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Riddles and secrets of Madame Recamier - the first beauty of Paris, the owner of the most famous literary salon

Jeanne Françoise Julie Adelaide Bernard, married madame recamier, was reputed to be the first Parisian beauty who drove men crazy, and was the mistress of the most famous literary salon... Frequent guests were Madame de Stael, Chateaubriand, Sainte-Beuve and many other representatives of the creative elite. Her portraits were painted by the most famous artists. It still remains a mystery what this woman was like and how she ended up in the center of the cultural life of Paris.

Left - Firmin Massaud. Portrait of Julie Recamier, 1807. Right - Jean-Francois Valli. Julie Recamier, 1800

In 1793, when the girl was not yet 16, she was married to a banker who was 27 years older than her. The relationship between the spouses was extremely friendly. According to rumors, Jacques-Roger Recamier had an affair with her mother before. In this regard, a version appeared that Julie was in fact the banker's daughter, whom he married, so that the wealth would not leave the family. However, this remained one of the secrets of Madame Recamier.

Jacques Louis David. Portrait of Madame Recamier, 1800

As a wedding present, the husband gave Julie a mansion in Paris, where she began to receive guests. Soon, Madame Recamier's salon became the center of attraction for the cultural elite of Paris.

Francois Gerard. Portrait of Madame Recamier, 1805

She conquered many, among her victories were the writers Constantin de Rebeck, Chateaubriand, the Prussian prince Augustus, Napoleon's brother Lucien Bonaparte, Prince Metternich, the Duke of Wellington and many others. Recamier preferred to keep numerous fans of mods at a distance, without losing friendly relations with them.

Jacques Louis David. Portrait of Madame Recamier, 1800. Detail

Her angelic appearance has often been referred to as the standard of excellence. Madame Recamier knew perfectly well that silence is golden. Perhaps it was thanks to her laconicism that she knew how to make the impression of a mysterious and inaccessible woman, although she was not devoid of coquetry. Julie rarely gave a decisive refusal, leaving room for hope.

Prince Augustus of Prussia commissioned Franz Kruger his ceremonial portrait against the background of the portrait of Madame Recamier

The Prussian prince Augustus, nephew of Frederick the Great, asked for her hand in marriage, and she gave her consent. But when he returned to Prussia, the woman suddenly changed her mind and sent him her famous portrait by Gerard as a souvenir. August almost lost his mind.

Olali Maureen. Portrait of Madame Recamier

Julie had never shown a real interest in politics, but her salon attracted the most brilliant intellectuals, most of whom were extremely hostile to Napoleon. She was aware of all the conspiracies as they were conspired in her living room. The Literary Salon gradually turned into one of the centers of political opposition. For this reason, the salon was closed.

Antoine Jean Gros. Portrait of Madame Recamier. Around 1825

Julie was introduced to the literary world by Madame de Stael, who for many years became her closest friend. One of the mysteries is the story of their friendship, in which Madame de Stael showed jealousy no less than male admirers. When Napoleon forbade her friend to appear closer than a hundred miles from the capital, Madame Recamier after her decides to leave Paris. Julie spends five years with Germaine de Stael, moving from city to city. They were able to return to the capital only after the emperor's abdication from the throne.

Sculptures of Madame Recamier

In 1819, Madame Recamier moved to Abbe-au-Bois, where politicians, writers and scientists gathered in her salon. Chateaubriand was often there, who became Madame Recamier's last passion. Another secret is their strange relationship, which can hardly be called happy.

The biggest mystery of Madame Recamier is that she, in fact, did not do anything outstanding, but went down in French history as a woman who managed to unite the most talented people of her time around her salon.

Francois-Louis Dejunnet. Madame Recamier in the salon of the Abbe-au-Bois monastery, 1826

10:55 pm - Madame Recamier
Continuing about women and artists, I decided to write about one rather unusual young lady ...

Portrait of Gerard
There were many secrets in Madame Recamier's life that attracted the attention of writers, historians, artists, and politicians to her.
Her first mystery was a mysterious marriage. She was only fifteen when she married Jacques Recamier, a wealthy banker 27 years her senior. Romantically inclined writers believe that it was her father, who fell in love 27 years ago with the charming Madame Bernard - Julie's mother, and in 1777 from this connection a wonderful girl was born, inherited from her mother beauty and good taste, and from her father a mind, and turned in the first half of the 19th century into one of the most charming women in France. By the way, the alleged father and father, whose name she officially inherited, were good friends. It's a purely French story, and it's hard to tell what is true and what is not. Monsieur Recamier did not bother to start a family later, but unexpectedly, in 1793, in the midst of political upheavals in France, he offered the hand and heart of young Julie Adelaide Bernard ...

Skeptical historians explain this event from a different, more pragmatic point of view - the fear of confiscation of property by the new republican government that came to power after the Revolution of 1789. The prosperous and well-known banker Recamier had something to lose, and a fictitious marriage allowed him to rewrite all his property in the name of either a young wife or an adult daughter who does not bear a very loud name. Both families agreed. Monsieur Recamier had no heirs, and Madame Bernard was glad that she had successfully accommodated her daughter, not paying much attention to incredible rumors. She was a woman of character and was not particularly interested in public opinion. The same historians argue that in that difficult era, such fictitious marriages were not uncommon. Oddly enough, but all revolutions are similar to each other. Less beautiful phenomena were hidden behind the noble words Freedom, Equality and Brotherhood: terror, confiscation or nationalization of property.

Immediately after the wedding, the second mystery of Madame Recamier appears, intriguing everyone and becoming at that time a parable in the tongues - the intimate life of "newlyweds". The same skeptical historians, this time, are more supportive of Madame Recamier. They argue that the aging husband never touched his young wife, giving her complete freedom, which she used reasonably enough. Having received a beautiful house in Paris as a gift from her husband, she organized her own salon, which remained the most popular literary and political salon in France for several decades.

Her charm attracts many. She makes friends, among whom the famous Madame de Stael, a famous French writer of the early 19th century, took a special place. During this period she is 32, she is eleven years older than Julie and this was the beginning of a twenty-year friendship between two women. Another secret for gossip fans. Can a real friendship, considered a privilege of men, arise between two women?

And her mysterious marital status intrigues men, numerous admirers appear, including one of Napoleon's brothers, Lucien Bonaparte, who in 1799 began to persistently court Julie. But she remains indifferent, both to the attention of a high-ranking admirer, and in general to the name of the Bonapartes, who are playing an increasingly important role in the life of France. She refuses the role of a court lady offered to her by Napoleon and does not seek invitations to exquisite points organized by his wife, the beautiful Josephine, the future empress of France. Rather, on the contrary, Madame Recamier unites around her people who are opposed to the new state policy. In 1802, she made a trip to England - Bonaparte's irreconcilable rival, thereby showing her rejection of the policy of the new government, and upon returning, she opened her salon, which was gradually turning into a political center opposed to Napoleon. But she attracts not only those who disagree with the Republican government and her fans.
Julie Recamier was born in the family of a notary in Lyon, after the promotion of her father up the career ladder, the family moved to Paris.
At 15, she married the banker Jacques Recamier, who was 26 years her senior.
The relationship between the spouses was more friendly than love. As a wedding gift, the banker bought Recamier the mansion of the former Royal Treasury Secretary Necker in Paris, where she first received guests, and these visits soon developed into a famous salon.

Portrait of david

Madame Recamier did not hide her dissatisfaction with the new state policy. Her salon attracted indivisible changes and gradually turned into a political center opposed to Napoleon. The Imperial Police closed her salon several times. After the expulsion of Jeremen de Stael, she continued to keep in touch with her, and later an order was signed to remove her from the capital. She moved to the French province, traveled to Italy and returned to Paris after restoration. In 1819 she moved to the Abbe-o-Bois monastery, where she continued to host receptions; her close friend Rene Chateaubriand remained with her until her death.
Julie wrote her memoirs, but before she died, she ordered them to be destroyed. She left a large number of letters, some of which were later printed

The owner of the brilliant Parisian salon, Julie Recamier, commissioned David to have her portrait.
He set to work, but was constantly not satisfied with the conditions in which he had to write. According to him, either the room was too dark, or the light came from a point that was too high. The work went so slowly that Madame Recamier could not stand it and invited François Gerard to finish the portrait. An angry David advised Gerard to accept the offer, and when Julie Recamier next came to the Louvre to pose for David, he told her: “Women have their own whims, and artists have their own. Let me satisfy my whim: I will leave your portrait in its present state. " David regretted this for the rest of his life. Despite this sudden stop, and perhaps because of it, "Portrait of Madame Recamier" in its soft yellow and blue tones is a perfect example of David's skill.

Well, I'll end with a mocking portrait of Rene Magritte ... I adore his allegory ... Although, it's all sad ...

As a wedding present, the husband gave Julie a mansion in Paris, where she began to receive guests. Soon, Madame Recamier's salon became the center of attraction for the cultural elite of Paris.

Extraordinary women often found themselves at the center of the cultural life of capitals, such as, for example,

Francois Gerard. "Portrait of Madame Recamier". 1805

Madame Recamier(nee Jeanne Françoise Julie Adelaide Bernard) - this extraordinary woman for many years after the revolution in France was known as the first beauty who drove men crazy. The famous Parisian beauty, the most famous mistress of a literary salon in history.

Painters Gerard and David immortalized her portrait. The image of Recamier for many men was the embodiment of perfection.

She broke the heart of Lucien Bonaparte, brother of the Emperor Napoleon. Prince Metternich, the Duke of Wellington, the writers Constantine De Rebeck, Chateaubriand, the handsome Prussian prince Augustus were ready to fall to her beautiful legs. Over the years, Madame Recamier's list of victories only grew. For men, she became an obsession. The separation from her seemed unbearable.

The source of her power was a twofoldness that took men by surprise. First of all, her angelic face and inaccessibility aroused feelings close to admiration and adoration, and awakened the parental instinct. But at the same time, another property broke through, which excited the imagination, called for flirting, an appeal was read in the gaze, an overwhelming joy was manifested in an unrestrained dance.

Jacques-Louis David, Portrait of Madame Recamier, 1800

It was an intriguing complexity that was confusing in its contradictions. There was undoubtedly much more in it than it seemed at first. The mystery of Madame Recamier was poisoned with intoxicating poison, and became a riddle that I passionately wanted to solve. She was an unapproachable goddess and, at the same time, a flirtatious devil who drove men crazy. Whatever woman you like, she seemed like that. She was a master of precisely calculated effect.

Jean-Francois Valli. Julie Recamier. 1800

Prussian prince Augustus, nephew of Frederick the Great, handsome and sybarite, easily conquering women's hearts, in 1807 decided to visit the house of the French writer Madame da Stael. He was solemnly received and introduced to the guests. In the course of the evening, the door suddenly opened and the thirty-year-old Madame Recamier entered the salon, who deliberately lingered in her room.

She was introduced to the prince and soon disappeared, retiring to her bedroom. He had heard a lot about her fame, although he himself preferred younger girls. She was really beautiful, as they said. But it was not so much beauty that captivated the prince, as her wonderful unearthly gaze, in which there was a lot of sadness and tenderness. August could not take his eyes off Madame Recamier. She was laconic and sad.

Firmin Massot. "Portrait of Julie Recamier". 1807.

When Madame Recamier sang a romance of love, the prince was fascinated by her angelic sad voice. But an unexpected challenge for him was a rogue look thrown at him. The cheerful energy, and the appeal, were read in her gaze, which finally confused August.

Bust of Madame Recamier by Joseph Chinard (marble, 1802, Lyon, Museum of Fine Arts)

After spending two weeks with her in the castle, the most enviable groom in Europe forgot about all his bachelor liberties and asked for the hand of Madame Recamier, begging him to move to Prussia. She agreed. August hurried home to ask the family's permission to marry. He bombarded her with love letters, felt that he was going crazy. And finally, I received a letter: SHE HAS CHANGEED.

A little later, he received a famous painting from her as a gift. A portrait by Gerard, where Madame Recamier is depicted on a couch. The prince could not take his eyes off the picture, trying to understand the secret of her gaze.

He joined the ranks of her victories, like a tree burned by lightning ...

After the death of the prince, this gift, according to his will, was returned to Madame Recamier.

Prince Augustus of Prussia commissioned his ceremonial portrait against the background of Madame Recamier's portrait by Gerard

All the great men of the century are in love with Madame Recamier. Among her suitors were not only Prince Augustus and Napoleon's own brother Lucien, but also Ampere, Benjamin Constant, and also Chateaubriand, who, perhaps, was someone more: this will remain the “secret of Recamier”.

Saint-Bove calls her “sweet genius”. A genius that Madame Recamier used from the very beginning against Napoleon. She was aware of all conspiracies against the Emperor, since most of them originated in her salon. A refuge for intellectuals, a gathering place for the most brilliant minds of the time, Madame Recamier's salon thus becomes one of the most ferocious centers of opposition to the imperial regime.

Francois-Louis Dejunnet. “Madame Recamier in the salon of the Abbe au Bois monastery”. 1826

Julie was fifteen when she married Jacques-Roger Recamier, a wealthy banker 27 years her senior. Was she really the daughter of her official father, the Lyons notary Jean Bernard? Or the daughter of Jacques-Roger Recamier himself, who is said to have had an affair with her mother? This is still unclear. Be that as it may, this explains why there was no conjugal relationship in this marriage, for which there is evidence.

The beginning of the twentieth century - the image of Madame Recamier in the advertising of cosmetic cream and cigarettes

During the Terror, her husband does his best to protect her from the influence of the Parisian society, which he considers corrupted. In vain - the girl becomes one of the central figures in public events. Her grace attracts the eye of every man, including Lucien Bonaparte, who, in 1799, passionately pursues her.

Jacques-Louis David, "Madame Recamier." Fragment. Louvre, Paris.

Madame Recamier's real social life begins with the arrival of the Consulate: the entire high society appears in its dazzling luxury at the Necker Hotel. This ostentatious building, a real museum, becomes a meeting place for the parvenu of the new regime, as well as for the nostalgic figures of the old one. The number of her fans is growing even more.

In 1802 she went to England, where she arrived in an aura of international fame. She is treated like a queen. Madame Recamier lights England. Her obvious ingenuity attracts people; she keeps her fans at a distance without upsetting with final rejection.

(full name of the French Jeanne Françoise Julie Adélaïde - Jeanne Françoise Julie Adelaide, nee Bernard - Bernard; December 3, 1777, Lyon, France - May 11, 1849, Paris), a woman whose name belongs to French history and about whom is still with historians, literary critics, art critics write with respect. Its appearance has been captured by many painters, sculptors and engravers.
What still attracts in this woman, who has not created anything remarkable, has not accomplished any feat?

Francois Gerard. Portrait of Madame Recamier. 1805 year. Paris, France, Musees Carnavalet
François Gerard painted a portrait of Madame Recamier in 1805, when Juliette was twenty-eight years old. He painted her in the summer in her mansion on the rue Mont Blanc, in a light, light dress, with bare shoulders, arms and parted feet, like an ancient goddess. The red curtain between the columns closes the interior, narrowed the space of the portico, and, as it were, fencing off from Paris, a kind of temple-home of a beautiful woman, whom everyone called the queen of beauty. Tall and slender, she possessed an amazing grace, a kind of special inner musical rhythm that Gerard tried to convey, flowing folds, clothes falling to her feet, beautifully wrapped around her figure with a shawl. In the relaxed lightness of the pose, a slightly pensively bowed head and a clear, trusting gaze, the beautiful brown eyes turned to the viewer, one guesses openness, softness and kindness.
For Gerard. as, however, for many contemporaries, keen on the ideals of ancient beauty, Madame Recamier was the embodiment of femininity. Her dress, which accentuates the dazzling whiteness of her skin and fresh complexion, her strict Greek style hairstyle. the lack of ornaments indicated a refined taste and striving for simplicity. She was imitated, copied, competed with, but loved.

Eulalie Morin - Portrait of Madame Recamier

Firmin Massot. Madame Recamier. 1807

Gerard often visited Juliette's house and made several portrait sketches from her both before and after the creation of a large pictorial portrait, which aroused the admiration of old Goethe.
François Gerard (François Pascal Simon, Baron Gérard, May 4, 1770-1837 - French historian and artist) was the most famous secular portrait painter. Napoleon, Empress Josephine, the emperor's relatives, courtiers, ministers and generals posed for him. Gerard's brush belongs to a whole gallery of portraits of famous people of France. But the most successful among them was the portrait of Madame Recamier, which expressed a certain secular ideal. Many painters of that time even began to imitate the romantic manner in which he was painted.

Josephine de Beauharnais (fr.Joséphine de Beauharnais, nee Marie Rose Joseph Tascher de la Pagerie); June 23, 1763, Troise-Ilet, Martinique - May 29, 1814, Malmaison) - Empress of France in 1804 - 1809, the first wife of Napoleon I.
Francois Gerard. Empress Josephine. 1801 year

Francois Gerard. Napoleon Ier en costume du Sacre. 1805. Oil on canvas. Musée du château de Versailles

Gerard was a student of the great David, only his work was alien to the proud pathos of civicism inherent in the art of a teacher. David created works that excited the hearts and minds of his fellow citizens on the eve and during the French Revolution. An appeal for freedom, civic courage, patriotism. Gerard's paintings with exquisite designs, graceful forms and lines deliver only aesthetic pleasure. If the works of David were imbued with heroism, then Gerard's canvases - with thoughtless lightness and hedonism. Those who assert that the pursuit of pleasure is the goal of life.

Jacques-Louis David, "Portrait of Madame Recamier", 1800, Louvre, Paris.

Juliette was a native of Lyon, by the way, she, in addition to the named one, had three more names - Jeanne, Adelaide, Françoise. She was born into the family of a notary who received a new position and moved to Paris in 1786.
The girl was not yet sixteen when she was married to the banker Recamier, who was twenty-six years older than the bride. Her husband surrounded her with luxury, bought the mansion of the former Royal Minister of Finance Necker on the rue Mont Blanc. As contemporaries testify, the banker Recamier had only paternal feelings for his young wife, using her secular success to maintain prestige and business ties. The reputation and behavior of Madame Recamier against the background of the very frivolous mores of that era were impeccable. Her unusual relationship with her husband, known to many, surrounded her name with a kind of sympathy and an increased interest in her life.
Receptions hosted by Recamier attracted the most famous people not only in France, but throughout Europe. She was always surrounded by a crowd of admirers and admirers whom, in the words of Sainte-Beuve, a critic and a writer, she was very skillfully able to turn into her loyal friends. True, not all. Napoleon, who received a decisive refusal on the offer to become a court lady of his court and "the friend of the emperor", harbored a grudge for a long time. And when, in 1806, the Rekame bank crashed. Napoleon deliberately did not help him to save himself from ruin. Moreover, a few years later he expelled Juliette herself from Paris.

Napoleon I Bonaparte (Italian Napoleone Buonaparte, French Napoléon Bonaparte, August 15, 1769, Ajaccio, Corsica - May 5, 1821, Longwood, St. the French state.
Painting by Andrea Appiani

Having learned about the misfortune that befell her husband, she began to hastily collect all her valuables so that, having sold them, return the money to her husband, and she left the luxurious mansion on the rue Mont Blanc for good. The generosity and nobility of this woman amazed everyone who knew her. Out of a sense of friendship, for example, she joined the opposition circle of the persecuted writer Germaine de Stael.
Anne-Louise Germaine de Staël (Baroness de Staël-Holstein; fr. Anne-Louise Germaine baronne de Staël-Holstein), known simply as Madame de Staël (fr. Madame de Staël, 1766-1817) - the famous French writer, daughter of a prominent statesman Jacques Necker.
V. Borovikovsky. Portrait of Louise Germain de Stael 1812, oil on canvas, 88.2 x 68 cm.The State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow

Disregarding the discontent of the emperor, she continued to host people of different political persuasions - republicans, royalist Bonapartists. When Napoleon was once informed that three of his ministers were at an evening with Madame Recamier, he sarcastically remarked: "I never imagined that the Council of Ministers would henceforth sit in Madame Recamier's house."

Only twice in her life has this beautiful and proud woman experienced a feeling stronger than friendly affection. The first who, in her own words, "made her heart beat" by offering to become his wife, was Prince Augustus (1779-1843). The feeling was so strong that Juliette wrote to her husband in Paris, asking him for a divorce. Récamier responded with a humble letter, generally giving his consent, but belittling not forgetting that he was ruined and old ... After several months of painful internal struggle, Juliette refused the prince and, in order to soften the pain of the break, sent him her portrait by Gerard as a gift. After the death of the prince, this portrait, according to his will, was returned to Madame Recamier.

Prince Augustus of Prussia commissioned his ceremonial portrait (1817) against the background of the portrait of Madame Recamier by F. Gerard (author: Franz Krüger; 1797-1857)

From 1811 Madame Recamier, expelled, as already mentioned, from Paris, lived in Lyon.
Returning a few years later to the capital, she settles in the so-called Forest Abbey, located on the outskirts of the city. And here all talented Paris comes to her.
On one of her evenings in 1817, the famous writer René Chateaubriand appears. Since then, Chateaubriand has remained Madame Recamier's most devoted friend. More than thirty years later, the city saw how every day at three o'clock in the afternoon a paralyzed Chateaubriand ordered to be carried in a palanquin to a woman, without whom he could not live a day. He was met by the always friendly, loving and caring Madame Recamier, by that time almost completely blind. However, even now poetry and music sounded in her house. As Sainte-Beuve, one of the regulars at her home writes, “Madame Recamier's salon was the center and hotbed of literature ... asked if Madame Recamier was smart. It seems to me that she possessed, to a high degree, not that mind that sparkles in itself, but that which makes the minds of others burn and makes the minds of others especially brilliant. She listened captivatingly, did not miss anything that was most valuable. Distinctive and characteristic feature Madame Recamier had the ability to inspire love ... to everyone who saw her and communicated with her ... ".

François Rene de Chateaubriand (French François-René, vicomte de Chateaubriand; September 4, 1768, Saint-Malo - July 4, 1848, Paris) - French writer and diplomat, one of the founders of romanticism in French literature.

Charles Augustin de Sainte-Beuve (fr. Charles Augustin de Sainte-Beuve; December 23, 1804 (18041223), Boulogne-sur-Mer - October 13, 1869, Paris) - French literary critic and literary critic, a notable figure of literary romanticism, the creator of his own method , which was later called "biographical" (author: Bertall, French; Paris, France 1820 - 1882 Soyons, France)

Juliette Recamier died on the 5th of 1849 from cholera, surviving Chateaubriand by only a year. According to the will, part of her modest property was given to the city of Lyon.
Looking through all the images of Madame Recamier, including sculptures, it seemed to me that all painters and sculptors, creating the image of a charming woman, failed to fully reveal the essence of the extraordinary charm of her personality.
Madame Recamier took the secret of this charm with her.
Article by Tatiana Sedova

Joseph Chinard. Madame Recamier (bust).