Hôtel de Longueville – Messageries
Géricault Life
I822-1823 – Two Post Horses at the Door of a Stable, or A Postillion Feeding His Horses. Théodore Géricault, Louvre.
Stagecoach Lines at the Hôtel de Longueville
We began our examination of messageries (stagecoach lines) at the Hôtel de Longueville in our October issue, with a citation from the Journal de Toulouse of July 12th, 1797, which stated that the Paris base of the Rozeleur Messageries in Toulouse was in the “maison Longueville” near the former Palais Royal. We cannot yet establish whether or not Alexandre Fadatte was a Rozeleur partner. However, we can confirm that Alexandre Fadatte was operating a stageoach line at the Hôtel de Longueville in 1797. Théodore Géricault’s father worked at the Hôtel de Longueville at this time. Jean-Baptiste Caruel and other relations lived at the Hôtel de Longueville. We can thus be quite sure that Théodore Géricault as a youth was quite familiar with the stage coaches, horses, grooms, and postilions working at the messageries at the Hôtel de Longueville.
Fadatte at the Hôtel de Longueville: 1798-1799
In Year 7 (Sept. 22, 1798 – Sept. 22, 1799), Fadatte is identified as Entrepreneur de Messageries in the Passage Longueville in the Almanach du Commerce et de Toutes les Adresses de la Ville de Paris, Pour L’An VII. Paris: Favre and B. Duchesne, Part II, p.131,
Fadatte (Entrepreneur).
Passage Longueville, place du Carousel, section des Tuileries.
Pour Nantes par
Angers, Orléans, Tours.
Tous les jours, 5 heures du matin.
A reference to transport from the Passage Longueville to Nantes also appears in the Manuel du Voyageur A Paris, Contenant la description des Spectacles, Manufactures, Etablissemens publics, Jardins, Cabinets, curieux, etc. A Paris Chez Favre, Libraire, Palais-Egalité; Galeries de bois, N° 220, aux neuf Muses. An VII (1798). p. 219
Nantes, par Angers, Orléans, Tours; Passage Longueville, place du Carrousel.
Lease agreements at the Hôtel de Longueville normally stipulate that new tenants cannot enter into commercial competition with other tenants. It is highly unlikely, therefore, that two different lease holders would be permitted to operate stagecoaches serving Nantes, via Angers, Orléans, and Tours at the same time at the Hôtel de Longueville. Our view is that the entry on page 219 of the Manual du Voyageur A Paris refers to the Fadatte Messageries. The Manuel also includes a description of the balls at the Hôtel de Longueville discussed in our September and October issues.
Stagecoaches and the lives of those who work and live around horses figure prominently in the art of Théodore Géricault, even if Géricault preferred to paint and draw the animals. The Messageries of Paris and France figured prominently in the lives of other members of Géricault’s extended family as well, however, as we shall see in upcoming issues.
1803 The Arrival of a Stagecoach in the Courtyard of the “Messageries,” rue Notre-Dame-des-Victoires in Paris. (Detail) Louis-Leopold Boilly , Salon of 1804. , Louvre.