A field of honor: writers, court culture and public theater in French literary life from Racine to the Revolution

Michel Sedaine. Sedaine's prominence was sufficient already in 1772 to have Jacques-Louis David paint his portrait as Perpetual Secretary of the royal Academy of Architecture, of which an engraving by Pierre-Charles Levesque is reproduced here from BN-Éstampes, N2, vol. 1761.

Voltaire. This engraving commemorates the sixth performance by the Comédie Française of Voltaire's "Irène" on March 30, 1778, after which the troupe crowned a bust of the author on stage. This apotheosis of Voltaire at the royal theater culminated the writer's triumphal return to Paris just before his death. Such engravings as this one and the more frequently reproduced "Homage to Voltaire" by Moreau le jeune helped establish in the collective imagination that by the late 1770s, the Enlightenment had triumphed. Yet no other playwright of the century could imagine enjoying such acclaim from both the troupe and the audience, and most playwrights resented Voltaire for his success. This engraving is reproduced from the BN Éstampes, Collection Hennin 9644.

Glory and Despair. This engraving, by Isidore-Stanislas Helman from a drawing by Charles Monnet, appeared as the frontispiece to Andebez de Montgaubet's edition of his unperformed play, Abimélech (Paris: Duchesne, 1776) [Bibliothéque Nationale 8 Yth 77].

Michel Sedaine. Sedaine's prominence was sufficient already in 1772 to have Jacques-Louis David paint his portrait as Perpetual Secretary of the royal Academy of Architecture, of which an engraving by Pierre-Charles Levesque is reproduced here from BN-Éstampes, N2, vol. 1761.

Charles Palissot de Monteony. This engraving appeared as the frontispiece to the first edition of Palissot's Ouevres. It is based on a portrait by Charles Monnet, who held an honorary title as "Peintre du Roi;" the engraving is by Chessard, who held a similarly honorific position as "Royal Engraver" at the Spanish court. The edition itself was printed by the state publisher of Liège. It is reproduced here from the Library of Congress, Division of Special Collections, pre-1801 collection [PQ 2019 P25 1777 t. I ].

Louis-Sébastien Mercier. This engraving by Lorieux depicts Mercier in 1781. The attribution of the portrait to "Preudhomme" may be to Pierre-Paul Prud'hon who had recently arrived in Paris in 1781 and painted a series of portraits. It is reproduced here from the BN Éstampes, N2, vol. 1237.

Pierre Corneille. This engraving is based on a Charles Le Brun portrait, engraved in 1734 by Etienne Ficquet, reproduced here from Portraits engravés par Etienne Ficquet, 1738 a 1794 [Paris: 1738-1794]) [courtesy of the Library of Congress, Division of Special Collections, Rosenwald Collection (#1649)].

Louis-Sébastien Mercier. Ane comme il y en a peu," BN Estampes, N2, vol. 1235. The BN catalogue dates this image to "1798 [?]" though all the references are to early Mercier writings, suggesting it was at least drawn if not engraved in the early 1770s. In addition to the references to Du Théâtre and his early plays, the title refers to Mercier's Contes moraux, ou les hommes comme il'y en a peu (Paris: 1768). In the background, a windmill alludes to Holland where many of Mercier's early tracts and plays had been printed by Harrevelt. The legend reads "Masterpieces mean little to me, so long as I can trample and raise up, and that I have enough thistle [Peu m'importent les chef-d'oeuvres de tous les arts, pourvu que j'écrase, que je m'élève et que le chardon ne me manque pas]." Beneath that, it reads: "Oh, men of taste, recognize the beast! [Ô! Gens de goût, reconnaissez la bête!]"

Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais. This image of Beaumarchais in the style of an academic portrait was engraved by Michon in 1784, as a potential frontispiece for the anticipated, luxury first edition of Beaumarchais's Mariage de Figaro. It is based on an engraving cut in 1773 by Augustin de St. Aubin, from a portrait drawn by Nicholas Cochin, as a frontispiece for his Mémoires contre Goezmann. This image is reproduced from the BN Éstampes, N2, vol 125.

Alexis Piron. This engraving by Nicolas Le Mir appeared as the frontispiece to Piron, Oeuvres choisies (Paris: Duchesne, 1773); it based on a painting by Nicolas Bernard Michel Lépicié, to which the engraver added a verse praising Piron's "brain" as the source of his "glory." It is reproduced here from the Library of Congress, Division of Special Collections [PQ2019.P6 A17].

Comédie Française at Odéon. The theater at the Place de l'Odéon, built to house the Comédie Française, opened in 1783. The new hall held about 200 more spectators than the Thuileries theater, where the royal actors had preformed for most of the century; more importantly, considerably more of the seats were in loges. This hand-colored engraving, by Jean-François Janninet from a drawing by Jean-Nicolas Louis Durand from the 1780s, is reproduced here from the BCF.

Charles Palissot de Monteony. This engraving appeared as the frontispiece to the first edition of Palissot's Ouevres. It is based on a portrait by Charles Monnet, who held an honorary title as "Peintre du Roi;" the engraving is by Chessard, who held a similarly honorific position as "Royal Engraver" at the Spanish court. The edition itself was printed by the state publisher of Liège. It is reproduced here from the Library of Congress, Division of Special Collections, pre-1801 collection [PQ 2019 P25 1777 t. I ].

Maison des Ambassadeurs d'Hollande, Paris. Photograph by the author, 2001.

Frontispiece. This engraving is the frontispiece of an early nineteenth-century edition, Oeuvres de M. Molière (Paris: Allaut, 1821), derived from the Coypel portrait. It appears courtesy of Butler Library, Columbia University [843 M73 I122, v. 1].

Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais. This image of Beaumarchais in the style of an academic portrait was engraved by Michon in 1784, as a potential frontispiece for the anticipated, luxury first edition of Beaumarchais's Mariage de Figaro. It is based on an engraving cut in 1773 by Augustin de St. Aubin, from a portrait drawn by Nicholas Cochin, as a frontispiece for his Mémoires contre Goezmann. This image is reproduced from the BN Éstampes, N2, vol 125.

Glory and Despair. This engraving, by Isidore-Stanislas Helman from a drawing by Charles Monnet, appeared as the frontispiece to Andebez de Montgaubet's edition of his unperformed play, Abimélech (Paris: Duchesne, 1776) [Bibliothéque Nationale 8 Yth 77].

Voltaire. This image, "Voltaire à 24 ans," appears courtesy of the Musée Carnavalet (P 208). This painting may be a studio copy of a similar portrait in the Musée nationale de Versailles from the same year, which has been attributed to a different court painter, Catherine Luscurier. This portrait was reproduced in multiple engravings, all of which attribute the original to Largillière. © Photothèque des Musées de la Ville de Paris/Ladet

Poster from Comédie Française. The poster shown here is one of a small collection of 12 eighteenth-century posters is held at the BCF.

Jean-François de Cailhava. This engraving from 1780, by Charles-Étienne Gaucher, noted for his portraits of court figures, is based on a drawing by André Pujos. It presents Cailhava in a standard academic pose; the verse compares him to Molière for his ability to combine "tone" and "mores" with commercial appeal. (Reproduced from the Bibliothèque Nationale, Département des Estampes, N2, vol. 248)