Rue de l’Université
Géricault Life
Rue de l’Université in 1808 (Maire Map)
Théodore Géricault in Paris
Théodore Géricault lived with his family on the rue de l’Université in Paris for approximately a decade. For the Géricault-Caruel family in Rouen, life in Paris initially consisted of short visits to the Robillard de Poix apartments on the rue de Belle Chasse and Jean Baptiste Caruel’s apartments in the Hôtel de Longueville. We do not know the precise year the Géricault family moved from Rouen, the precise location of the family apartment on the rue de l’Université, or even whether all the family members living on the rue de l’Avalasse in Rouen moved to Paris at the same time. In 1808, Géricault’s father declared that he had lived in Paris for about twelve years, which would mean the Géricault family was in Paris, somewhere, by 1796.
We know that Pierre Antoine Robillard and Marie Thérèse de Poix occupied an apartment at the corner of the rue Belle Chasse and the rue de Bourbon (renamed the rue de Lille and visible on the map above), from 1792. We can also see the proximity of the Géricault family residences in the faubourg Saint Germain to the Galleries du Louvre, with the Hôtel de Longueville and place du Carrousel just beyond. We shall discuss Théodore’s life on the rue de l’Université in more detail in issues to come. Théodore Géricault’s maternal uncle Simeon Bonnesœur Bourgionière, member of the national convention for Manche, lived farther away, on the opposite side of the Seine, near the Champs d’Elysée.
1804 rue de l’Université lease
An 12 Ventôse 28, (March 19th, 1804): – Bail à loyer – Charles Pierre Desmaisons to Jean Baptiste Caruel. Image courtesy of the Archives Nationales (France) MC/ET/XIX/924
The Desmaisons-Caruel rental agreement of March 19th, 1804, is one of the most significant archival documents uncovered in our research. The document identifies Charles Pierre Desmaisons as the owner of the building in which the Géricault-Caruel-de Poix apartment was situated. The agreement also sheds new light on the Géricault family structure at a crucial period in Théodore’s life.
The agreement nullified the previous contract between Desmaisons and (we presume) Louise Thérèse de Poix, Théodore Géricault’s maternal grandmother – and widow of Jean Vincent Caruel. However, the fact that M. Géricault (Théodore’s father) is also mentioned twice in the 1804 agreement suggests that his name may well have also appeared on the original rental agreement/lease. Théodore’s mother Louise Marie Jeanne Géricault (Caruel) is referred to as Madame Géricault, and appears literally as an asterisk. Whatever the terms of the agreement which preceded this 1804, lease, the March 19, 1804, agreement makes Jean Baptiste Caruel, Théodore’s uncle, solely responsible for the family apartment on the rue de l’Université.
Under the terms of the new lease, Jean Baptiste Caruel acquires the right to place two carriages within the stables, storage space within the cellars, and to use three rooms in that part of the family apartment facing onto the courtyard and the street.
We do not know whether Jean Baptiste Caruel spent much time in the Géricault family home on the rue de l’Université. His physical presence and the fact that he assumed financial and legal responsibilities for the space must have had some impact on Géricault family dynamics.
Signatures: Desmaisons – Caruel; courtesy Archives Nationales (France) MC/ET/XIX/924