly of distinction,
sometimes of genius—who have laid themselves and their fortunes in passionate
devotion at their feet. In her own way Madame Recamier loved them all. In one
case only, that of Prince Augustus of Prussia
