Refashioning the Respectable Elite Woman in Louis XIV's Paris Madame De Sévigné & Ninon De Lenclos

Riikka-Maria Pöllä Refashioning the Respectable Elite Woman in Louis XIV’s Paris Madame de Sévigné & Ninon de Lenclos Copyright © Riikka-Maria Pöllä Cover images: (on the left) Ninon de Lenclos by Louis Ferdinand Elle the Younger. Châteaux de Versailles et de Trianon. (On the right) Madame de Sévigné (1665) by Claude Lefèbvre. Hôtel Carnavalet, Paris. Graphic design: Juha Nenonen Printed in Helsinki Bofori, 2017 ISBN 978-951-51-3061-7 (paperback) ISBN 978-951-51-3043-3 (PDF) Riikka-Maria Pöllä Refashioning the Respectable Elite Woman in Louis XIV’s Paris Madame de Sévigné & Ninon de Lenclos Academic dissertation to be publicly discussed, by due permission of the Faculty of Arts at the University of Helsinki in lecture hall 13, on the 28th of April, 2017 at 12 o’clock. Abstract Refashioning the Respectable Elite Woman in Louis XIV’s Paris Madame de Sévigné & Ninon de Lenclos Riikka-Maria Pöllä University of Helsinki This PhD thesis is an analysis of the appearances, material culture and sexuality of the respectable woman, l’honneste femme, in Paris under the regime of Louis XIV. Through the examples of Madame de Sévigné and Ninon de Lenclos, the study describes how Parisian elite women were able to fashion the ideal of l’honneste femme and how reality and ideals were combined in Parisian society. The study is based on the idea that female chastity is not the only key factor when evaluating and refashioning l’honneste femme and the 17th century female ideal was composed from different elements: elite status, education, manners, material culture, outer appearance and sexuality; residential area also played a role, especially the quartier of Le Marais with its fourishing elite culture. The study shows that l’honneste femme was the result of the mastering of all these different layers of elite living. In addition, it notes that the respectable Parisian elite woman could make her own decisions in relation to her lifestyle and self-fashioning. These actions were essential when constructing the entity of l’honneste femme. The aim of the study is to answer the following questions: How did Madame de Sévigné and Ninon de Lenclos refect the ideal of the elite culture? How was the notion of a respectable woman constructed? Was this a matter of perfect abstinence as previous scholars claim – or was it rather a performance that required different elements to be fulflled? If so, what were the essential aspects when refashioning the respectable woman? How did Madame de Sévigné and Ninon de Lenclos fashion themselves? Did their self-fashioning aim to perform as honnestes femmes or did they search for other ways to be 4 part of the society of les honnêtes gens? Most importantly, the study considers why both Marquise de Sévigné and Ninon de Lenclos were considered honnestes femmes at the end of their lives? The study, qualitative in nature, is based on a variety of sources. By means of critical close reading the study analyses the letters of Madame de Sévigné and Ninon de Lenclos and their inventaires après décès which are key sources. The valuable information these post-mortem inventories offer has not been used properly ever before in studies on l’honneste femme. Another prominent source for the study are the Mémoires composed by the contemporaries of Madame de Sévigné and Ninon de Lenclos. Seventeenth-century conduct books such as François de Grenaille’s L’Honnête flle (1640); Jacques Du Bosc’s L’Honneste femme (1632); Antoine de Courtin’s Nouveau Traité de la civilité qui se pratique en France parmi les honnêtes gens (1671); François de Sales’ Introduction à la vie devote (1641) and Nicolas Venette’s Tableau de l’amour conjugal (1686) help to understand the female ideal on the theoretical level. Both Madame de Sévigné and Ninon de Lenclos were immortalised in several portraits that were refections of the honnête status. Thus, such visual sources as portraits and gravures have also been analysed and combined with the overall source material and research literature. The most important notion is that even if the ideal of the elite woman, l’honneste femme, had been created mostly by male authors, it was adjustable and adaptable. Furthermore, the study argues that the external signs of l’honneste femme played a greater role than previous scholars have assumed. In other words, l’honneste femme and her honnête performance were created from many different social and personal aspects of which chastity was only one of them. Thus, the study shows how 17th-century Parisian elite women had to be able to uphold simultaneously different status layers of their rank to fulfl the expectations the Ancien Régime created for l’honneste femme. Key words: l’honneste femme, honnêteté, sexuality, material culture, self-fashioning, Paris, seventeenth-century. 5 Acknowledgements Every journey has its beginning and this one started years ago when Professor Erkki Kouri said to me two words: image and Madame de Sévigné. From these two words, a larger idea grew and became this thesis, which embodies not only one but two Parisian elite women, Madame de Sévigné and Ninon de Lenclos. Their self-confdent performances of elite living helped me to construct the entity of the 17th century female ideal, l’honneste femme. Today, after an eventful voyage, I would like to express my special appreciation and thanks to my advisor Professor Laura Kolbe: you have been consistent mentor to me. Furthermore, I am indebted to you for the years in your research seminar on European history, believing in me and encouraging my study as well as allowing me to grow as a historian. I would also like to thank Professor Johanna Ilmakunnas for this journey together: your guidance and advice have been irreplaceable; I will always cherish our discussions. Furthermore, your sense of aesthetics and understanding of early modern era elite living have been priceless. Academy Professor Markku Peltonen: I will be forever grateful for your professional comments, your help in sharpening my argument and leading me back on track when I was about to lose my direction. In other words, I am forever grateful to you all as you have supported me to fnish my PhD thesis. I want to express my gratitude to Professor Yme Kuiper (University of Groningen) and Professor Kekke Stadin (University of Södertörn) who served as preliminary assessors and gave me valuable advices on how to improve my study. Especially I want to thank Professor Yme Kuiper who kindly agreed to serve as my opponent at the defence. I am especially grateful to Niilo Helanderin säätiö for fnancial support and to the Laura Kolbe and Thomas Forss 6 Fund and the Helsinki University Fund for providing me the funding for the work. Without your help, this study could not have been fnished! I would like to express appreciation to Professor Matti Klinge for all the lovely discussions we have had over the years and for believing and encouraging me to study 17th-century French elite women. Thanks also to Marketta Klinge for your always lovely and positive company, that I will appreciate always. I am also grateful to PhD Markku Kekäläinen and PhD Kristina Ranki for your help, positive attitude and interest in my study. Special thank goes to Tittle of Docent Professor Päivi Salmesvuori for the idea to use self-fashioning as a methodological tool. PhD Rose-Marie Peake, ma chére Louise & Lyon: you are not only my colleague, but you are also my dear, one-of-a-kind friend. I want to thank you for making me laugh when I just wanted to cry, for our unforgettable voyages in France as well as being brave enough to realise even the craziest ideas to popularise history. I am forever grateful that Professor Laura Kolbe brought us together and our shared passion for history united us. Aurore Darnet, un grand merci pour toi: your talent with the hand writing of the 17th-century documents from Archives Nationales helped me to strengthen my argument. Pirkko Sarkimaa (Helsinki City Library): you have been tremendous help since you found all the books I could ever have imagined. Special thank goes to PhD Marlene Broemer, PhD, Docent Mark Shackleton, PhD Rose-Marie Peake and Laura Jokinen for assisting me through all the challenges I had in English; it would have been impossible to give the fnal touches to the study without your help! Juha Nenonen: you have been indispensable for creating the visual look of the study and being patient to guide me through several technical problems. Madame Liisa Peake, I will always be grateful to you for encouraging me to carry out my dreams and passion for French history and culture. Thank you, PhD Ira Westergård (Synebrychoff Art Museum) for your help with my questions regarding art history. I want to likewise thank The National Library of Finland, Archives nationales, Bibliothèque nationale 7 de France, The State Hermitage Museum (St. Petersburg), Domaine de Villarceaux (Direction de la Culture – Région Ile-de-France, Thierry Labussiere), Musée des Beaux-Arts (Tours), Château des Rochers (ville de Vitré), RMN-Grand Palais and Polo Museale del Lazio-Galleria Spada (Italy) for your efforts to fnd me the documents as well as the beautiful and essential illustrations. Finally, some special thanks go to my family. Words cannot express how grateful I am to my parents Laura and Reijo: your support was what sustained me thus far. I am grateful to my siblings Jaakko and Joonas for understanding that your sister loves history so much. I would like to thank all my dear friends – you know who you are – who supported me to strive towards my goal.

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