Tuileries – Géricault
Géricault Life
Map: 1775 J.B. Jaillot (detail), courtesy of David Rumsey (David Rumsey Maps).
Géricault – Tuileries
Théodore Géricault’s was born in Rouen in late September, 1791. Géricault’s maternal uncle Jean-Baptiste Caruel lived and worked in the Hôtel de Longueville in the Tuileries section of Paris from the fall of 1791 until the spring of 1804 (visible in the center of the map above). From 1796, or so, Théodore and his family lived in Paris not far from the Hôtel de Longueville – south and west on the rue de l’Université across the Seine near the home of Géricault’s maternal great aunt and her husband. Théodore’s father, Georges-Nicolas Géricault, walked across one of the city bridges to the Hôtel de Longueville, where he worked alongside his brother-in-law, one of the founding partners of the Caruel-Robillard tobacco concern based at the Hôtel de Longueville.
The Hôtel de Longueville was an immense rectangular structure in the center of Paris just north of the Seine: and was at that time part palace, part tobacco factory, part wallpaper factory, with a large printing press, a ballroom, stables, workshops, entertainments, shops, restaurants and residences spread throughout. The Hôtel de Longueville was also extremely close to the royal palace, across the Place du Carrousel, and close to the Louvre and the Galeries du Louvre, (spelled with one ‘l’ or two, but usually one) – where Géricault’s future teacher Carle Vernet resided with his family.
Important streets include: rue Saint-Thomas du Louvre; rue des Orties; rue Saint-Honoré and rue Saint-Nicaise. The Palais Royal is just north and east of the Hôtel de Longueville, but is not visible in this plan.