Paris Palace
Géricault Life
1789 Les Amours de Pâris et Hélène (detail) Jacques-Louis David Louvre.
A Palace in the Tuileries
1791 was an important year for the Géricault family. In September, Géricault relative Jacques-Florent Robillard signed a nine-year sub-lease for a large section of the palace of the Hôtel de Longueville on the rue Saint-Thomas du Louvre, in Paris. The agreement granted Robillard complete control of the palace and the right to exploit the newly-privatized national tobacco manufactory situated in the south-west section of the same property. This agreement would serve as the new foundation for the family’s fortunes. Jean-Baptiste Caruel, Théodore’s uncle and a founding partner in the tobacco enterprise situated at the Hôtel de Longueville moved in soon after, and began managing the sub-leases for the firm’s business and individual tenants at the hotel.
Théodore Géricault was born just days after Jacques-Florent Robllard signed the sub-lease for that part of the Hôtel de Longueville. Théodore’s mother, father, and grandmother in Rouen, pleased by Théodore’s birth, could now look forward to visiting the Caruel and Robillard apartments in the Hôtel de Longueville.
Marie Antoinette and her husband citizen Capet, Louis XVI, and their family lived in the Tuileries palace opposite. The royal balcony was clearly visible from the new Géricault family Paris home…