{"id":465,"date":"2021-12-17T16:24:26","date_gmt":"2021-12-17T15:24:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.maisonlitterairedevictorhugo.net\/en\/?page_id=465"},"modified":"2022-03-16T16:24:57","modified_gmt":"2022-03-16T15:24:57","slug":"promenade-dans-bievres","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.maisonlitterairedevictorhugo.net\/en\/publications\/promenade-dans-bievres\/","title":{"rendered":"Promenade dans Bi\u00e8vres"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Walk in Bi\u00e8vres<\/em><\/strong>
Preamble to the catalog of the Maison Litt\u00e9raire de Victor Hugo<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

P<\/span>erhaps the first writer, in any case the only one to our knowledge, whose distant judgment \u2013 \u200b\u200bit dates from the 14th century \u2013 has come down to us, is the poet Eustache Deschamps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00ab\u00a0Who wants to see a very pretty house
In a pleasant and well-ordered place\u2026
And to the right heart of the kingdom of France
Boys and Ya\u00fce, garden in abundance
Of all birds the mundane paradise
Of the fountains the beauty and the noise
In Bi\u00e8vre see, three leagues from Paris\u2026\u00a0\u00bb<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

That suits us best! How many other\u2026 poets, painters, doctors, soldiers, famous in their time, but whose memory is still close to us, have appreciated before us the charm of the Valley, this \u00ab\u00a0Valley with a charming heart (where)\u2026 the Bi\u00e8vre flows and flows like a ribbon\u00a0\u00bb <\/em>said Jean Mor\u00e9as at the beginning of this century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00ab\u00a0The path which, coming from Jouy, runs along the Val de Bi\u00e8vre on the left bank is narrow and nonchalant. It insinuates itself, on the hillside between the walls and the hedges of rich bourgeois properties. Sometimes, thanks to an alley, a gate, an orchard yawning in the breeze, the eye escapes towards the wooded hills of the southern bank, and the traveler, at times, sees the bottom of the Val with meadows and gardens where the river basks, still unaware of the coming misery and the obscure destiny that Paris has in store for it. It is a courteous landscape, without grandeur but not without grace, conducive to patient thoughts, to placid bliss, to work, to retreats\u2026\u00a0\u00bb <\/em>We could add that this path has hardly changed since Georges Duhamel made discover our commune in Le D\u00e9sert de Bi\u00e8vres.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We will try to evoke some famous people who preceded us. These very real ones have sometimes left us with tangible memories; their houses, their gardens, which are perhaps ours today\u2026 First of all, how did they see our village, these four young walkers? One said: \u00ab\u00a0Resort for millionaires !\u00a0\u00bb<\/em> Another replied: \u00ab\u00a0A hole, bean merchants, handymen, pensioners\u2026 the end of the world.\u00a0\u00bb<\/em> Peremptory opinions, judgments too hasty \u2013 and subjective \u2013 to be retained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Ch\u00e2teau des Roches and the current Roche-Dieu were originally the same property extending from the Bi\u00e8vre to the Route de Versailles, located in the stronghold of M\u00e9nillet, at a place called: Hameau de Vauboyen. It belonged in 1660 to the painter Jean B\u00e9rain, draftsman of the King’s Chamber, supplier of compositions for the cabinetmaker Boulle, etc. It was therefore on this estate, which consisted of only a few isolated houses, that Louis XIV had \u201cLa Roche\u201d built, the only mention indicated on the maps of the time. The lands were given to Georges Mar\u00e9chal by the King with the title of Marquis de Bi\u00e8vres.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As for the Ch\u00e2teau des Roches, it is to the Bertin family \u2013 and their guests \u2013 that it owes its fame. Bertin the eldest, although he seems to have always been a warm host, exercised a severe choice. King Louis-Philippe experienced this at his expense. Having made the director of the Journal des D\u00e9bats<\/em> say one day \u2013 \u00ab\u00a0That he would like to know Les Roches\u00a0\u00bb<\/em> \u2013, Bertin replied: \u00ab\u00a0The King is very well at Versailles and I am very well at Les Roches. If he comes here, we will both be hurt.\u00a0\u00bb<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

L<\/span>ouis-Fran\u00e7ois Bertin, known as the eldest, had come to settle in Bi\u00e8vres in 1804 in the Domaine des Roches belonging at that time to Mr. Jean-Jacques-Antoine Caussins de Perceval, a famous orientalist (born in Montdidier in 1759 \u2013 died in 1835 ), and became the owner a few years later. Mr. Bertin the Eldest then returned to France, after having been exiled two years previously, owner of the Journal des D\u00e9bats<\/em> since 1800; he edited it until 1811. At that time, Napoleon I took possession of the Journal des D\u00e9bats<\/em> and granted ownership to several of his devoted servants; they gave it the name Journal de l’Empire.<\/em> This expropriation lasted until the return of the Bourbons in 1814 and the newspaper then became the organ of royalist opinion. But in 1829, unable to approve of the direction given to policy by the Polignac Ministry, Mr. Bertin published an article ending with these words: \u00ab\u00a0Unhappy France! unhappy King! \u00ab\u00a0.<\/em> Put on trial for this article, in August, Bertin the Elder was tried and sentenced to one year in prison. He appealed against this judgment and was quashed in October 1829. He was defended by Dupin the Elder. These two trials greatly occupied public opinion, which greatly approved of M. Bertin’s acquittal. He continued to edit the Journal des D\u00e9bats<\/em> until his death in 1841.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shortly before 1830, several former editors of the newspaper having died (Dussault-Hoffmann, Malte-Brun), M. Bertin attracted to him a whole young generation of famous men: Villemain, Salvandy, Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric Souli\u00e9, Silvestre de Sacy, Saint-Marc Girardin, Michel Chevalier, Jules Janin, D\u00e9sir\u00e9 Nisard, Lesourd, Xavier Raymond and Victor Hugo. His high intelligence, his benevolence for youth formed a nucleus of writers, but who, thanks to the education given by their leader, have left fine names in the literature of our century. It was then that we saw so many distinguished men come to Les Roches, because in addition to his high literary intelligence, Bertin the eldest had that of the Fine Arts and attracted to him in painting G\u00e9rard, Girodet, Ingres, Paul Delaroche, and in music Berlioz, Rossini, Meyerbeer, Ambroise Thomas, Gounod, Liszt, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr. Bertin had three children, all eminent by their noble faculties: \u00c9douard Bertin \u2013 who was mayor of Bi\u00e8vres from July 1846 to March 1848 \u2013 remarkable painter; Armand Bertin who succeeded his father in the direction of the Journal des D\u00e9bats<\/em> and Miss Louise Bertin who composed the music for several operas and two volumes of poetry entitled Glanes, well worthy of esteem. \u00c9douard and Louise died without descendants. Only Armand Bertin left two daughters: Mme Bazin whose husband became director of the Journal des D\u00e9bats<\/em> and Mme L\u00e9on Say whose husband was a senator. Armand Bertin had married Miss Aim\u00e9e-Anne-C\u00e9cile Dollfus, daughter of the owner of the Manufacture of painted canvas then existing in Bi\u00e8vres, who was mayor of Bi\u00e8vres.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Louis-Fran\u00e7ois Bertin had a younger brother, Mr. Bertin de Vaux, owner of the Ch\u00e2teau de Villepreux, near Versailles. This one was deputy during the reign of Louis-Philippe for the department of Seine-et-Oise and his son, General Bertin, succeeded him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bertin the Eldest had spent almost all of his exile in Rome and there had formed a friendship with Chateaubriand, then embassy secretary, which lasted until death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I<\/span>t was in his house in Bi\u00e8vres, says Pierre Larousse, that Bertin spent his best days, and it was there that he should have been seen free, happy, walking under the trees he had planted and evoking memories of his life. Bi\u00e8vres then saw the elite of men of letters. Benevolent and strong in friendship, Mr. Bertin passionately loved the arts and artists, letters and writers. Talent was always sure to find in him a cordial support and a criticism that was both benevolent and witty\u2026 Asking nothing for him from the government, he obtained everything for his friends. He reconciled Victor Hugo with the July government, which called him a reactionary. Victor Hugo obtained the friendship of the father who had published in 1827 in his famous daily a much noticed article on the Odes and Ballades<\/em>. For five years, he came to stay in the summer at Les Roches with his children and their mother as well as the brother, Mr. Armand Bertin; Among the verses he addressed to Miss Louise Bertin, here is the text of one of them which appeared in Les Feuilles d’Automne<\/em>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To Miss Louise B\u2026
Bi\u00e8vre<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00ab\u00a0Yes, it’s the valley! the calm and dark valley!
Here the cooler summer blooms in the shade
Here flowers that wither quickly, last a long time.
Here the soul contemplates, listens, adores, aspires,
And takes pity on this petty world and this mad empire
Where man every day makes less room for God.
A river at the bottom; woods on both slopes.
There, elms, bordered by a hundred climbing vines;
Meadows, where the reaper browns his nervous arm;
There pensive willows weeping on the shore,
And, like an insolent and naive bather,
Let the ends of their hair soak in the water.<\/em>\u00ab\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bi\u00e8vres often inspired Hugo. It is moving for his admirers to seek out in his work what was written at Les Roches. Those who like it can take up La Tristesse d’Olympio and, while walking along the wall of the park:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00ab\u00a0The pond near the spring\u2026\u00a0\u00bb <\/em>in the middle of which they will see the island on which, it is said, the poet himself planted the trees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

B<\/span>efore leaving this high place of Bievre, let us have a thought for others such as: Ingres who painted at Les Roches in 1832, the famous painting, of the Master of the house, which appears in the Louvre; Benjamin Constant, Chateaubriand, who had only the road to cross, staying opposite, with Joseph R\u00e9camier \u2013 cousin of the beautiful Juliette \u2013 then owner of the Ch\u00e2teau de la Roche (today Roche-dieu), former meeting place of hunting of Louis XIV who greatly appreciated the woods of the valley, from Buc to Verri\u00e8res, which is probably why so many of his courtiers settled there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Andr\u00e9 FAGE<\/em><\/strong>
Honorary Curator of the French Museum of Photography in Bi\u00e8vres.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Walk in Bi\u00e8vresPreamble to the catalog of the Maison Litt\u00e9raire de Victor Hugo Perhaps the first writer, in any case the only one to our knowledge, whose distant judgment \u2013 \u200b\u200bit dates from the 14th century \u2013 has come down to us, is the poet Eustache Deschamps. \u00ab\u00a0Who wants to see a very pretty houseIn …<\/p>\n

Promenade dans Bi\u00e8vres<\/span> Lire la suite\u00a0\u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":52,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-465","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maisonlitterairedevictorhugo.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/465","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maisonlitterairedevictorhugo.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maisonlitterairedevictorhugo.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maisonlitterairedevictorhugo.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maisonlitterairedevictorhugo.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=465"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/www.maisonlitterairedevictorhugo.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/465\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4033,"href":"https:\/\/www.maisonlitterairedevictorhugo.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/465\/revisions\/4033"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maisonlitterairedevictorhugo.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/52"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maisonlitterairedevictorhugo.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=465"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}