Julie Talma, born Louise-Julie Careau (8 January 1756 – 5 May 1805), was a French dancer at the
Paris Opera
The Paris Opera (, ) is the primary opera and ballet company of France. It was founded in 1669 by Louis XIV as the , and shortly thereafter was placed under the leadership of Jean-Baptiste Lully and officially renamed the , but continued to be ...
who became a
courtesan
Courtesan, in modern usage, is a euphemism for a "kept" mistress (lover), mistress or prostitute, particularly one with wealthy, powerful, or influential clients. The term historically referred to a courtier, a person who attended the Royal cour ...
in the years before the
French Revolution
The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...
. She had three sons by three different fathers. She used the gifts from her protectors to make a small fortune in real estate speculation. She married the well-known tragic actor
François-Joseph Talma
François Joseph Talma (15 January 1763 – 19 October 1826) was a French actor.
Life
He was born in Paris. His father, a dentist, moved to London, and saw that his son received a good English education. François Joseph returned to Paris, whe ...
a few days before giving birth to twin sons. Her husband was unfaithful and ruined her. They separated and eventually divorced. Julie Talma was charming, intelligent, strong-willed, rational and a firm republican. She held an influential salon before and during the revolution and at the start of Napoleon's rise to power, and became a close friend of
Benjamin Constant
Henri-Benjamin Constant de Rebecque (; 25 October 1767 – 8 December 1830), or simply Benjamin Constant, was a French people, Franco-Switzerland, Swiss political thinker, activist and writer on political theory and religion.
A committed repub ...
. Their lengthy correspondence has been preserved.
Early years
Louise-Julie Carreau was born on 8 January 1756.
Her mother was Marie Careau. Her father, Francois Pioch de Pézenas, did not recognise her until much later.
Julie's mother abandoned her when she was very young.
Pierre Gueullette de Maucroix, the king's adviser-in-Council of the Indies, rescued her from the streets.
He taught her to read and write, taught her polite manners and after two years enrolled her in the Opera's ballet corps.
As a dancer she performed in
Jean-Philippe Rameau
Jean-Philippe Rameau (; – ) was a French composer and music theory, music theorist. Regarded as one of the most important French composers and music theorists of the 18th century, he replaced Jean-Baptiste Lully as the dominant composer of Fr ...
's ballet ''
Castor et Pollux
''Castor et Pollux'' (''Castor and Pollux'') is an opera by Jean-Philippe Rameau, first performed on 24 October 1737 by the Académie royale de musique at its theatre in the Palais-Royal in Paris. The librettist was Pierre-Joseph-Justin Bernard, ...
''.
Julie Carreau became the mistress of François-Antoine de Flandre de Brunville, with whom she had a son, Alexis-Pierre-Louis (1777).
She was then the mistress of the viscount
Joseph Alexandre de Ségur, who established her in a private mansion and with whom she had another son, Alexandre-Félix Ségur (1781).
Ségur, who loved her, thought she would be the
Ninon de l'Enclos
Anne "Ninon" de l'Enclos, also spelled Ninon de Lenclos and Ninon de Lanclos (10 November 1620 – 17 October 1705), was a French author, courtesan and patron of the arts.
Early life
Born Anne de l'Enclos in Paris on 10 November 1620,Sources als ...
of the 18th century.
Finally she was the mistress of a M. Saint-Léger, who gave her a third son, Jules.
All of her sons would die during her lifetime.
Julie Carreau used the money from her protectors in real estate speculation in the
Chaussée d'Antin
''Chaussee'' is an historic term used in German-speaking countries for early, Road metal, metalled, rural highways, designed by road engineers, as opposed to the hitherto, traditional, unpaved country roads. The term is no longer used in modern ro ...
district, with architects such as
Alexandre-Théodore Brongniart
Alexandre-Théodore Brongniart (; 15 February 1739 – 6 June 1813) was a prominent French architect.
Biography
Born in Paris, France. A prominent member of Parisian society, in 1767 he married Anne-Louise d'Egremont. The couple became frie ...
and
Claude Nicolas Ledoux
Claude-Nicolas Ledoux (21 March 1736 – 18 November 1806) was one of the earliest exponents of French Neoclassical architecture. He used his knowledge of architectural theory to design not only domestic architecture but also town planning; as ...
, and made a small fortune.
She bought a town house on the Rue de la Chaussée d’Antin in 1776.
In 1781 the architect François-Victor Perrard de Montreuil sold her the house on the Rue Chantereine where Ségur had installed her.
Julie Carreau held a
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 ...
in this house.
Her private room was decorated with an anonymous frieze that represented the Arts, the Muses, Apollo, Venus and Cupid.
Marriage
![Talma ca](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a9/Talma_ca._1822.jpg)
In 1787 Julie Carreau met
François-Joseph Talma
François Joseph Talma (15 January 1763 – 19 October 1826) was a French actor.
Life
He was born in Paris. His father, a dentist, moved to London, and saw that his son received a good English education. François Joseph returned to Paris, whe ...
(1763–1826), an actor who had just started at the
Comédie-Française
The Comédie-Française () or Théâtre-Français () is one of the few state theatres in France. Founded in 1680, it is the oldest active theatre company in the world. Established as a French state-controlled entity in 1995, it is the only state ...
, and they began an affair.
Talma gave his support to the
French Revolution
The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...
in 1789, causing a split in the Comédie-Française.
He took several leading democratic actors with him, including Monvel (
Jacques Marie Boutet
Jacques Marie Boutet (25 March 1745 – 13 February 1812) was a French actor and comic playwright from Lunéville. His pseudonym was Monvel. He was a small, thin man without good looks or voice, and yet he became one of the greatest comedians of h ...
),
Rose Vestris
Françoise-Rose Gourgaud (7 April 1743, in Marseille – 5 October 1804, in Paris), stage name Madame Vestris, was a French actress.
She was the sister of Pierre-Antoine Gourgaud, stage name Dugazon. She married the ballet-dancer Angiolo Ve ...
and
Amélie-Julie Candeille
Amélie-Julie Candeille (night of 30/31 July 1767, parish of Saint-Sulpice (Paris), Saint-Sulpice, Paris – 4 February 1834, Paris) was a French composer, librettist, writer, singer, actress, comedian, and instrumentalist.
Life
Early life
Jul ...
.
Juie became pregnant and the couple decided to marry.
They had difficulty finding a priest who would perform the ceremony since Talma insisted on giving his profession as an actor, a sinful occupation, and therefore could not receive
communion.
After several months the vicar of Notre-Dame-de-Lorette agreed to marry them as long as Talma registered as a bourgeois of Paris rather than an actor.
They married on 19 April 1791.
François-Michel Talma, a dentist who was the actor's brother, was the witness.
On 30 April, twelve days after the ceremony, Julie gave birth to twin sons.
The next day the infants were baptised Henri-Castor and Charles-Pollux.
Another child was born, named Tell, who died on 31 May 1794.
François-Joseph Talma met the actress
Charlotte Vanhove, wife of the orchestra musician Louis-Sébastien Olympe Petit.
They started an affair, and in 1794 Charlotte divorced her husband.
During the 1790s Talma ran through his wife's fortune, but it was not until 1801 that François-Joseph and Julie Talma divorced by mutual consent.
François-Joseph married Charlotte Vanhove the next year.
Salonnière
"Mlle Julie" was far from an ordinary courtesan, and her drawing room soon became a ''bureau d'esprit'', a place of intellectual discussion.
Although Julie was not outstandingly beautiful, she was very charming and had a strong character.
Alexander von Humboldt
Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander von Humboldt (14 September 17696 May 1859) was a German polymath, geographer, naturalist, explorer, and proponent of Romantic philosophy and science. He was the younger brother of the Prussian minister, p ...
met her and said she clearly had more wit than other French women and was very patriotic.
Julie had great respect for
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 ...
.
After the publication of Mirabeau's letters, she remarked, "Infatuated friends—Mirabeau at their head—gave me the flattering nickname
Aspasia
Aspasia (; grc-gre, Ἀσπασία ; after 428 BC) was a ''metic'' woman in Classical Athens. Born in Miletus, she moved to Athens and began a relationship with the statesman Pericles, with whom she had a son, Pericles the Younger. Accordin ...
. That was at the time
Chamfort">icolasChamfort was smitten by a terrible fever of love I had sparked in him, without the least intention of doing so."
Mirabeau died at Julie Talma's house on the Rue de la Chaussée d’Antin on 2 April 1791.
The meetings organized by Madame de Lameth, Madame de Montmorin and
Madame de Staël 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'' ...
, and those held in the homes of
Lucile Duplessis
Anne-Lucile-Philippe Desmoulins, born Laridon-Duplessis (18 January 1770 in Paris – 13 April 1794) was a French revolutionary, diarist, and author during the French Revolution. She was married to the revolutionary Camille Desmoulins. She was ...
and Julie Talma, continued to play an essential role in the society of Paris after the revolution.
Thomas Okey wrote,
![Louise-Julie Carreau by Léon-Pascal Glain](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0b/Louise-Julie_Carreau_by_L%C3%A9on-Pascal_Glain.jpg)
A meeting at Julie Talma's home on 16 October 1792 had General
Charles François Dumouriez
Charles-François du Périer Dumouriez (, 26 January 1739 – 14 March 1823) was a French general during the French Revolutionary Wars. He shared the victory at Valmy with General François Christophe Kellermann, but later deserted the Revo ...
, fresh from his victories in Belgium, as guest of honour.
It was attended by leading
Girondin
The Girondins ( , ), or Girondists, were members of a loosely knit political faction during the French Revolution. From 1791 to 1793, the Girondins were active in the Legislative Assembly and the National Convention. Together with the Montagnard ...
politicians including
Pierre Victurnien Vergniaud
Pierre Victurnien Vergniaud (; 31 May 1753 – 31 October 1793) was a French lawyer and statesman, a figure of the French Revolution. A deputy to the Assembly from Bordeaux, Vergniaud was an eloquent orator. He was a supporter of Jacques Pierr ...
,
Jacques Pierre Brissot
Jacques Pierre Brissot (, 15 January 1754 – 31 October 1793), who assumed the name of de Warville (an English version of "d'Ouarville", a hamlet in the village of Lèves where his father owned property), was a leading member of the Girondins dur ...
and
Jean-Baptiste Boyer-Fonfrède
Jean-Baptiste Boyer-Fonfrède (; 1760 - 31 October 1793) was a French Girondin politician.
A deputy to the National Convention from his native city, Bordeaux, he voted for the death of Louis XVI, denounced the September Massacres and accused Je ...
, accompanied by women of the stage.
The comic mimic Fusil gave a performance.
Amélie-Julie Candeille was singing at the piano when the doors burst open.
The meeting was invaded by
Jacobin
, logo = JacobinVignette03.jpg
, logo_size = 180px
, logo_caption = Seal of the Jacobin Club (1792–1794)
, motto = "Live free or die"(french: Vivre libre ou mourir)
, successor = Pa ...
members of the Committee of General Security led by
Jean-Paul Marat
Jean-Paul Marat (; born Mara; 24 May 1743 – 13 July 1793) was a French political theorist, physician, and scientist. A journalist and politician during the French Revolution, he was a vigorous defender of the ''sans-culottes'', a radical ...
, who denounced the general for keeping company with "such a collection of concubines and counter-revolutionaries".
The next day the newspaper ''
L'Ami du peuple
''L'Ami du peuple'' (, ''The Friend of the People'') was a newspaper written by Jean-Paul Marat during the French Revolution. "The most celebrated radical paper of the Revolution", according to historian Jeremy D. Popkin, ''L’Ami du peuple'' ...
'' proclaimed that citizen Marat had discovered a major conspiracy.
After Talma had ruined Julie he separated from her in 1795, leaving her to raise the twins.
Julie had to rent her house on the Rue Chantereine.
The lease was taken by
Joséphine de Beauharnais
Josephine may refer to:
People
* Josephine (given name), a given name (including a list of people with the name)
* Josephine (singer), a Greek pop singer
Places
*Josephine, Texas, United States
*Mount Josephine (disambiguation)
* Josephine Count ...
and Napoleon Bonaparte, who settled there before their wedding.
The 26 year old
Napoleon
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 ...
would visit Josephine there every evening.
Three years later on 11 Germinal year VI (31 March 1798) Julie sold the house to Napoleon.
Under the
Directory
Directory may refer to:
* Directory (computing), or folder, a file system structure in which to store computer files
* Directory (OpenVMS command)
* Directory service, a software application for organizing information about a computer network's u ...
Julie Talma lived apart from her husband in a small townhouse she shared with her close friend
Sophie de Condorcet
Sophie de Condorcet (1764 in Meulan – 8 September 1822 in Paris), also known as Sophie de Grouchy and best known as Madame de Condorcet, was a prominent French Salon (gathering), salon hostess from 1789 to the Reign of Terror, and again from 179 ...
.
She kept a small court of admirers, including Benjamin Constant.
Her salon on the Rue Matignon was frequented by prominent republicans and ideologues such as
Pierre Jean Georges Cabanis
Pierre Jean Georges Cabanis (; 5 June 1757 – 5 May 1808) was a French physiologist, freemason and materialist philosopher.
Life
Cabanis was born at Cosnac (Corrèze), the son of Jean Baptiste Cabanis (1723–1786), a lawyer and agronomist. ...
.
She welcomed men who were suspect to the Directory such as
Alexandre Rousselin de Saint-Albin
Alexander Charles Omer Rousselin de Corbeau, comte de Saint Albin (1773–1847) was a French politician.
Born in Paris, of an aristocratic family from the Dauphiné, Rousselin de Saint-Albin was educated at the '' Collège d'Harcourt''. He emb ...
,
Marie-Joseph Chénier
Marie-Joseph Blaise de Chénier (11 February 1764 – 10 January 1811) was a French poet, dramatist and politician of French and Greek origin.
Biography
The younger brother of André Chénier, Joseph Chénier was born at Constantinople, but ...
,
Dominique Joseph Garat
Dominique Joseph Garat (8 September 17499 December 1833) was a French Basque writer, lawyer, journalist, philosopher and politician.
Biography
Garat was born at Bayonne, in the French Basque Country. After a good education under the direction ...
,
Pierre-Louis Ginguené and
Claude Charles Fauriel
Claude Charles Fauriel (21 October 1772 – 15 July 1844) was a French historian, philologist and critic.
Biography
He was born at Saint-Étienne, Loire, the son of a poor joiner, but received a good education in the Oratorian colleges of Tourn ...
.
Friendship with Constant
![Benjamin constant 2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e8/Benjamin_constant_2.png)
Julie Talma met
Benjamin Constant
Henri-Benjamin Constant de Rebecque (; 25 October 1767 – 8 December 1830), or simply Benjamin Constant, was a French people, Franco-Switzerland, Swiss political thinker, activist and writer on political theory and religion.
A committed repub ...
(1767–1830) at the Rue Matignon, and they began a long exchange of letters.
Constant and Julie seem to have met in August 1795, perhaps introduced by
Jean-Baptiste Louvet de Couvray
Jean-Baptiste Louvet de Couvray (12 June 1760 – 25 August 1797) was a French novelist, playwright and journalist.
Life
Early life and literary works
Born in Paris as the son of a Stationery, stationer, Louvet became a bookseller's clerk, and ...
(1760–97).
As an extremely intelligent woman and a committed republican Julie appreciated Constant's outlook on the world.
In the early summer of 1796 they often saw each other and became close friends, although probably they were never physical lovers.
Harold Nicolson
Sir Harold George Nicolson (21 November 1886 – 1 May 1968) was a British politician, diplomat, historian, biographer, diarist, novelist, lecturer, journalist, broadcaster, and gardener. His wife was the writer Vita Sackville-West.
Early lif ...
wrote of their relationship, "With gently sagacity she steered their affair into the calm lagoon of a devoted and outspoken friendship. She became the firmest as well as the most penetrating friend that Constant ever had."
Constant's ''Lettre sur Julie'' was published in 1829, long after he wrote it.
He said that Julie Talma differed from other women because she had a realistic view of the relations between the sexes, and "understood and admitted that women who have given themselves and men who have gained what they wanted are in a precisely contrary position."
After Napoleon's
coup of 18 Brumaire
The Coup d'état of 18 Brumaire brought Napoleon Bonaparte to power as First Consul of France. In the view of most historians, it ended the French Revolution and led to the Coronation of Napoleon as Emperor. This bloodless ''coup d'état'' overt ...
(9 November 1799) Constant was elected to the Tribunate, which advised the First Consul (Napoleon).
With Julie Talma's support, Constant took a bold public stance of opposing dictatorship and abuses of individual freedom.
Around the end of 1799
Claude Hochet
Claude Hochet (24 November 1772 – 3 October 1857) was a French journalist, author and civil servant who was secretary-general of the Conseil d'État from 1816 to 1839.
He is best known as a friend of Madame de Staël, Benjamin Constant, Abel-Fra ...
met Benjamin Constant and Madame
Germaine de Staël
Anne Louise Germaine de Staël-Holstein (; ; 22 April 176614 July 1817), commonly known as Madame de Staël (), was a French woman of letters and political theorist, the daughter of banker and French finance minister Jacques Necker and Suzan ...
at Madame
Amélie Suard
Amélie Suard (12 May 1743 – 1830) was a French writer and salonnière. Her letters provide a valuable source of information on life in France before the French Revolution of 1789.
The Suards remained loyal to the Bourbon regime and experienced ...
's salon in Paris.
Hochet also became a friend of Julie Talma, Madame
Juliette Récamier
Jeanne Françoise Julie Adélaïde Récamier (; 3 December 1777 – 11 May 1849), known as Juliette (), was a French socialite whose salon drew people from the leading literary and political circles of early 19th-century Paris. As an icon of n ...
and
Prosper de Barante.
In mid-November 1800 Julie Talma introduced Anna Lindsay to Constant.
They began an affair, but as Constant later told Julie, he loved and desired Anna but did not want her to sacrifice herself for him.
On 15 July 1804 Napoleon put on an elaborate ceremony with glittering costumes at the Church of the Invalides in which he personally awarded the first civilian
Legion of Honour
The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon, ...
.
Julie Talma described the event as the "distribution of the trinkets."
Félix de Ségur, Julie's last surviving son, died on 10 February 1805.
Her grief destroyed her health, and by the middle of March she was clearly dying.
Benjamin Constant was devastated by her approaching death, and went so far as to speculate on whether some part of a person might live on after their death.
Julie Talma maintained the rationalist views of the
Age of Enlightenment
The Age of Enlightenment or the Enlightenment; german: Aufklärung, "Enlightenment"; it, L'Illuminismo, "Enlightenment"; pl, Oświecenie, "Enlightenment"; pt, Iluminismo, "Enlightenment"; es, La Ilustración, "Enlightenment" was an intel ...
throughout her life, and when dying refused to receive a priest for her last rites.
She died on 5 May 1805.
She is reported to have said, "One should be able to start life over again. During the first performance, one doesn't know what one's doing."
Publications
*
Notes
Sources
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Talma, Julie
1756 births
1805 deaths
French female dancers
18th-century French dancers
19th-century French dancers
French salon-holders