Marguerite de La Sablière
Marguerite Hessein de La Sablière
7 min read
A salonnière and woman of letters of the seventeenth century, she presided over one of the most celebrated salons in Paris, bringing together poets, philosophers, and scholars. A patron of La Fontaine, she welcomed him into her home for nearly twenty years. Passionate about science, she studied astronomy and natural philosophy under scholars such as Bernier.
Key Facts
- Born in 1636, daughter of financier Gilbert Hessein
- Married Antoine de Rambouillet de La Sablière in 1654; later separated
- Her salon on rue Neuve-des-Petits-Champs (Paris) brought together La Fontaine, Bernier, Fontenelle, and foreign scholars
- Hosted La Fontaine as a resident for nearly twenty years (c. 1672–1693)
- Died in 1693 after devoting herself to the sick at the Hôpital des Incurables
Works & Achievements
Her greatest achievement: a unique gathering place in Paris where literature and science met, it fostered the creation of La Fontaine's *Fables* and the spread of Gassendist ideas on the margins of the official academies, which were reserved for men.
By housing and supporting La Fontaine for twenty years, Marguerite de La Sablière made possible the composition of Books VII through XI of the *Fables*, a masterpiece of classical French literature.
Spiritual texts composed during her years of pious retreat, bearing witness to her profound conversion and inner life; they represent the rare direct testimony of her own pen.
Her letters with La Fontaine, Bernier, and other intellectuals are a precious source on life in Parisian salons, her scientific interests, and her philosophical reflections.
Anecdotes
Marguerite de La Sablière welcomed the poet Jean de La Fontaine into her home for nearly twenty years, starting in 1673. When she withdrew to devote herself to the sick at the Hôpital des Incurables, La Fontaine, at a loss, knocked on the door of Mme d'Hervart, who took him in at once. When asked about this choice, he is said to have simply replied: “Madame d'Hervart took me in.”
Passionate about astronomy and natural philosophy, Marguerite de La Sablière studied under the philosopher and traveler François Bernier, a disciple of Gassendi. She learned to handle celestial observation instruments and debated atomist theories with her learned guests, to the point that some contemporaries regarded her as one of the most educated women of her century.
La Fontaine dedicated books VII through IX of his *Fables* (1678–1679) to her, and book IX opens with a long philosophical poem — the *Discours à Madame de La Sablière* — in which he debates the soul of animals drawing on the ideas of Bernier and Descartes, a faithful reflection of the scholarly discussions that animated her salon.
After a profound religious conversion in the 1680s, Marguerite de La Sablière abandoned the brilliant social life of her salon to devote herself to caring for the sick. She gave herself entirely to the Hôpital des Incurables in Paris, alongside the Daughters of Charity, until her death on **January 6, 1693**. This transformation astonished her contemporaries as much as it edified them.
The physician and philosopher François Bernier, returning from his travels in India and Persia, was a regular presence in La Sablière's salon, sharing his discoveries about Eastern civilizations and Gassendist theories on atoms. It was in this setting that scientific ideas were debated long before they spread to the official academies.
Primary Sources
Iris, I would praise you — it would be all too easy; / But a hundred times you have refused our incense. / In this you are little like the rest of mortals, / Who all seek altars here below.
To Madame de La Sablière. I bring you my work... You have a kindness of which I am not worthy; and it is enough for me that you deign to read it.
I endeavored to make Gassendi intelligible to those who do not have the leisure to read his major works... These gatherings bore witness to select minds brought together in the salons of the capital.
There are women who possess genuine merit and solid renown, and who have, moreover, the refinement of not wishing it to be known.
Key Places
Parisian residence where Marguerite de La Sablière held her celebrated salon from around 1669, welcoming La Fontaine, Bernier, and many scholars and poets for nearly two decades.
Institution where Marguerite de La Sablière devoted herself as a volunteer to caring for the sick after her religious conversion, working alongside the Daughters of Charity until her death in 1693.
Although La Sablière was not a figure at court, Versailles culture set the standards of taste and conversation to which her salon responded by offering a freer, more learned, and more inclusive space.
The social and intellectual heart of Paris during the Grand Siècle, home to the literary salons, academies, and booksellers frequented by cultivated society.