Who is Madame Geoffrin?
Marie Thérèse Rodet Geoffrin (née Rodet; 26 June 1699 – 6 October 1777) was a French salon holder who has been referred to as one of the leading female figures in the French Enlightenment. From 1750 to 1777, Madame Geoffrin played host to many of the most influential Philosophes and Encyclopédistes of her time.
How did Madame Geoffrin contribute to the Enlightenment?
Madame Geoffrin contributed to the enlightenment by financial support to encyclopedist. At her salons princes and politicians mingled with artist, writers, and philosophers.c Nice work! You just studied 25 terms! Now up your study game with Learn mode. How did salons in France help shape the enlightenment ?
What did Marie-Thérèse Rodet Geoffrin do?
Marie-Thérèse Rodet Geoffrin, (born 1699, Paris, Fr.—died 1777, Paris), French hostess whose salon in the Hôtel de Rambouillet was an international meeting place of artists and men of letters from 1749 to 1777. The daughter of a valet, she married a rich manufacturer, a member of the newly influential bourgeoisie, with whom she had no rapport.
How did Anne Geoffrin become a salon owner?
At a young age, she was orphaned, and lived with her grandmother Madame Chemineau. Her grandmother encouraged self education and prepared Geoffrin for the road ahead, especially responsibilty, which would later help her in the future when running a salon.
What was Madame geoffrin known for?
She invented the Enlightenment salon. First, she made the one-o'clock dinner rather than the traditional late-night supper the sociable meal of the day, and thus she opened up the whole afternoon for talk. Second, she regulated these dinners, fixing a specific day of the week for them.
Where was Marie Therese geoffrin born?
Paris, FranceMarie Thérèse Rodet Geoffrin / Place of birthMarie-Thérèse Rodet Geoffrin, (born 1699, Paris, Fr. —died 1777, Paris), French hostess whose salon in the Hôtel de Rambouillet was an international meeting place of artists and men of letters from 1749 to 1777.
What is the Enlightenment salon?
You would not get your hair done at these salons—during the Enlightenment in France, salons were a place where civilians of all social classes could gather and discuss ideas. They served as ground zero for the ideas present in the Declaration of Independence and—eventually—the French Revolution!
What did Geoffrin do to help the poor?
One friend who called on her unexpectedly on a Sunday found her making up bags of coins to distribute to the poor. When the artist Van Loo died, she bought two of his pictures for 4,000 livres and sold them shortly thereafter to a Russian prince for 50,000 livres; she then sent the difference to the artist's widow. When two workers delivered a vase from the famous sculptor Bouchardon, she pointed out a broken lid, and the men acknowledged the breakage, saying that the third worker who was responsible had been afraid to make the delivery. Geoffrin promised not to mention the breakage and later sent a servant with money for the hapless worker and his friends. Since many donations were made unobtrusively, no one knows the full extent of her generosity.
What did Mme Geoffrin do for art?
Mme Geoffrin did not confine her support to literature, however, as she also sponsored an artistic salon. Noticing that the artists always drew apart at her Wednesday receptions, she began sponsoring a Monday dinner just for them which was organized by M. de Caylus, the artist and archeologist. Although china, bronzes, tapestries, sculpture, and furniture were all pleasing to her, she personally preferred paintings and commissioned at least 60 between 1750 and 1770. Sponsoring the works of Van Loo, Vernet, Boucher, La Tour, and Greuze, she provided other artists with stipends and gifts. Her two most famous commissioned paintings, by C.A. Van Loo, La Conversation espagnole and La Lecture, were sold to Catherine the Great in 1772 and now hang in the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg. Hubert Robert, an artist she supported, painted his patron and himself. He is in a gray suit standing by his easel, while she is in a stiff, black-lace bonnet.
Why is Mme Geoffrin important?
Mme Geoffrin's salon was considered the center of the philosophical movement partly because of her sponsorship of the Encyclopédie. She was known as the "foster mother of the philosophers," and her contributions to this immense undertaking were greater than many realized at the time. The very first enterprise of its kind, it took many years to complete, and there is evidence that the publishers were on the verge of ruin in 1759. Geoffrin provided much of the funds for Diderot and D'Alembert as well as lesser contributors like Marmontel and Morellet, to carry out the basic research and writing of the encyclopedia's entries. Providing regular stipends as well as publicizing the work and introducing the writers to influential members of her extensive network, she made a critical difference, in ways great and small, leading to the work's publication. In sheer monetary terms, her daughter later estimated that she had contributed the vast sum of more than 100,000 livres and some estimates are as high as 200,000 livres. With typical largess, she also refurnished the study of Diderot, supplying leather chairs, deep-red damask for the walls, an intricate marquetry desk, and a gold-and-bronze clock. In response, Diderot was inspired to write a pamphlet, Regrets sur ma vieille robe de chambre, a comedic lament for his old furniture.
Why did Marie Deffand's salon close?
The salon of Marie Deffand declined as she became blind and increasingly cantankerous in old age, and when conditions became intolerable for Lespinasse, Geoffrin provided her young friend with fund s for an apartment and servants so that she could begin her own salon.
What was the salon of Mme Geoffrin?
In 18th-century France, it was possible for women to reach great ascendancy. A succession of royal mistresses formed a virtual dynasty based on authentic political power. Other women achieved equal influence in literature and the arts by acting as host in their salons.
How old was Geoffrin when she had her children?
At age 18 , the young Geoffrin was thus in charge of her two young children and her brother Louis. A sensible soul given to an ordered life—who knew the value of money and never indulged in flashy dress or jewels—she adhered to a soberly bourgeois lifestyle.
How old was Mme Geoffrin's husband when he died?
Little is recorded about the husband of Mme Geoffrin. A quiet presence, he attended the Monday and Wednesday dinners but rarely said a word, and lived to be 84. Shortly after his death, a guest inquired about the whereabouts of the elderly gentleman, wondering who he was. His widow replied: "That was my husband. He is dead."
Who was Madame Geoffrin?
Although lacking formal education herself, Madame Geoffrin was sensitive, an excellent listener, and naturally intelligent ; she inherited the salon of the more unconventional Madame de Tencin, gave it an added tone of respectability, and became a generous, motherly patron to her guests and protégés, offering them criticism and advice. She ruled her domain with tact and strictness; neither religion nor politics as a subject of conversation was permitted. On Mondays such artists as François Boucher, Maurice-Quentin de La Tour, and Jean-Baptiste Greuze attended; on Wednesdays writers, including Horace Walpole, Pierre Marivaux, Bernard de Fontenelle, and Helvétius were present. Madame Geoffrin’s salon was also a centre for the Encyclopédistes, whose vast project she subsidized.
What was Madame Geoffrin's salon?
Madame Geoffrin’s salon was also a centre for the Encyclopédistes, whose vast project she subsidized. Britannica Explores. 100 Women Trailblazers. Meet extraordinary women who dared to bring gender equality and other issues to the forefront.
What was Mme Geoffrin's goal?
Her passion was education, and her goal was to propagate Enlightenment thought, evidenced particularly by assisting in the Encyclopédie 's rescue from its censors in 1759, paying 200,000 livres to facilitate production. Artistic images of her gatherings, for example, A. C. G. Lemonnier's An Evening at the Home of Mme Geoffrin in 1755, reveal a sophisticated Parisian woman who inspired intellectual risks and helped to govern the civilizing discourse of the French Enlightenment.
What was Geoffrin's motto?
Her motto, donner et pardonner, "to give and to pardon," describes the role she seemed born to play within the Republic of Letters (the intellectual and rational discourse of the Enlightenment facilitated by the polite conversation and letter-writing of salon culture). Geoffrin counted Catherine the Great, tsarina of Russia (ruled 1762 – 1796), and Stanis ł aw Poniatowski, the last king of Poland (ruled 1764 – 1795), among her friends, and her letters to both rulers demonstrate the personal and political rapport they shared. In 1766 Geoffrin visited Poniatowski in Poland, a rare trip outside her beloved Paris.
Where was Madame Geoffrin born?
Madame Geoffrin was born in Paris, in the year 1699. At a young age, she was orphaned, and lived with her grandmother Madame Chemineau. Her grandmother encouraged self education and prepared Geoffrin for the road ahead, especially responsibilty, which would later help her in the future when running a salon.
Who was Marie-Thérèse married to?
Marie-Thérèse later got married to fifty year old Pierre Francois Geoffrin on July 9, 1713, making her Madame Geoffrin. Peirre was a colonel of the National Guard. She gave birth to two children, one girl, the future Marquise de la Ferté Imbault, and a son who died at the age of 10. Unfortunately, he passed away in the year of 1750. The years following his death was when Madame Geoffrin started becoming an active Parisian citizen, at the age of 50. She is best known for her nickname "The woman of the Salon", because she was an French Enlightenment Salonnierre. A salonnierre, at that time, was a host of salons. Saloons were buildings were French Enlightenment thinkers could gather and exchange intellectual ideas. On Mondays and Wednesdays, artists, thinkers, philosophes, musicians, and writers gathered at her rue Saint-Honoréin home in Paris.
How did Madame Geoffrin contribute to the Enlightenment?
Madame Geoffrin contributed to the enlightenment by financial support to encyclopedist. At her salons princes and politicians mingled with artist, writers, and philosophers.c
How did Mary Wollstonecraft contribute to the Enlightenment?
Mary Wollstonecraft contributed to the enlightenment because she tried to gain equal rights for women, believed that education was the key to equality and freedom, and argued that women deserve the same rights as men.
How did Thomas Hobbes impact the government?
Thomas Hobbes lasting impact on government was that he was the first thinker to apply tools of the scientific revolution to his thinking/ideas . He was one of the first person to apply observation and reason to the government/politics
What was the impact of Beccaria on the government?
Beccaria's lasting impact on government was that he was a main reason to the end of capital punishment and torture back then.
Why did Montesquieu use his ideas in the government?
We find Montesquieu's political ideas being used in the government because he believed in separation of powers so that the government would not be overthrown by the power of someone else so today we have the three branches of government.
What were Voltaire's major political arguments?
Voltaire's major political arguments were that people should have freedom of speech and religious tolerance and separation of church and state.
Who told her husband during the American Revolution that women might start their own revolution?
Abigail Adams told her husband during the American Revolution that women might start their own revolution unless the men writing the Declaration Independence did what?
Overview
Madame Geoffrin and the salons
Madame Geoffrin's popularity in the mid-eighteenth century came during a time where the center of social life was beginning to move away from the French court and toward the salons of Paris. Instead of the earlier, seventeenth-century salons of the high nobility, Madame Geoffrin's salon catered generally to a more philosophical crowd of the Enlightenment period. Goodman, in "Enlightenment …
Early life
Born in 1699, Madame Geoffrin was the first child of a bourgeois named Pierre Rodet, a valet de chambre for the Duchess of Burgundy, and Angélique Thérèse Chemineau, the daughter of a Parisian Banker. Marie Thérèse's mother died a year later in giving birth to her son Louis. At age seven, Marie Thérèse and her brother were taken to live with their grandmother Madame Chemineau on the rue Saint-Honoré. At thirteen, she was engaged to be married to the widower …
Education
Geoffrin was unable to receive a formalized education. It has been suggested, most notably by Dena Goodman, that the salon itself acted as a schoolhouse, where Geoffrin and other salonnières could train. Goodman writes, "For Madame Geoffrin, the salon was a socially acceptable substitute for a formal education denied her not just by her grandmother, but more generally by a society that agreed with Madame Chemineau's (her grandmother's) position." She …
Salons, French society, and the international community
Madame Geoffrin's role was central to her identity as a French hostess. The historian, Denise Yim writes, "The most distinguished salonniéres were discerning women who selected their company with care, set the tone, guided the conversation, and could influence the fortunes of those appearing there." She continues, "The most influential salonnière was perhaps Madame Geoffrin of the rue Saint-Honoré, who managed to attract the largest number of distinguished foreigners …
Salon politeness and gift giving
Madame Geoffrin exemplified the qualities of politeness that were required for the participation in French high society. She was completely devoted to the management and organization of her salon, and of the patrons that frequented it. Madame Geoffrin could be defined by the ordered consistency of all her actions. "Regularity was part of a greater sense of organization that defined all aspects of Madame Geoffrin's life and every hour of her day, from a 5 a.m. rising, through a m…
Continuity in the salons
Madame Geoffrin's personal acquaintance with many other influential salonnières indicates a type of formalized continuity in the salons. Though it has been argued that women did not appear in salon societies, the training of salonnières was undertaken by older women in the same position. Dena Goodman states, "Indeed, the history of the eighteenth century salon is a history of female apprenticeships, where younger women, such as Madame Geoffrin learned from older women, s…
Patron of the arts
The debate surrounding Madame Geoffrin as a patron of the arts centers around gender divisions and sociability in eighteenth century France. Geoffrin, considered by many contemporaries to be one of the most influential patrons of art, supported many artists and commissioned several works. Dena Goodman, in what has been criticized as perhaps an idealized feminist theory, suggests, "The salonnière's art...allowed her to manage the egos of others (males) without impo…