History, Anecdote, and Accuracy: Anicet Charles Gabriel Lemonnier’s Première lecture, chez Madame Geoffrin, de l’ “Orphelin de la Chine,” tragédie de Voltaire, en 1755

Abstract

Anicet Charles Gabriel Lemonnier’s Première lecture, chez Madame Geoffrin, de l’ “Orphelin de la Chine,” tragédie de Voltaire, en 1755 (1812) frequently appears in books, articles, and websites as an illustration of the famous salon of Mme Geoffrin. Most scholarship on the painting focuses on its status as a false “document,” and situates it within the context of Post-Revolution nostalgia for the ancien régime. These discussions ignore two key parts of this work’s history: its purchase by Joséphine de Beauharnais, and the critical reaction to its exhibition at the Salon of 1814. This essay explores these two interconnected aspects. First, I situate Joséphine’s interest in the broader cultural context of salonnières’ use of art to promote a femino centric history of the salon. Second, I consider how critics fixated on the painting’s anachronism, and deemed that aspect necessary to its success. Ultimately, I argue that the criticism and eventual dismissal of the work is rooted in broader inter pretations of the anecdotal genre scenes, and women’s interest in those subjects, as “feminine.”