LEMONNIER, Anicet-Charles-Gabriel
(b. 1743, Rouen, d. 1824, Paris)

In the Salon of Madame Geoffrin in 1755

1812
Oil on canvas, 126 x 195 cm
Château du Malmaison, Rueil

Many of the important personages of the period assembled in the salon of Madame Geoffrin around a bust of Voltaire.

The salons, places of conversations in sophisticated social circles in Paris and the provinces, played an important role in 18th-century cultural life. Artistic undertakings, problems of decoration, and literary endeavours all became topics in the salons. It is interesting to note that the term designating social gatherings was also applied to the dominant mode of artistic exhibition, the famous Salons of painting.

In that age of intense social life, Parisian cafés played a role almost as remarkable as that of the glittering literary salons hosted on fixed days of the week by women such as Madame du Deffand and Madame Geoffrin, which characterized the Enlightenment.