Hôtel de Longueville
Salle des Fêtes
Gericault Life
1792 Verniquet Map of Paris – the Tuileries (detail) courtesy of David Rumsey Maps.
Grand Opening – Salle des Fêtes at the Maison Longueville
Théodore Géricault, regular readers know, had strong personal connections to the maison Longueville, as the Hôtel de Longueville was officially known during this time. His father Georges Nicolas Géricault began working at the tobacco manufactory in the maison Longueville in 1796 or 1797. Jean Baptiste Caruel, Théodore’s maternal uncle and one of the founding partners of the family tobaco concern, lived in sumptuous apartments in the maison Longueville. Other partners also lived in the same group of buildings, or close by.
The opening of the ballroom at the cy-devant Hôtel de Longueville on February 15, 1798, was therefore a cultural event of some signficance for the extended Géricault family in Paris, and for many others. Visitors to Paris soon made a point of attending the balls at the maison Longueville. These balls acquired a notoriety which attracted attendees from all social classes. To learn about the individuals directly responsible for organizing the balls at the Hôtel de Longueville, please read Entrepreneurs des fêtes.
Grand Ballroom Opens
In 2019, we situated the ballroom within the north-western quadrant of the Hôtel de Longueville in a space formerly dedicated to the manufacture and sale of wallpaper, an enterprise known as the Manufacture Républicaine de Papier-peints. The grand opening of the ballroom, or salle de fêtes, at the “maison de Longueville” was announced on Febrary 2, 1798 in the Journal de Paris. Read this notice and a second announcemement from that time.
Fêtes & Concerts, maison de Longueville, place du Carrouzel.
“L’ouverture de l’emplacement destiné à ces Fêtes, se sera du 15 au 20 de ce mois (Pluviôse) *, elle sera annoncée par des affiches & invitations. Cet emplacement est distribué en trois parties coupées par des galeries. (* February 3-8, 1798)
La première partie, formant paralellogramme, est décorée d’architecture en marbre blanc, recouverte de draperies bleues retroussées à l’antique, ornées de franges & de bas-reliefs.
Le seconde partie, formant salon, est aussi décorée d’architecture, avec fond marbre jaune antique, d’arcades enrichies de tableaux agréables, glaces & figures, ornement en or, garlandes & gaînes portant des corbeilles de fleurs. Le plafond est tendu par une banne couleur de rose, enrichie de broderies, soutenue par des torses de verdure.
Le 3e partie formant demi-circulaire, est décorée en charmilles, avec soubassement en marbre blanc, surmonté de vases remplis de fleurs; au travers de la charmille, on apperçoit des lointains & des vues de paysages; au milieu du cirque, est un foyer en marbre blanc, au-dessus duquel sont des cariatides soutenant une corniche portant aussi des vases remplis de fleurs.
Les galeries formées par de petites colonnes, opèrent la division de local; ces colones sont, ainsi que les soubassemens, en marbre blanc, avec chapiteaux & bases dorés. Aux extrémités de ces galeries, sont placés de grand poêles en porphyre.
La principale entrée pour arriver dans les salles destinées au fêtes, a son issue sur la rue Nicaise, presque vis-à-vis l’ancien magasin de l’Opéra.”
Journal de Paris – 14 Pluviôse, An VI (February 2, 1798) Spectacles – Avis Divers
Program – Access – Dress Code
Fêtes Maison Longueville, Place du Carrousel.
“La Seconde Fête commencera aujourd’hui 27 pluviôse (February 15, 1798), 8 heures précises, par l’ouverture de la Pres, suivie d’un Bal paré. – La troisième Fête aura lieu le 30 (February 18, 1798.) On est prié de faire arriver les voitures par la rue S. Honoré, pour faciliter le défile par la place du Carrousel. On pourra se procurer des billets d’avance, en s’adressant au portier du Carrousel, qui indiquera le bureau des abonnemens. – On n’entrera point en bottes. Le prix est de 5 francs pour chaque billet d’entrée.”
Journal de Paris, 27 pluviôse, An VI (February 15, 1798)
Commentary
The first announcement, published on 14 Pluvôise Year 6, or February 2, 1798, provided contemporary readers with enough information to construct a clear mental picture of the space. The salle des fêtes was divided into three parts which we assume ran west to east. The description permited readers to anticipate the aesthetics and ambiance of each individual part. Readers were invited to imagine the different colors, shapes, materials, and textures that made up each part of the salle des fêtes.
The most noteworthy feature of the salle des fêtes, however, may be the “3e partie formant demi-circulaire…” The third part of the room west to east ended in a half-circle. Curved space was increasingly a feature of finer concert halls in Europe by then. The parallelogram design of the entrance section of the room close by the rue S. Nicaise may also have had some acoustic function.
This willingness to sacrifice interior space for improved acoustics suggests that sound mattered as much as color and light to the architects and the investors behind the salle des fêtes. Ticket holders could dine or mingle in comfort whilst listening to quality musical entertainment before the ball began. Competition for audiences and subscribers was stiff; providing an evening of pleasure and entertainments of the highest possible standard (for the money) mattered.
The second announcement, published on the day of the second fête (27 Pluviôse Year 6, February 15, 1798) is shorter and offers additional practical information. The initial announcement allowed readers unfamiliar with the Tuileries section of Paris to find the entrance on the rue S. Nicaise, opposite the former Opera. Attendees arriving by coach are requested to approach the maison Longueville via the rue S. Honoré and proceed by turn. Attendees wishing to purchase tickets in advance may do so; the porter at the place du Carrousel entrance will provide directions to the ticket office. No boots permitted. Tickets 5 francs each.
English visitors who arrived in Paris after 1800 applauded the organized access and egress of the Paris balls. As we can see in this second announcement, the fête, or party, precedes the dancing of the Bal paré, or fancy dress ball.
Théodore Géricault loved music and was reputed to have a fine singing voice. His love of pleasure makes it easy to imagine him singing alone, or with friends. Géricault loved the opera. Music making was part of life in a world yet to experience recorded sound.
Henrion
To conclude our examination of the salle des fêtes at the maison Longueville we reprint part of our translation of Charles Henrion’s contemporary account of the ball there in 1798, or 1799, a mixture of social commentary and wit:
“…I was at the Ball of the Hotel Longueville in a salon as majestic as the gallery du Louvre, where we become lost in this great space; where thirty clusters of sixteen dancers wheel and circle, for we do not dance as eight there, as our fathers did. Three hundred women swirl like waves sweeping and moving together. One wears an elegant hat of pink satin, glistening with luminous snowflakes from the studios of Wenzell; others choose hats adorned with an artistically placed feather, the tip may touch a roguish eye, or grace an ear attuned only to the language of love. Others dress in small bonnets called à la Paysanne. A simple undergarment and veil of modest gauze alone keeps them cool. The unpretentious covering not only embellishes the body, but identifies the wearer as a rose of modesty, or lily of innocence….Who are these small, giddy fools with uncovered heads? Each is a kind of modern Titus or Caracalla, known now by the names Sophie or Ursule, and who are, without doubt, quite happy to simply count sighs.
The instruments resound, and the baton of Hullin gives birth to voluptuous curling waves, which roll one upon one another with the majesty of celestial bodies, or with the soft rippling of flowering prairie grasses, balanced by the Zephyr’s warm summer wind. The echoes of golden trumpets repeat, and with the prolonged accompaniment of horns syncopated in two measures, we are stirred by the moving sounds of the waltz.
Ah! without this harmonious music, we would hear only the cascade of sighs emanating from hearts blessed by the charms of these delicious women – whose sensuality is multiplied in magical mirrors reflecting a thousand graces, before a single feeling is actually produced. The young man is seduced, his heart beats faster, his senses are inflamed. He comes seeking happiness, and often does not find even pleasure.
Vast salon! Do you contain one hundred different peoples? No, I am never confused among your dancers, where the modest worker finely dressed on the decadi finds innocent release from her long labors, and the courtisan amuses herself with the puppet she bribes, and who deceives her. But these beings, so different, do not mingle their games; each dance is composed differently. Near the entrance, we find two quadrilles of negresses who are ignored by those who dance nearby, as with neighbouring peoples who never speak to each other, whose languages would first need to be translated to be heard…”
Charles Henrion “Bal de l’Hôtel Longueville “(pp. 14-18) in Encore Un Tableau de Paris, Paris: Chez Fauvre, An VIII, (1799-1800)
Manufacture Républicaine de Papier-Peints
Étienne Anisson Duperron established the Manufacture Républicains de Papier-peints (the Republican Wallpaper Manufactory) at the Hôtel de Longueville no later that early 1792. One of Anisson Duperron’s junior partners was the designer and artisan Jean Démosthenes Dugourc. Dugourc’s arabesque wallpaper likely covered significant portions of the space in which ballroom at the Hôtel de Longueville was situated. We do not know whether Jean Marie Détailleur and his partners re-papered over Dugourc’s designs for the grand opening of the salle des fêtes in 1798.
Etude pour tenture ou panneau de papier peint, or Study for hanging or wallpaper (detail) Jean-Démosthène Dugourc. Image courtesy of Musée Carnavalet.
* Corrected and reformatted November 8, 2022. The modified Verniquet map of the Tuileires at the top of the page replaces the sample of Dugourc’s arabesques from the Musée Carnavelet originally placed there. The Dugourc sample is still visible, but at the bottom of the page. The concluding discussion was added and the erroneous term: the “Revolutionary Wallpaper Manufactory” in the “Grand Ballroom Opens” was removed and replaced with the more accurate: Manufacture Républicaine de Papier-peints.