The Hôtel de Rambouillet (), formerly the Hôtel de Pisani (), was the

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

residence of

Catherine de Vivonne, marquise de Rambouillet Catherine de Vivonne, marquise de Rambouillet ({{IPA, fr, katʁin də vivɔn maʁkiz də ʁɑ̃bujɛ; 1588 – 2 December 1665), known as Madame de Rambouillet ({{IPA, fr, madam də ʁɑ̃bujɛ), was a society hostess and a major figure in the lite ...

, who ran a renowned literary

salon Salon may refer to: Common meanings * Beauty salon A beauty salon or beauty parlor is an establishment that provides Cosmetics, cosmetic treatments for people. Other variations of this type of business include hair salons, spas, day spas, ...

there from 1620 until 1648. It was situated on the west side of the rue Saint-Thomas-du-Louvre, just north of

Marie de Rohan Marie Aimée de Rohan (; December 1600 – 12 August 1679) was a French courtier and political activist, famed for being the center of many of the intrigues of the first half of the 17th century in France. In various sources, she is often kno ...

's Hôtel de Chevreuse, in a former quarter of Paris (demolished during the 19th century), located between the

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is a national art museum in Paris, France, and one of the most famous museums in the world. It is located on the Rive Droite, Right Bank of the Seine in the city's 1st arrondissement of Paris, 1st arron ...

and Tuileries palaces, near the then much smaller

Place du Carrousel The Place du Carrousel () is a public square in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, located at the open end of the courtyard of the Louvre Palace, a space occupied, prior to 1883, by the Tuileries Palace. Sitting directly between the museum and the T ...

, in the area of what was to become the Pavillon Turgot of the

Louvre Museum The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is a national art museum in Paris, France, and one of the most famous museums in the world. It is located on the Rive Droite, Right Bank of the Seine in the city's 1st arrondissement of Paris, 1st arron ...

Salon

Members of her salon, received in the intimacy of her ''Chambre Bleue'', admitted to the ''ruelle''—the space between her daybed and the wall of the alcove— represented the flower of contemporary French literature, fashion, and wit, including

Madame de Sévigné Madame may refer to: * Madam, civility title or form of address for women, derived from the French * Madam (prostitution) Procuring, pimping, or pandering is the facilitation or provision of a prostitute or other sex worker in the arrangement ...

, Madame de La Fayette, Mademoiselle de Scudéry, the

Duchesse de Longueville Duchesse (Duchesse satin) was a soft, heavy, and glossy satin cloth made in France. Weave Duchesse was produced with a satin weave with fine silk threads using a higher number of threads per square inch in the warp with at least seven floati ...

, the Duchesse de Montpensier, Jean-Louis Guez de Balzac, Bossuet, Jean Chapelain, Corneille,

François de Malherbe François de Malherbe (, 1555 – 16 October 1628) was a French poet, critic, and translator. Life He was born in Le Locheur (near Caen, Normandie), to a family of standing, although the family's pedigree did not satisfy the heralds in terms o ...

, Racan, Richelieu, La Rochefoucauld, Paul Scarron, Claude Favre de Vaugelas, and

Vincent Voiture Vincent Voiture (; 24 February 1597 – 26 May 1648), French Mannerist and Baroque '' Précieuses'' poet and writer of prose, was the son of a rich wine merchant of Amiens. He was introduced by a schoolfellow, the count Claude d'Avaux, to Gast ...

. They adopted for themselves the term ''précieux'', which became a term of abuse when satirized by

Molière Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (; 15 January 1622 (baptised) – 17 February 1673), known by his stage name Molière (, ; ), was a French playwright, actor, and poet, widely regarded as one of the great writers in the French language and world liter ...

in ''

Les Précieuses ridicules ''Les Précieuses ridicules'' (, ''The Absurd Précieuses'' or ''The Affected Ladies'') is a one-act satire by Molière in prose. It takes aim at the ''précieuses'', the ultra-witty ladies who indulged in lively conversations, word games and, in ...

'' (1659). The quality looked for in this self-defining circle was ''honnêteté'', a quality looked for in vain at the contemporary court, crass, ostentatious, corrupt and corrupting. ''Honnêteté'' was a mode of restraint and

decorum Decorum (from the Latin: "right, proper") was a principle of classical rhetoric, poetry, and theatrical theory concerning the fitness or otherwise of a style to a theatrical subject. The concept of ''decorum'' is also applied to prescribed lim ...

, so practiced that it had become easy and as if natural, shared by aristocrats and fastidious members of the high bourgeoisie, but which could not readily be taught or learned. In contrast with the court, the ''Hôtel de Rambouillet'' received an

elite In political and sociological theory, the elite (, from , to select or to sort out) are a small group of powerful or wealthy people who hold a disproportionate amount of wealth, privilege, political power, or skill in a group. Defined by the ...

that chose its own members, or, more precisely, whose members recognized one another's right to belong.... The ordinary rules of civility did not govern daily interchange. Members of the group wrote and above all talked to one another. Conversation was a sacred art, the forum in which the group developed its taste. ''

L'Astrée ''L'Astrée'' is a pastoral novel by Honoré d'Urfé, published between 1607 and 1627. Possibly the single most influential work of 17th-century French literature, ''L'Astrée'' has been called the "novel of novels", partly for its immense le ...

'' was staged as well as read; other reading included the novels of La Calprenède and Mlle de Scudéry, which held up a mirror of this microsociety".Revel, p 194. The ''préciosité'' refinements of the French language would find some codification in the ''

Dictionnaire de l'Académie française The (; English: Dictionary of the French academy) is a French language dictionary published by the . The is an institution tasked with establishing rules for the use of the French language, the compilation of a dictionary being one of its prima ...

'' eventually published by the

Académie française An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

, which found its start in the ''Hôtel de Rambouillet''. Words like "

celadon Celadon () is a term for pottery denoting both wares ceramic glaze, glazed in the jade green Shades of green#Celadon, celadon color, also known as greenware or "green ware" (the term specialists now tend to use), and a type of transparent glaze, ...

" to describe a certain range of pale glaucous blue-green glazes of Chinese porcelain come straight from the ''Hôtel de Rambouillet''.

Salon

See also

Notes

Further reading