1805 François Caruel
Géricault Life
“Portait d’un homme dit “Le Vendéen” Théodore Géricault, Musée du Louvre (Date de création/fabrication : 1e quart du XIXe siècle (1800 – 1825)
François Jean Louis Caruel
François Jean Louis Caruel is the least known of Théodore Géricault’s Caruel relations, despite the fact that François lived in Paris not far from the Hotel de Longueville, the centre of Géricault-Caruel family activities. In this article, we begin our examination of François Caruel in order to better understand this enigmatic individual and his impact on Théodore Géricault, and Théodore’s family of origin.
Early Life
François Jean Louis Caruel was born in the home of Philippe de Poix and Catherine Tilloy, his maternal grand-parents, in Dieppe, in the paroisse Saint-Jacques on November 14, 1751. François was the first child of Louise Thérèse de Poix and Jean Vincent Caruel, procurer for the parlement of Rouen. At this time his parents lived on the rue Ganterie in Rouen. Other children followed – Marie Jeanne Louise, the future mother of Théodore Géricault (17-1-1753; Marie Jeanne Philippine Cécil (20-10-1754); Jean Baptiste, (9-7-1757); and Félix Louise, (31-3-1764).
François was therefore barely fourteen months old when Louise Thérèse de Poix gave birth to Théodore’s mother was born in mid-January, 1753. The two infants were close in age and must have been a constant presence in each other’s lives during the first years of their lives. The following year Marie Jeanne Philippine Cécil was born. François now had two younger sisters. Three years later, a younger brother Jean Baptiste arrived. Six years and two sisters separated the two boys. In 1764, Louise Thérèse de Poix gave brith to a third daughter, perhaps a surprise to all.
The acte de baptême of Félix Louise Caruel in Rouen in March of 1764 at the church of Saint-Martin-sur-Renelle establishes to two new facts of note about François Caruel as a youth. The act records, first, that François Caruel participated in the ceremony as godfather to his younger sister, Felix Louise – and that François was a student at the Séminaire de Joyeuse in the parish of Saint-Godard in Rouen on this date in 1764. Documents in the Archives départmentales de Seine Maritime in Rouen (D 297) confirm this fact, and that “M. Caruel” was at the Séminaire Joyeuse from January 1763 to the end of 1765.
Secrets and Conflicts
Michel Le Pesant, in his seminal account of Théodore Géricault’s family life,* describes the mental breakdwon of Jean Vincent Charles Caruel, his committment, and his attempts to twice have his eldest son François confined in a maison de force, or mental hospital. All these events point to a signficant level of dysfunctionality and tension within the Caruel home on the rue Ganterie, a topic Le Pesant barely broaches. The archival documents Le Pesant cites, however, provide a much clearer picture of life within the Caruel home during the years Géricault’s mother and her siblings were growing up with their father and elder brother.
Early in 1772, Jean Vincent Charles Caruel petitioned the crown to pay part of the costs of having François Caruel confined in a maison de force. Before the crown could respond properly to Jean Vincent Charles, the facts underpinning such a request had to investigated. The crown’s inquiry into François Caruel’s state of mind, then nearly twenty-one years of age, is detailed in letters dated 17 February and 2 March, 1772, between Henri Leonard Jean Baptiste Bertin, in Versailles, and Louis Thiroux de Crosne, the intendant of Rouen, who Bertin charged with investigating the request.
M. de Crosne contacted the family who provided him with letters attesting to the infirmities plaguing Françis Caruel as a youth. The intendant reported that “Le Sr. Carüel fils, from the tenderest of ages displayed mauvaises inclinations. These bad inclinations within him increased as the child aged. He never lost his difficult character His parents employed every possible means to temper his bad inclinations, but to no avail. They sent him to different schools in the hope of rendering him more docile and of forming in him a sense of morality. Nobody could change him, and even noted a sort of weakness of mind and imbecility in him. This young man who is actually twenty years of age is possessed by a violent fury. One must fear what sort of violence may follow…”
M. de Crosne completes his report by noting that “The request of Sieur and Dame Caruel appears sound to me. ” “La demande des Sr et De Caruel me paroit fondée.” (Enfermement de François Caruel, lettre de l’intendant Thiroux de Crosne au secrétarie de l’État Bertin, 2 mars 1772, C 20, Archives départementales de Seine-Martime)
First Remarks
M. de Crosne’s report to M. Bertin, if we can rely upon the intendant, answers several important questions Michel Le Pesant skips past. The first question concerns the genesis of François’ difficulties. As M. Le Pesant notes, Jean Vincent Charles first tried to have his son committed in 1770. However, M. le Crosne’s letter of 1772 makes clear that François’ problems began far earlier and actually emerged in his infancy, around the time his younger sister, Géricault’s mother, was born. Marie Jeanne Louise therefore lived her entire life to the age of eighteen with an older brother whose actions and moods must have induced considerble stress, to say the least, in those closest at hand.
The second question concerns the credibility of M. de Crosne’s report. Michel Le Pesant notes only that Jean Vincent Charles attempted to have François confined. As Jean Vincent Charles Caruel would himself be confined to a maison de force, the absence of a reliable second witness identified in M. Le Pesant’s article raises concerns about the reliablity of Jean Vincent Charles’ complaints about the mental fitness of his son. M. de Crosne’s report, however, makes clear that both parents were behind the request for financial assistance, and that had both tried for many years to provide the care François evidently required. The Séminaire Joyeuse was, it seems, one of several institutions which evidently failed to help François find his place in the world.
We do not know how well Théodore Géricault knew his maternal uncle François Caruel. We will consider this and other questions next.
* Michel Le Pesant “Documents inédits sur Géricault”, Revue de l’Art, n° 31, 1976, pp. 73-81).