Évrard Titon du Tillet

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Évrard Titon du Tillet (January 1677 - 26 December 1762) is best known for his important biographical work, Le Parnasse François, of infamous French poets and musicians of his time, under the reign of King Louis XIV.

Biography

Of Scottish origin, Évrard Titon du Tillet was the son of Maximilien Titon de Villegenon, Lord of Ognon, secretary of the King and general manager of the armoires under King Louis XIV. He studied law before his father obliged him to embrace the military career. He was already a "captain of dragoons" at the age of twenty, unfortunate for him, the long awaited peace prevented him from advancing in career. He was then the "Master of hotel" of the duchess of Burgundy, Dauphine, then thirteen years old, future mother of King Louis XV. Alas, in 1712, the Dauphine died of measles, Titon du Tillet was unemployed for the second time. He was, however, named the "Police Chief of Wars" afterwards.

Titon du Tillet had the privilege to receive the celebrities of his time, and he worked nearly ten years on an imposing project: to create a garden and a monument, "the French Parnassus" (Le Parnasse François), with the glory of French poets and musicians under the region of Louis XIV. He worked with sculptor Louis Garnier to produce a model of the monument. A group of bronze was completed in 1718. He also ordered a drawing with painter Nicolas de Poilly who was presented to Louis XV in 1723. The expenditure, estimated at nearly two million, forced to terminate the project.

Titon du Tillet then decided to carry the project out in a, to some extent, virtual form: he published, in 1727, "a Description of the Parnasse François" followed by "an alphabetical List of the Poets and Musicians gathered on this monument". In 1732, he published the second edition and increased the notes on the life of the poets and the musicians. Two further supplements were also published in 1743 and 1755. This collection, constitutes a very invaluable source of biographical information, mentioned and described lives of the mysterious Monsieur de Sainte-Colombe, Marin Marais, Louis Couperin, Michel Richard Delalande, Nicolas Bernier and other celebrated poets and musicians.

Confirmed bachelor, Titon du Tillet was a cordial man (some says that he was obstinated) and with interesting conversation by the anecdotes which he strewed. He was always surrounded by many friends and withdrew himself, in spring 1749, to a beautiful hotel, the "Folie Titon", surrounded by a large park, street of Montreuil, with doors opened to Paris. Barber affirms that Titon du Tillet lived with girls and the act was considered as not "appropriate to the magistrate".

A passionate lover of arts and letters, Titon du Tillet encouraged ballets and plays. He constructed a theatre in his house where a number of performances were put on, including Dlle Leclair (1760) and Annette et Lubin (1762), which attracted a considerable crowd.

Titon du Tillet died of a cold on 26 December 1762 in Paris, aged 85.

Work

Évrard Titon du Tillet. Le Parnasse François, 1732.

Bibliography

Judith Colton, Le Parnasse François: Titon du Tillet and the Origins of the Monument to Genius, Yale University Press, 1979

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