History
article | Reading time5 min
Discover the women who marked Voltaire's life !
Women, Voltaire loves you!
Voltaire loved women and their company.
The philosopher willingly abandons himself to love !
In love at twenty years of Pimpette, he knows with this young lady some first loves but quickly upset.
Cured of this passion, the young man embarked on a career of seduction. Voltaire was a fickle lover, and he perpetuated the love game with the amiable Bernières, the unfaithful Livry and the voluptuous Rupelmonde.
At forty, Voltaire became the lover of Émilie du Châtelet.
To the sublime Émilie succeeds the maternal Madame Denis, her niece.
But many other women influenced Voltaire. The philosopher had loyal friends such as Madame d'Argental, admired talented actresses such as Mademoiselle Clairon and honoured the courts of brilliant princesses, such as Catherine II of Russia.
© Benjamin Gavaudo / Centre des monuments nationaux
MARIE-MARGUERITE DAUMART, THE ONE AND ONLY
Voltaire was officially born on 21 November and according to him on 20 February 1694 in Paris !
He is the son of François Arouet and Marie-Marguerite Daumart, married on 7 June 1683 : from their union, five children are born but only three survive.
Marie-Marguerite had the role of mistress of the house, but also the more mundane one that her husband allowed her to play : Marie-Marguerite ran a literary salon and received many religious figures as well as the fine minds of her time.
A lack never filled
Marie-Marguerite Daumart died on 13 July 1704, leaving behind Voltaire, then aged ten.
The philosopher rarely spoke of her. And when he does, Voltaire lends his mother a gallant role, although nothing is certain.
The philosopher claimed that his mother was "very friendly" with the Abbé de Châteauneuf, his godfather, and with Rochebrune, a musketeer and poet whose son he claimed to be. Voltaire kept a portrait of his mother in Ferney, attributed to Largillière.
He never said anything about the women who watched over him during his childhood. Thus, it is conceivable that his sister or an aunt raised him.
© David Bordes / Centre des monuments nationaux
Marguerite-Catherine Arouet, more than a sister
Voltaire had a sister, Marguerite-Catherine, whom he loved deeply.
Marguerite-Catherine Arouet (1686-1726) is raised with all the care reserved for the young girls of the middle-class.
On 28 January 1709, she married Pierre-François Mignot.
From this union were born four children, Marie-Louise, future Madame Denis, Marie-Élisabeth, future Madame de Fontaine, François and Alexandre-Jean, future Abbé Mignot, to whom Voltaire was very attached.
© Benjamin Gavaudo / Centre des monuments nationaux
EMILIE DU CHÂTELET, THE LOVE OF HIS LIFE
A long story
"Beautiful minds meet"...
An aristocrat and accomplished socialite, Gabrielle Émilie Le Tonnelier de Breteuil (1706-1749) received a careful education, allowing her to master Latin, French, English and Italian.
Émilie testifies at a very young age to her love for the sciences, and particularly for mathematics and physics. History interests her little.
Voltaire had been visiting her parents' house since 1714 and may well have noticed the young girl.
In 1733, Voltaire and Émilie's paths crossed again. From the first moment, she knows how to surprise and interest him. Thus, the philosopher is charmed by his spirit and beauty.
Although the young woman was married to Florent-Claude, Marquis du Châtelet, and had three children, Voltaire and Émilie began an affair.
The Marquis quickly agreed and even allowed the young couple to live in the family chateau at Cirey.
"The Divine Emilie
From 1735, Émilie and Voltaire devoted themselves entirely to each other.
Émilie looked after the philosopher and established a disciplined lifestyle focused on study.
From 1735 to 1740, they lived in the same intellectual passion and reached a communion of the spirit : Voltaire satisfied his desire for a studious retreat by living with Émilie in Cirey. In its place, they finally know the peace conducive to their work. The conquest of his lover responds to mutual ambition and fantasies of glory.
Émilie translates major texts into English, composes dissertations for the Academy of Sciences prize, and above all continues with a frenzy the translation and commentary of Newton’s Mathematical Principles.
Voltaire initiates himself in the sciences without neglecting poetry and theater. He deepens his philosophical reflections and also competes for the prize of the Academy of Sciences.
The philosopher likes to nickname his mistress, 'the Divine Émilie' or 'Madame Pompon-Newton' in reference to her coquetry and his work on the mathematician.
© Hervé Lewandowski / Centre des monuments nationaux
Destructive love?
Their virtual solitude frightened their contemporaries. Indeed, their life in autarky, only interspersed with visits, generates tensions.
In order to escape this atmosphere, Voltaire spent more and more time away from Cirey.
But the separations are always painful for Émilie.
And inexorably, their liaison deteriorates. Voltaire is exasperated by the passionate, possessive demands of Emilie. And although nothing remains of their love correspondence, Emilie’s Discourse on Happiness intimately echoes their failure in love.
From the happiness of triumphant love to the nostalgia of a final affair
Voltaire and Émilie could not bring themselves to break up. So they continued to live together in Cirey, Lorraine.
In 1744, Voltaire began a love affair with his niece, Madame Denis, but refused to leave Émilie, with whom he had experienced the happiness of triumphant love before the nostalgia of an affair that had come to an end.
A friend for life
In 1748, it was Émilie's turn to fall in love with the Chevalier Saint-Lambert. She became pregnant by her lover and chose to give birth in Lorraine, at the Château de Cirey.
Voltaire, out of friendship, chose to accompany her.
Until the last days of her pregnancy, Émilie continued to complete her translation of Newton's writings. Unfortunately, her ill-considered efforts exhausted her.
On 4 September 1749, she gave birth to a daughter. Émilie died six days later of postnatal fever. Voltaire, overwhelmed, sought comfort from his friends and his niece.
A kindred spirit
After Émilie's death, the philosopher celebrated her in several epistles, dedications and odes.
Voltaire wrote of his late mistress :"I do not miss a mistress. I miss a friend and a great man" or "I have not lost a mistress, I have lost half of myself, a soul for whom mine was made, a friend of twenty years whom I had seen born".
© Reproduction Benjamin Gavaudo
