Paris 2015: Théophile Gautier in Neuilly-sur-Seine (92)

'LE POÈTE
THÉOPHILE GAUTIER
NÉ À TARBES LE 31 AOÛT 1811
EST MORT DANS CETTE MAISON
LE 23 OCTOBRE 1872'

 

'Maison de Théophile Gautier

En 1857, quittant la rue de la Grange-Batelière à Paris, l'écrivain Théophile Gautier (Tarbes, 1811 – Neuilly-sur-Seine, 1872) s'installe au 32, rue de Longchamp, sur les conseils des directeurs du Moniteur universel, journal dont il est l'un des principaux collaborateurs.

Avec sa compagne, Ernesta Grisi, cantatrice d'origine italienne, ses deux filles, Judith et Éstelle, ses deux sœurs, ses chats, ses livres et ses objets d'art, il emménage dans cette petite maison de campagne à deux étages, pourvue d'un jardin en contrebas.

C'est ici qu'il a fait paraître notamment Le Roman de la Momie (1858), Le Captaine Fracasse (1863), des récits de voyages tel que Voyages en Russie (1866), sans oublier ses innombrables critiques dramatiques et artistiques. Sa maison accueille entre ses murs écrivains et artistes : on y côtoie Charles Baudelaire, Alexandre Dumas père et fils, Ernest Feydeau, Gustave Doré, Edmond et Jules de Goncourt, Gustave Flaubert ou Pierre Puvis de Chavannes.

Durant la Commune de Paris, en 1871, la Maison subit de lourds dégâts. Réfugié à Versailles, Théophile Gautier regagne Neuilly au printemps 1871 et enterprend de remettre l'édifice en état. Malade, il y décède le 23 octobre 1872 entouré des siens.

Entre 1873 et 1876, un décor commémoratif dédié à Gautier, est mis en place sur la façade : un buste de l'écrivain et une plaque de marbre signalent au passant l'identité de l'ancien locataire.'

My Translation:

'Théophile Gautier's house'

In 1857, on leaving rue de la Grange-Batelière in Paris, the writer Théophile Gautier (Tarbes, 1811 – Neuilly-sur-Seine, 1872) moved into 32 rue de Longchamp following the advice of the directors of Moniteur universel, a paper to which he was one of the main contributors.

With his companion Ernesta Grisi, a prima donna of Italian origin, his two daughters Judith and Éstelle, his two sisters, his cats, his books and his objets d'art, he moved into this two-storey house with a garden at the back.

Notably, it is here that he published Le Roman de la Momie (1858), Le Captaine Fracasse (1863), accounts of voyages such as Voyages en Russie (1866), not to mention his innumerable dramatic and artistic criticisms. Within these walls he welcomed writers and artists: one could rub shoulders with Charles Baudelaire, Alexandre Dumas père and fils, Ernest Feydeau, Gustave Doré, Edmond and Jules de Goncourt, Gustave Flaubert or Pierre Puvis de Chavannes.

During the Paris Commune of 1871 the house was seriously damaged. Exiled to Versailles, Théophile Gautier returned to Neuilly in the sping of 1871 and undertook the restoration of the house. In poor health, he died here on 23 October 1872 surrounded by his family.

Between 1873 and 1876 a commemorative decoration dedicated to Gautier was placed on the facade: a bust of the writer and a marble plaque informing the passerby of the identity of the former resident.'

Another old plaque is affixed to the house:

'IL EST DÉFENDU

DE LAISSER PASSER

LES CHEVAUX ET BESTIAUX

SUR LE TROTTOIR'

'IT IS FORBIDDEN

FOR HORSES AND CATTLE

TO BE ALLOWED TO WALK

ON THE PAVEMENT'

Théophile Gautier: Cimetière de Montmartre #3

 

'THÉOPHILE GAUTIER

1811 – 1872

SES AMIS'

 

There is a book, a tribute to Gautier, called Le Tombeau de Théophile Gautier, by Victor Hugo, Léon Dierx, Anatole France, et al. The link is below:

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Le Tombeau de Théophile Gautier (1873)

Place des Vosges, 4th arrondissement, Paris, France: Literary Île-de-France #38

Victor Hugo moved into the second floor of the Hôtel Rohan-Guéménée, 6 Place des Vosges, with his wife and four children in 1833. This was to be his longest stay in one place, and he left in 1848.

And I think they tend to over-emphasize the point, but:

'VICTOR HUGO

HABITA DANS CET HÔTEL

DE 1833 À 1848'

There's a great deal of information about Louise Michel in the museum, such as a booklet in the anteroom that reproduces a verse from Hugo's poem 'Vito Major', written after the fall of the Commune, in which he praises her hatred for inhumanity and her care for children, seeing a great tenderness beneath her anger:

'Ta bonté, ta fierté de femme populaire,
L'âpre attendrissement qui dort sous ta colère,
Ton long regard de haine à tous les inhumains,
Et les pieds des enfants réchauffés dans tes mains.'

The letters between them were many. The anarchist and the republican evidently had their differences, but they both believed in justice, equality, freedom for children and women, and a free and non-religious education system.

Two examples of Michel's novels are shown in the museum, La Misère (1882) and Les Mépriseés, both of which were co-written with Victoire Marguerite Tinayre (1831—95), writing as 'Jean Guêtré'. Tinayre led free schools in the Second Empire and took part in the Commune when she was the school inspector for the 12th arrondissement. La Misère was a popular success, and concerns the question of prostitution, a theme also taken up in Les Mépriseés, which was heavily influenced by Hugo's Les Misérables.

Madame Paul Mauride by Jean-Auguste Dominique Ingres. Mauride was a republican who visited Michel in her prison in Versailles.

The marble bust of Hugo is by David d'Angers (alias Jean-Pierre David), and was made in 1938. The two had met in 1927, and Hugo dedicated two poems to him.

During Hugo's exile in Guernsey, his mistress Juliette Drouet lived in La Farrue, a house close to Hugo's family, for seven years before moving to rue de Hauteville in 1864, the very place where Hugo had spent his first year in exile. It was called Hauteville Fairy, and Hugo took care of the décor.

These two photos show a reconstruction of Drouet's Salon chinois at Guernsey, which was installed here for the inugural ceremony of the museum in 1903. It is, entirely, a work of Hugo's imagination.

A reconstruction of Hugo's salon, rue de Clichy.

Next door, there's a plaque to remind that Théophile Gautier once lived there:

'LE POÈTE

THÉOPHILE GAUTIER

A VÉCU DANS CETTE MAISON

DE 1828 À 1834'

A little further along is another plaque, telling of the birth of Madame de Sévigné:

'DANS CET HÔTEL

EST NÉE

LE 6 FÉVRIER 1626

MARIE DE RABUTIN CHANTAL

MARQUISE DE SÉVIGNÉ'

Beyond the Place des Vosges, at 62 rue St-Antoine, is L'Hôtel de Sully. Here in 1725, when Voltaire was dining, a servant entered to tell him that someone wanted to see him outside. It was Guy-Auguste de Rohan-Chabot, who had insulted Voltaire for not using his real name, Jean François-Marie Arouet. Rohan-Chabot's servants beat him up with sticks. Voltaire never got his revenge.

Today, the hôtel is home to the national archives.

My Victor Hugo posts:
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Victor Hugo's Hauteville House, Guernsey
Victor Hugo, Place des Vosges
Victor Hugo in Bièvres
Victor Hugo in Candie Gardens, St Peter Port, Guernsey
Émilie de Putron in Foulon Cemetery, Guernsey