Anne-Catherine de Ligniville, Madame Helvétius
Anne -Catherine de Ligniville Helvétius, née de Ligniville d' Autricourt (* July 23, 1722 in Nancy, † August 12, 1800 in Auteuil ), known as Madame Helvetius, was a major French Salonnière the Enlightenment. They talked for almost 50 years a prestigious salon in which, philosophes ' wrong: writers, artists, scholars, politicians and other enlightened intellectuals. She was the wife of the philosopher Claude Adrien Helvetius.
Life and work
She came from a noble family and was one of 21 children of the Chamber, Mr Jean -Jacques de Ligniville ( 1694-1769 ) and his wife Charlotte de Saureau (ca. 1700-1762 ). The Anne -Catherine de Ligniville called " Minette " was the niece of the famous Madame de Salonnière Graffigny and perverse in their living room along with the famous philosophers of the Enlightenment. There, she met Baron Turgot, who was doing her a marriage proposal. However, they married on August 15, 1751 by marriage contract, that is, without religious ceremony, the philosopher Claude Adrien Helvetius, whom she had met in the parlor of her aunt.
After the death Graffignys 1753 she led the intellectual circle in the Rue St. Anne on. From 1772, after the death of her husband, the Community moved to n ° 59 rue d' Auteuil and has since been known as a société d' Auteuil (Society of Auteuil ) or cercle d' Auteuil (District Auteuil ). Among the regulars were among others the Salonnièren Julie de Lespinasse and Suzanne Necker, writers Fontenelle, Diderot, Nicolas Chamfort, Charles Pinot Duclos, Jean -François de Saint- Lambert, Jean -François Marmontel, Jean -Antoine Roucher (1745-1794 ), Bernard- Joseph Saurin, André Chénier, the philosopher Condorcet, Paul Henri Thiry d' Holbach, Turgot, Constantin François Volney, Emmanuel -Joseph Sieyès, Ferdinando Galiani, Destutt de Tracy, Cesare Beccaria, André Morellet, Georges -Louis Leclerc de Buffon, Étienne Bonnot de Condillac, Guillaume Thomas François Raynal, and the scholars of d' Alembert, Antoine Laurent de Lavoisier, Georges Cuvier and Pierre -Jean -Georges Cabanis. In addition, there were among the visitors visual artists such as the sculptor Jean -Antoine Houdon and the painter Baron Gérard and publishers such as Charles -Joseph -Ambroise Didot Panckoucke or François ( 1730-1804 ). Among the politicians who were members of the Salon by Anne -Catherine Helvetius, to Malesherbes, Talleyrand, Manon Roland and her husband Jean -Marie Roland de la Platière, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Paine, Mirabeau, Pierre- Claude Daunou were (1761 -1840 ), François Andrieux, Dominique Joseph Garat, Nicolas Bergasse ( 1750-1832 ), François Andrieux and the young Napoleon Bonaparte. Until her death she led for nearly 50 years her salon. Became known for her correspondence with her husband. After his death, she was Grand Master of the female connected to Les neuf sœurs Masonic Lodge.
Anne -Catherine de Ligniville Helvétius died at the age of 78 years at Auteuil.