96 rue de l’université
Géricault Life
Rue de Belle Chasse & Rue de l’Université – Quartier de Saint Germain (detail) – Atlas général de Paris 1807-1821 – Archives Nationales (France) CP/F/31/2, Planche 13 [Fol. 21]
Théodore Géricault in Paris – 1796/7
2121 saw the digitalization of the Atlas général de Paris (1807-1821) in 2021 by the staff of the Archives Nationales (France), an effort which transforms our ability to examine the city of Paris as it was during this crucial period in history. The representation of the Quartier Saint-Germain in this atlas places the Caruel-Géricault’s apartments at 96 rue de l’Université just steps from the Robillard-Caruel apartments at the corner of the rue de Belle Chasse and the rue de Lille (formerly the rue de Bourbon). Géricault’s Caruel and Robillard relations played an important role in shaping the future artist’s life. We shall continue our examination of Géricault’s life on the rue de l’Universite in greater detail in each issue of Géricault Life Magazine throughout 2022.
Note on the map above: – a relatively narrow front onto a Paris street often leads to a much broader garden or courtyard deeper within a block.
For those new to this discussion, read the excerpt below from our July 2019 article on the 1804 Caruel lease of the Géricault family apartments. (See also our article on the 1792 Robillard-Caruel apartments from June, 2019.)
1804 rue de l’Université lease
“…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 the life of Théodore Géricault.
The agreement nullified the previous contract between Desmaisons and (we presume) Louise Thérèse de Poix, Théodore Géricault’s maternal grandmother – and the widow of Jean Vincent Caruel, Théodore’s maternal grandfather. 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…”
