1796 Pension Dubois & Loiseau
1796 – Pension Dubois & Loyseau*
In July of 1796, Johann Christian Friedrich Roch – a young publisher and journalist based in Leipzig in the Electorate of Saxony – produced an article on the state of education in France in his paper the Allgemeiner Litterarischer Anzeiger. Leipzig is a city with a rich intellectual tradition and Roch was an enthusiastic observer of French culture and science. In this article on French education, one of the first of many articles the Allgemeiner Litterarischer Anzeiger published on France, Roch singled out the Dubois-Loyseau private boarding school for special praise. In doing so, Roch provides us with invaluable information regarding the foundation of Théodore Géricault’s first boarding school in Paris by the three principals: M. Dubois, M. Loyseau, and his wife Madame Loyseau, as well as the courses offered at this institution.
“… Amidst this period of decline in [French] public education a few private institutions now provide alternatives. These are now increasing even with the establishment of new public schools. As an example of what such establisments offer, we cite the new institute which Citoyen Dubois, Professor of Mathematics and Physics at the former University of Paris, and Citoyen Loyseau, who previously directed a private institution of this kind with his wife, have just announced. They want to restrict themselves to just a few pupils (payment depends on their age). They plan to provide courses in the sciences and the arts, in mathematics, physics and chemistry; in geography and history; in French, Latin and English; in writing and reading; in drawing, in music, in dancing and in fencing. Within this setting, Citoyenne Loyseau will ensure the well-being and physical development of each student.”
(1796 07 29 Allgemeiner Litterarischer Anzeiger, (p.97) Leipzig, ed. Johann Christian Friedrich Roch.)
Commentary
Géricault scholars have long known that Théodore Géricault studied at the pension Dubois and Loiseau in Paris, probably from 1797. I previously confirmed the location of the pension Dubois and Loiseau on the Rue de Monsieur in 1798. Roch provides us with our only portait of the Pension Dubois & Loiseau (Loyseau) in 1796. Roch identifies three principals by family name. My own research confirms the three individuals Roch names to be Antoine Dubois, Jean-François Loyseau, and Marie-Françoise Danion. A fourth individual: Claire-Marie Loyseau, a Loyseau relation who married Antoine Dubois in August, 1794, also played a key role at the school. I will discuss each individual and their personal and professional relationships elsewhere at greater length, as I will the equally useful details regarding fees, admission criteria, and courses offered at the Pension Dubois & Loiseau in 1796.
Johann Roch does not confirm the precise location of the pension Dubois & Loiseau in Paris in 1796. We must therefore consider the possibility that the principals established the pension Dubois & Loiseau in a different part of Paris, prior to 1796, and then later moved the school to the Rue de Monsieur. The evidence available argues against such a possibility. Other sources place the pension Dubois & Loiseau on the Rue de Monsieur in 1797. Relocating the school within a year, or two, would be difficult. Roch clearly implies the pension Dubois & Loiseau is a new institution. My own view is that the Dubois and Loyseau family unit first established the Pension Dubois & Loiseau sometime in late 1795, or early 1796, at its site on the Rue de Monsieur. The activities of the principals prior to 1796 support this interpretation.
Dubois – Loiseau Press Reports 1793-1795
Three sources in the contemporary press connect “Dubois” and “Loyseau/Loiseau” to pensions, institutes, or maisons d’éducation prior to 1796. One notice in the Affiches, annonces et divers from May, 1793, advertises a position in a maison d’éducation and lists Citoyenne Loyseau as the contact person. Two other notices in the regular Paris press alert the public to courses offered by a Monsieur Dubois – former Professor at the University of Paris.
1793 05 16 Affiches, annonces et divers, ou Journal Général de France – Supplément du Jeudi 16 Mai 1793. p. 2101 “Seeking a Lady of 30 years, single or widowed, without children, knowing how to write, sew well, iron, and with the skills to take care of the linen & clothes of the students of a maison d’éducation. Contact la citoyenne Loyseau, rue neuve de Berry, Section des Champs-Elysées, n° 7.”
1794 06 01 Journal de Paris National “Mathematics Announcement. Citizen A. Dubois, who has produced several public courses in Mathematics, in his capacity as Professer at the former University of Paris, proposes to teach this science. Possessing a wealth of experience, he can promise that candidates possessing ordinary intelligence and the ability to work will, in a short time, acquire the skills to pursue a career in engineering, the artillery, the navy, and the construction of bridges and roads.”
“He also intends to teach the calculations related to the new system of weights and measures, surveying, and the preparation of plans – using instruments designed to follow these new systems.”
“To learn more, visit rue Honoré, between the rue de la Magdeleine & the Boulevard, N° 4.”
1795 11 12 Journal de Paris “Announcement: Ant. Dubois, Professeur of mathematics at the former University of Paris, will open a new course in mathematics next frimaire first [1795 11 22]. This course will be open to just six individuals. Each are free to benefit from all other lessons offered chez citizen Dubois, rue & porte Honoré, n°. 10.”
Commentary
All three press notices tell us something different and helpful. The name Dubois is extremely common, a fact worth keeping in mind. In 1794, Monsieur Dubois sought students wishing to learn Mathematics requisite for military careers and engineering. Dubois was also preparing to train individuals in France’s new metric system. The 1795 Dubois notice limits the number of students to six, which confirms exclusivity and implies higher fees. We can assume that some of the courses advertised “chez Dubois” available to these six students in 1795 are similar to those promoted in the 1794 advertisement. Worth noting on this topic are two important developments which doubtless affected the private education market.
The University of Paris closed in the spring of 1792. France went to war with Austria and Prussia that same spring and the need for military engineers and scientists effectively displaced all other priorities in the eyes of the national government, a fact reflected in the first Dubois reference. The tide of war had turned in France’s favor by 1795, in part because by that point France’s national education system was almost entirely dedicated to educating older students in military science and engineering. As a result of the government’s focus, national efforts to provide French children with quality public education at the primary school level were effectively abandoned. By 1795, war was no longer the sole, or main, driving factor in French education. Wealthy parents who wished to provide their children with a less-martial educational experience looked to the private sector to fill this need.
The 1793 notice in the Affiches, read in isolation, appears to do little more than explain the duties of a mature woman engaged in the domestic arts at a maison d’éducation. The notice, however, also places a Citoyenne Loyseau at this particular school at n°7 Rue Neuve-de-Berry that March. The 1793 notice, combined with the description of the duties of Citoyenne Loyseau at the Pension Dubois & Loyseau in 1796, which Roch provides, greatly improves our ability to construct a clearer picture of Théodore Géricault’s experiences at the pension Dubois & Loiseau during the years 1797, or 1798 through 1804, as well as some of the dynamics within this institution.
Context
Before plunging deeper into Théodore Géricault’s educational experiences in Paris we need first to reaffirm the position of the Catholic Church in France’s long history, and in France’s schools and universities in particular. Many readers will be familiar with this reality. Overstating the centrality of religion and faith to French economic, social, political, and educational dynamics during Géricault’s lifetime is virtually impossible. The Catholic Church guided and supervised all education in France from the time of Charlemagne until the French Revolution. Efforts to dechristianize France and France’s education system during the years 1789 through 1800 succeeded, to varying degrees, in some regions, but met with violent resistance in many others – including in Normandy, home to many of Théodore Géricault’s closest relations.
How did members of Théodore Géricault’s family in Normandy and Paris react to these efforts to limit the overarching authority of the Catholic Church and to dechristianize France’s schools? All Théodore Géricault’s adult relations (and most educated adults in France) had been educated in Catholic schools and universities. Moreover, several key Géricault family members held important positions within the church. For the moment, however, my focus will remain on the Pension Dubois & Loiseau.
I will discuss elsewhere the battles which took place over the role of religion and the religious in French schools and colleges during Théodore Géricault’s youth, and the Géricault family’s reaction to the attacks on the place of the Catholic Church in French society. Indeed, I will argue that the many battles fought by the Catholic Church to re-establish control over French society top to bottom, battles waged throughout the artist’s short life, had a personal and profound impact upon Théodore Géricault and his art.
(*See preceding articles on this topic.)