Hôtel de Rambouillet on the 1652 Gomboust map pf Paris – Rumsey (highlighted)

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, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

residence of

Catherine de Vivonne, marquise de Rambouillet Catherine de Vivonne, marquise de Rambouillet (1588 – 2 December 1665), known as Madame de Rambouillet, was a society hostess and a major figure in the literary history of 17th-century France. {{French literature sidebar Life Born in Rome, she w ...

, who ran a renowned literary salon 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 known ...

Hôtel de Chevreuse The former Hôtel de Chevreuse (later known as the Hôtel de Luynes) was a Parisian '' hôtel particulier'' located at 33 Rue Saint-Dominique (on a site that now includes part of the Boulevard Saint-Germain), just south of the Église Saint-Tho ...

, in a former quarter of Paris (demolished during the 19th century), located between the

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...

and

Tuileries The Tuileries Palace (french: Palais des Tuileries, ) was a royal and imperial palace in Paris which stood on the right bank of the River Seine, directly in front of the Louvre. It was the usual Parisian residence of most French monarchs, from ...

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 Tu ...

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

Louvre Museum The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...

. 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), a term for a woman who is engaged in the business of procuring prostitutes, usually the manager of a brothel * ''Madame'' ...

Madame de La Fayette Marie-Madeleine Pioche de La Vergne, Comtesse de La Fayette (baptized 18 March 1634 – 25 May 1693), better known as Madame de La Fayette, was a French writer; she authored ''La Princesse de Clèves'', France's first historical novel and one ...

, Mademoiselle de Scudéry, the Duchesse de Longueville, 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 of ...

, Racan, Richelieu, La Rochefoucauld,

Paul Scarron Paul Scarron (c. 1 July 1610 in Paris – 6 October 1660 in Paris) (a.k.a. Monsieur Scarron) was a French poet, dramatist, and novelist, born in Paris. Though his precise birth date is unknown, he was baptized on 4 July 1610. Scarron was the fi ...

Claude Favre de Vaugelas Claude Favre de Vaugelas (6 January 1585 – 26 February 1650) was a Savoyard grammarian and man of letters. Although a lifelong courtier, Claude Favre was widely known by the name of one of the landed estates he owned as '' seigneur'' of Va ...

, and Vincent Voiture. 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 greatest writers in the French language and worl ...

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, i ...

'' (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 limit ...

, 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 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'' was staged as well as read; other reading included the novels of La Calprenède and

Mlle de Scudéry Mademoiselle () is a French courtesy title, abbreviated Mlle, traditionally given to an unmarried woman. The equivalent in English is " Miss". The courtesy title "Madame" is accorded women where their marital status is unknown. From around 1970 ...

, 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 ''Dictionnaire de l'Académie française'' is the official dictionary of the French language. The Académie française is France's official authority on the usages, vocabulary, and grammar of the French language, although its recommendations ...

'' eventually published by the Académie française, which found its start in the ''Hôtel de Rambouillet''. Words like "

celadon ''Celadon'' () is a term for pottery denoting both wares glazed in the jade green celadon color, also known as greenware or "green ware" (the term specialists now tend to use), and a type of transparent glaze, often with small cracks, that wa ...

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

See also

Notes

Further reading