Hygin-Edmond-Ludovic-Auguste Cavé (8 October 1796 – 30 March 1852) was a French attorney, journalist, and government official, as well as an occasional playwright and

librettist A libretto (From the Italian word , ) is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major ...

, who often collaborated with Adolphe Dittmer under the pseudonym Jacques François de Fongeray.Information translated from the corresponding article
version 30 septembre 2011 à 05:39
in the French Wikipédia. He is also sometimes referred to as Edmond Cavé. He is perhaps best known as the subject of a portrait by the French artist

Ingres Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres ( ; ; 29 August 1780 – 14 January 1867) was a French Neoclassicism, Neoclassical Painting, painter. Ingres was profoundly influenced by past artistic traditions and aspired to become the guardian of academic ...

, which is on display at New York's

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...

.Portrait of Edmond Cavé by Ingres
at the website of the

; retrieved 14 March 2012.

Biography

According to information in the records of the

Légion d'Honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...

, he was born Ygin-Auguste Cavé in

Doudeville Doudeville () is a commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region in northern France. Geography Called the flax capital, the town is situated at the centre of the Pays de Caux, the chalk plateau in High Normandy and one widely ...

Seine-Maritime Seine-Maritime () is a department of France in the Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the northern coast of France, at the mouth of the Seine, and includes the cities of Rouen and Le Havre. Until 1955 it was named Seine-Inf� ...

, to Thomas-Romain Cavé, a merchant wholesaler, and Françoise-Louise Derotté Guilbert. He first worked as an attorney in

Rouen Rouen (, ; or ) is a city on the River Seine, in northwestern France. It is in the prefecture of Regions of France, region of Normandy (administrative region), Normandy and the Departments of France, department of Seine-Maritime. Formerly one ...

. In Paris he became a member of the "

Aide-toi, le ciel t'aidera Aide-toi, le ciel t'aidera ( French idiom, meaning "God helps those who help themselves"; literally, "Help yourself, heaven shall help you"), simply called Aide-toi, was a French society that aimed to stir up the electorate against the government d ...

" (a society founded in August 1827, which supported

constitutional monarchy Constitutional monarchy, also known as limited monarchy, parliamentary monarchy or democratic monarchy, is a form of monarchy in which the monarch exercises their authority in accordance with a constitution and is not alone in making decisions. ...

), and a writer for ''

Le Globe ''Le Globe'' was a French newspaper, published in Paris by the Bureau du Globe between 1824 and 1832, and created with the goal of publishing Romantic creations. It was established by Pierre Leroux and the printer Alexandre Lachevardière. Aft ...

'', a political journal which had been a mouthpiece for the Independents during the period of the Restoration. At ''Le Globe'' he became friends with Adolphe Dittmer (1795–1846), and he and Dittmer, using the single pseudonym Jacques François de Fongeray, published an anthology of "dramatic and historical sketches" with the title ''Les Soirées de Neuilly'' (1827). They also co-wrote several vaudeville sketches. In 1832 Cavé collaborated with

Henri Duponchel Henri Duponchel (28 July 1794 – 8 April 1868) was in turn a French architect, interior designer, costume designer, stage designer, stage director, managing director of the Paris Opera, and a silversmith. He has often been confused with Charl ...

, the future director of 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 kn ...

, on the libretto for Halévy's 5-act ballet-opera '' La tentation''.Pitou 1990, vol. 3, p. 1310. And from 28 January to 17 October 1838 Cavé served as the acting Royal Commissioner for 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 ...

. On 18 October 1832, during

Louis Philippe Louis Philippe I (6 October 1773 – 26 August 1850), nicknamed the Citizen King, was King of the French from 1830 to 1848, the penultimate monarch of France, and the last French monarch to bear the title "King". He abdicated from his throne ...

's reign (1830–1848), Cavé first secured a job with the government, as a general secretary in the Ministry of the Interior. Then in 1833 he became the Director of the Division of Fine Arts, a post he held until 1848. On 12 October 1839 he was also named ''

maître des requêtes A Master of Requests () is a counsel of the French ''Conseil d'État'' (Council of State), a high-level judicial officer of administrative law in France. The office has existed in one form or another since the Middle Ages. The occupational titl ...

'', a high level judicial position in the ''Conseil d'État'' (

Council of State A council of state is a governmental body in a country, or a subdivision of a country, with a function that varies by jurisdiction. It may be the formal name for the cabinet or it may refer to a non-executive advisory body associated with a head ...

). His area of responsibility was in the Special Service of the Committee of the Interior, an appointment he retained until the Special Service was dissolved on 18 April 1848 during the upheaval of the

1848 Revolution The revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the springtime of the peoples or the springtime of nations, were a series of revolutions throughout Europe over the course of more than one year, from 1848 to 1849. It remains the most widespre ...

. After Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte's coup in December 1851, which resulted in the termination of the Second Republic, Cavé was able to rejoin the government and was made ''Directeur des Palais et Manufactures'' (Director of Palaces and Factories) in January 1852. He died soon thereafter, at the end of March, in Paris. On 4 November 1843 Cavé had married Marie-Élisabeth Blavot-Boulanger (April 1806 – 15 October 1883). She was an artist, who had studied with, and previously been married to,

Clément Boulanger ''For the Canadian clergyman, see Clément Boulanger (Jesuit priest).'' The Procession of the Gargoyle Musée des Augustins Clément Boulanger, who was born at Paris in 1805, studied under Ingres, and died in 1842 at Magnesia ad Maeandrum in As ...

(who died in 1842), and she exhibited her artwork regularly at the Salon in Paris.Portrait of Mme Edmond Cavé by Ingres
at the website of the

; retrieved 14 March 2012. Through his wife, Cavé became acquainted with Boulanger's former teacher

, as well as Delacroix and Gigoux. In 1844 he commissioned Ingres to paint his portrait, which was apparently intended to be a companion piece to Ingres's earlier portrait of Mme Cavé. His wife's son from her first marriage was Marie-Henry-Albert Boulanger-Cavé (born 1830 in Rome, died 1910), who became a theatre supervisor in the Ministry of the Interior during the Second Empire.

Honors

* ''Chevalier'' of the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...

(1 May 1831) * ''Officier'' of the Legion of Honor (12 December 1844)

References

;Notes ;Cited sources * ''Archives de l'art français'', vol. 36 (2001). Paris: Société de l'histoire de l'art français. . * Pitou, Spire (1983). ''The Paris Opéra: An Encyclopedia of Operas, Ballets, Composers, and Performers'' (3 volumes). Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. . ;Sources listed at the French Wikipedia * Oursel, Noémi-Noire (1886). ''Nouvelle biographie normande''. Paris: Picard. * ''Dictionnaire biographique des membres du Conseil d'État'' (2004), p. 180. Paris: Fayard. * Angrand, Pierre (1966). ''Marie-Élizabeth Cavé : disciple de Delacroix''. Paris, Lausanne: Bibliothèque des arts. * One will also find references to Cavé in the letters of Delacroix,

Théophile Gautier Pierre Jules Théophile Gautier ( , ; 30 August 1811 – 23 October 1872) was a French poet, dramatist, novelist, journalist, and art and literary critic. While an ardent defender of Romanticism, Gautier's work is difficult to classify and rema ...

Prosper Mérimée Prosper Mérimée (; 28 September 1803 – 23 September 1870) was a French writer in the movement of Romanticism, one of the pioneers of the novella, a short novel or long short story. He was also a noted archaeologist and historian, an import ...

and

George Sand Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin de Francueil (; 1 July 1804 – 8 June 1876), best known by her pen name George Sand (), was a French novelist, memoirist and journalist. Being more renowned than either Victor Hugo or Honoré de Balz ...

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cave, Hygin Auguste 19th-century French journalists French male journalists French ballet librettists Officers of the Legion of Honour People of the July Monarchy 1796 births 1852 deaths People from Seine-Maritime Administrators of the Comédie-Française 19th-century French male writers