Anne-Catherine de Ligniville, Madame Helvétius (23 July 1722 – 12 August 1800), also Anne-Catherine de Ligniville d'Autricourt, nicknamed "Minette", maintained a renowned

salon Salon may refer to: Common meanings * Beauty salon, a venue for cosmetic treatments * French term for a drawing room, an architectural space in a home * Salon (gathering), a meeting for learning or enjoyment Arts and entertainment * Salon (P ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

in the eighteenth century.

Life

One of the twenty-one children of Jean-Jacques de Ligniville and his wife Charlotte de Saureau, Anne-Catherine de Ligniville, the niece of

Madame de Graffigny Madame may refer to: * Madam, civility title or form of address for women, derived from the French * Madam (prostitution), a term for a woman who is engaged in the business of procuring prostitutes, usually the manager of a brothel * ''Madame'' ...

, married the philosopher Helvétius in 1751. By the time he died twenty years later, the couple had amassed a vast fortune, and with it Madame Helvetius maintained her salon which featured the greatest figures of the Enlightenment for over five decades. Among the habitués of Madame Helvétius's salon were

Julie de Lespinasse Julie may refer to: * Julie (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the name Film and television * ''Julie'' (1956 film), an American film noir starring Doris Day * ''Julie'' (1975 film), a Hindi film by K. S. Sethumadhava ...

and Suzanne Necker, writers Fontenelle,

Diderot Denis Diderot (; ; 5 October 171331 July 1784) was a French philosopher, art critic, and writer, best known for serving as co-founder, chief editor, and contributor to the ''Encyclopédie'' along with Jean le Rond d'Alembert. He was a prominen ...

Chamfort Sébastien-Roch Nicolas, known in his adult life as Nicolas Chamfort and as Sébastien Nicolas de Chamfort (; 6 April 1741 – 13 April 1794), was a French writer, best known for his epigrams and aphorisms. He was secretary to Louis XVI of Fran ...

, Duclos, Saint-Lambert, Marmontel, Roucher, Saurin,

André Chénier André Marie Chénier (; 30 October 176225 July 1794) was a French poet of Greek and Franco-Levantine origin, associated with the events of the French Revolution of which he was a victim. His sensual, emotive poetry marks him as one of the precur ...

, and Volney. Thinkers such as

Condorcet Marie Jean Antoine Nicolas de Caritat, Marquis of Condorcet (; 17 September 1743 – 29 March 1794), known as Nicolas de Condorcet, was a French philosopher and mathematician. His ideas, including support for a liberal economy, free and equal pu ...

d'Holbach Paul-Henri Thiry, Baron d'Holbach (; 8 December 1723 – 21 January 1789), was a French-German philosopher, encyclopedist, writer, and prominent figure in the French Enlightenment. He was born Paul Heinrich Dietrich in Edesheim, near Lan ...

Turgot Turgot may refer to: * Turgot of Durham ( – 1115), Prior of Durham and Bishop of St Andrews * Michel-Étienne Turgot (1690–1751), mayor of Paris * Anne Robert Jacques Turgot (1727–1781), French economist and statesman * Louis Félix Étienn ...

, Abbé Sieyès, Abbé

Galiani Ferdinando Galiani (2 December 1728, Chieti, Kingdom of Naples – 30 October 1787, Naples, Kingdom of Naples) was an Italian economist, a leading Italian figure of the Enlightenment. Friedrich Nietzsche referred to him as "a most fastidious and ...

Destutt de Tracy Destutt de Tracy is the name and title of the Destutt family, counts of Tracy. It may refer to: *Antoine Destutt de Tracy Antoine Louis Claude Destutt, comte de Tracy (; 20 July 1754 – 9 March 1836) was a French Enlightenment aristocrat and ph ...

, Abbé

Beccaria Beccaria is an Italian surname and place name. People * Alessandro Beccaria (born 1988), Italian footballer * Angelo Beccaria (1820–1897), was an Italian landscape painter * Battista Beccario (15th-century), Genoese cartographer * Cesare Beccar ...

, Abbé Morellet, Buffon, Condillac or Abbé Raynal mingled with such scientists as

d'Alembert Jean-Baptiste le Rond d'Alembert (; ; 16 November 1717 – 29 October 1783) was a French mathematician, mechanician, physicist, philosopher, and music theorist. Until 1759 he was, together with Denis Diderot, a co-editor of the ''Encyclopédie ...

Lavoisier Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier ( , ; ; 26 August 17438 May 1794),
CNRS (

Cuvier Jean Léopold Nicolas Frédéric, Baron Cuvier (; 23 August 1769 – 13 May 1832), known as Georges Cuvier, was a French naturalist and zoologist, sometimes referred to as the "founding father of paleontology". Cuvier was a major figure in nat ...

and

Cabanis Cabanis is the surname of: *George Cabanis (1815-1892), American politician *Jean Cabanis (1816–1906), German ornithologist *José Cabanis José Cabanis (2 March 1922 – 6 October 2000) was a French novelist, essayist, historian and magistrate ...

. The sculptor

Houdon Jean-Antoine Houdon (; 20 March 1741 – 15 July 1828) was a French neoclassical sculptor. Houdon is famous for his portrait busts and statues of philosophers, inventors and political figures of the Enlightenment. Houdon's subjects included De ...

, Baron

Gérard Gérard ( French: ) is a French masculine given name and surname of Germanic origin, variations of which exist in many Germanic and Romance languages. Like many other early Germanic names, it is dithematic, consisting of two meaningful constitu ...

and other leading figures of the time such as

Charles-Joseph Panckoucke Charles-Joseph Panckoucke (; 26 November 1736 – 19 December 1798) was a French writer and publisher. He was responsible for numerous influential publications of the era, including the literary journal ''Mercure de France'' and the ''Encyclopéd ...

and

François-Ambroise Didot Didot is the name of a family of French printers, punch-cutters and publishers. Through its achievements and advancements in printing, publishing and typography, the family has lent its name to typographic measurements developed by François-Amb ...

were also attendees. Such politicians as Malesherbes, Talleyrand,

Madame Roland Marie-Jeanne 'Manon' Roland de la Platière (Paris, March 17, 1754 – Paris, November 8, 1793), born Marie-Jeanne Phlipon, and best known under the name Madame Roland, was a French revolutionary, salonnière and writer. Initially she led a ...

and her husband Roland de la Platière,

Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 18 ...

Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin ( April 17, 1790) was an American polymath who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, and political philosopher. Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the leading inte ...

(who is claimed to have proposed marriage to her),The legend goes that when she refused, out of devotion to her late husband, Franklin claimed he had visited Heaven in a dream and found Helvetius married there to Franklin's own deceased love, Deborah. "Come, let us revenge ourselves," he said. This story is debunked in Claude-Adrien Helvétius, see refs.

Mirabeau Mirabeau may refer to: People and characters * Mirabeau B. Lamar (1798–1859), second President of the Republic of Texas French nobility * Victor de Riqueti, marquis de Mirabeau (1715–1789), French physiocrat * Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, com ...

Pierre Daunou Pierre is a masculine given name. It is a French form of the name Peter. Pierre originally meant "rock" or "stone" in French (derived from the Greek word πέτρος (''petros'') meaning "stone, rock", via Latin "petra"). It is a translation ...

, Garat,

Nicolas Bergasse Nicolas Bergasse (born 24 January 1750 in Lyon – died 28 May 1832 in Paris) was a French lawyer, philosopher, and politician, whose activity was mainly carried out during the beginning of the French Revolution during its early Monarchiens phase ...

and

Napoléon Bonaparte Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

could also be found at her salon. The salon also provided a steady home for a great clowder of

Angora cat Angora may refer to: Places *Angora, the historic name of Ankara, the capital city of Turkey *Angora, Philadelphia **Angora (SEPTA station), a commuter rail station *Angora, Minnesota * Angora Township, Minnesota *Angora, Nebraska *Angora Lakes ...

s. The cats were a well-known feature of Madame Helvetius' salon, always bedecked with silk ribbons and doted on by their loving caregiver. Eighteen in all, the cats were kept company by the Madame's dogs, canaries, and many other pets. Madame Helvétius died at

Auteuil Auteuil may refer to: Places * Auteuil, Oise, a commune in France * Auteuil, Paris, a neighborhood of Paris ** Auteuil, Seine, the former commune which was on the outskirts of Paris * Auteuil, Quebec, a former city that is now a district within ...

In popular culture

Madame Helvétius appears in the 2008 television drama series ''

John Adams John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, attorney, diplomat, writer, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Befor ...

'', in which she is played by

Judith Magre Judith Magre (born 20 November 1926) is a French actress, born in Montier-en-Der, Haute-Marne Haute-Marne (; English: Upper Marne) is a department in the Grand Est region of Northeastern France. Named after the river Marne, its prefecture is ...

. Madame Helvétius is mentioned briefly in the Robert Lawson

children's book Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. Modern children's literature is classified in two different ways: genre or the intended age of the reader. Children's ...

''Ben and Me'' (1939) as having many important people at her dinners, and also having cats (distressing to the protagonist, who is a

mouse A mouse ( : mice) is a small rodent. Characteristically, mice are known to have a pointed snout, small rounded ears, a body-length scaly tail, and a high breeding rate. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse (''Mus musculus' ...

) and a particularly disagreeable dog.

Notes

References

* Peter Allan, ', Toronto, University of Toronto, 1975 *

Jules Bertaut Jules Bertaut (28 March 1877 – 7 October 1959) was a French writer, historian and lecturer. He was awarded the grand prix de littérature de la SGDL in 1959 for all his work, the year he died. Works Selected works: *1900: ''Secrets d'un ...

, ''Égéries du XVIII^e siècle : madame Suard, madame Delille, madame Helvétius, madame Diderot, mademoiselle Quinault'', Paris, Plon 1928 * J. A. Dainard, et al., ''Correspondance de Mme de Graffigny'', Oxford: Voltaire Foundation, 1985--, in progress; vol. 13 due in 2010, edition complete in 15 vols. * Benjamin Franklin, ''M. F--n ranklinà Madame H--s elvétius', Passy, imp. par Benjamin Franklin, 1779 * Antoine Guillois, ''Le salon de madame Helvétius ; Cabanis et les idéologues'', New York, B. Franklin, 1971 * Claude-Adrien Helvétius, ', Éd. David Smith (director), Peter Allan, Alan Dainard and Jean Orsoni, Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 1981-2004 * Arsène Houssaye, ''Histoire du 41^e fauteuil de l'Académie Française'', Paris, L. Hachette et cie, 1856 * Lucien Picqué, Louis Dubousquet, « L'incident du salon de Madame Helvétius (Cabanis et l'abbé Morellet) », ''Bulletin de la société française d'histoire de la médecine'', T. 13 (1914) * Jean-Paul de Lagrave, Marie-Thérèse Inguenaud, ''Madame Helvétius et la société d'Auteuil'', Oxford Voltaire Foundation, 1999 * Jules Auguste Troubat, ''Essais critiques, Madame Helvétius'', Paris, Calmann-Lévy, 1902 *Walter Isaacson, ''Benjamin Franklin. An American Life.'' NY, Simon & Schuster, 2003 pp. 363 –36
online
{{DEFAULTSORT:Helvetius, Anne-Catherine French salon-holders 1722 births 1800 deaths 18th-century letter writers