Art et Littérature

Called the ‘Queen of the Bluestockings’ in her own time, Elizabeth Montagu was perhaps the best-known salon hostess during the second half of the eighteenth century.

Erasmus Darwin (1731-1802) was the author of The Temple of Nature, in which he considers the concept of sociability as one of the keys to the evolution of species: love and sympathy guide the species toward perfection through the multiple changes caused by transformism.

The many-volume publication of Frances Burney’s diaries and journals situates her as one of the leading chroniclers of eighteenth-century sociability. She participated in the Sunday evening musical parties her father organized at his home in St Martin’s Street. She knew London’s sociable sights, frequently enjoying opera rehearsals or outings at Vauxhall and Ranelagh in the company of the leading musicians and artists of her day. Many of these experiences also found their way into her novels.

As a bluestocking hostess, Frances Boscawen (1719-1805) is often mentioned in connection with Elizabeth Montagu or Elizabeth Vesey, but so far, little scholarly attention has been paid to Boscawen’s sociable activities.

À son arrivée à Londres, en juin 1813, Germaine de Staël reçoit un accueil triomphal, étant célébrée comme l’opposante la plus tenace à l’Empire napoléonien et la première femme de lettres de son temps.