Posh Meets Pedigree in Paris

The second edition of Design Miami in Paris took place in the City of Light from October 16 through 20 last year. Seeing limited edition, mid-century modern, art deco, brutalist, and experimental design pieces within the boiserie-clad rooms of L’hôtel de Maisons, an 18th-century mansion in Saint-Germain-des-Prés, brought me a flash of inspiration. My title—“Posh Meets Pedigree in Paris”—refers to the phenomenal juxtaposition between the exemplars of modernism and the ornate backdrops into which they’ve been placed. Suddenly, I wanted to give the vignettes longer lives than they briefly had but where is my history hook? I wondered as I searched through the past for former owners of the Hôtel de Maisons who had made intellectual contributions to French society. It was then I hit upon the idea of presenting a handful of salonnières who might have relished holding court in the rooms as the figures to bring them to life. 

These were forward-thinking women, after all, each one of which embraced innovation and out-of-the-box concepts in her own way. What, I wondered, would they have thought about pieces by Jean Touret, Ettore Sottsass, or George Nakashima. As my thought trailed off, I am almost certain I heard an ever so faint “très chic” echoing through the centuries! By all accounts, Catherine de Vivonne, the Marquise de Rambouillet, is singular in the roster of hostesses, as she is credited with the craze that took over when she was the first to “salon.” Her era of eminence spanned from the late 16^th to the mid 17^th centuries, a 50-year stint at a level of influence that may surprise some, as she was not a native Parisian. Her father, the Marquis of Pisani, was a French Ambassador to the papacy so Catherine was born in Rome. When he moved their family back to France, she found the manners of the courtiers there lacking and set about bringing a level of refinement to their intellects that she had found in Italy.

Posh Meets Pedigree in Paris

Interspersed with serious discussions were concerts, comedies, and poetry readings. Weather permitting, she even treated her attendees to fireworks. Known for her prowess at interior architecture and design, I am certain she would have been right at home commanding the room from any of the avant-garde installations shown here. Those who followed on her coattails during the 17^thand 18^th centuries are said to have moved the country toward the Revolution. Philosophers, writers, and politicians who were keen to hobnob with the aristocratic women who held the afternoon or evening entertainments were said to participate in stimulating conversation they dared not utter while gathering in public because they feared being overheard by eavesdropping royal censors. One of the prime players in this brave new world of debate was Madeleine de Scudéry, whose famous novel Cyrus was at the center of much ado about everything for all of the habitués looking for a little limelight.

Mademoiselle de Scudéry, as she was known because she never married, had a knack for flattering her salon attendees by casting them as characters or describing their grand homes in her books. In Cyrus, she presented the Marquis de Rambouillet as the epitome of generosity, goodness, justice, and purity. “The intellect is not like that of those whose minds have no brilliancy except that which nature has given them,” she explained, “for she had cultivated it carefully, and I think I can say that there are no belles connaissances [is no lovely knowledge] that she has not acquired.” 

Scudéry held her salon from around 1607 through 1701. She had lost her parents early in life and was raised by an uncle who felt compelled to open her mind to literature, the arts, and languages. She decided not to marry because she loathed how most husbands treated their wives and she claimed she was keen on finding someone who could give her Platonic love, though she never had any luck in this quest. Her aim with her salon was to keep it casual, so much so she objected to being called an intellectual and she opened her drawing rooms to the bourgeoisie rather than limiting her guest list to the aristocracy as so many other salonnières did at the time. One of her favorite pastimes was crafting and performing sonnet-enigmas, a more creatively complex form of traditional charades—as the sonnet was read, the listeners were tasked with guessing the solitary object the entirety of the poem represented. 

The salon of the Marquise de Sablé also found its footing in the 17^th century. Losing her entire family and her wealthy husband within a few years’ time caused her to take stock—deciding her intelligence was worth more than another marriage, she moved into the Place Royale, now the Place des Vosges, and devoted herself to literature. In doing so, she created a milieu to which influential members of the elite like François de La Rochefoucauld flocked. While they must have relished the religious and literary subjects they discussed, it is said they also came for the remarkable cuisine she served. Sablé was known for her maxims, a popular form of wit that she and other courtiers of her era recorded. These and her treatise On Friendship were published posthumously by those wishing to preserve her legacy beyond her patronage of La Rochefoucauld, her theological salon, and her savvy correspondence. Because they put her works in print, scholars now see her contributions to moral philosophy as more important than her societal interactions.

Ninon de Lenclos, whose salon attracted a refined audience because of her superior grasp of culture and intellectual elegance during the 17^th century, was described as a brilliant woman of fine taste. She welcomed celebrated playwrights into her apartment, including Racine and Molière. The latter read Tartuffe to her habitués before anyone else had heard it performed. Lenclos was not an obvious choice as a successful salonnière because she was a courtesan who viewed the feminine condition during her time with extreme disenchantment. A rare individual during her era, she managed the Herculean task of taking control of her own destiny. It is said she had an extremely high opinion of herself and that she embraced a career as a courtesan with seasoned hedonism. To put the strength of her courage into context: Lenclos’ salon was underway during a time when the women of her era were dictated by Préciosité, which meant they rejected any and all physical love and steered perfectly clear of sensuality; and that they kept to pure and rigorous ethics in the way they lived.

This was particularly true with salon hostesses like the Marquis de Lambert, who was presiding during the 18^th-century reign of Louis XV, which was fraught with moral challenges. Her marriage to Henri de Lambert, the Marquis de Bris en Auxerrois, in 1666 earned her a place in the upper-crust of society, influence she multiplied by hosting evening salons in the Hôtel Lambert on the lovely Ile Saint-Louis in the heart of Paris. After her husband died, she rented apartments in the Palais Mazarin, which is today the National Library, where she resided for the rest of her life. Once she had redecorated her rooms, she resumed her salon in just as gracious a setting as she had inhabited before.   

Lambert held Tuesday dinners for scientists and aristocrats, and Wednesday dinners for artists and writers. Among the latter who attended were Fontenelle, Montesquieu, Voltaire, and Marivaux. The authors discussed new books being released and the painters debated new works being shown. Hers was a serious salon during which no cards were allowed to be dealt and no music wafted into the air. Fontenelle says of the atmosphere: “It was, with very few exceptions, the only house which had been preserved from the epidemic of gambling—the only house where persons congregated simply for the sake of talking sensibly and with espirt.” 

There were many other women who began shaping society within their homes during the dynamic pre-revolutionary period in France, and it has been a fun exercise to give a handful of them spaces in which to preside. The galleries and/or artists who brought the furnishings into the rooms of the Hôtel de Maisons are listed in the captions beneath each photo. The featured image, which showcases works by ​Giulia De Jonckheere Design, was taken by Ivaan Erofeev. 

Posh Meets Pedigree in Paris © Saxon Henry, all rights reserved. Saxon is an author, journalist, poet, and strategist whose books include her newest title Lives Illuminated, which is also available in a Kindle edition; The Modern Salonnière; Anywhere But Here; Stranded on the Road to Promise; Four Florida Moderns; and Collaborations: A Houston Penthouse.