Louise Suzanne Gallatin

The Gallatin family lived at Pregny in a property inherited by Mme Gallatin from her father Robert Vaudenet. Her husband, Abraham Gallatin, was a businessman and a member of a patrician Genevan family. Pregny was a small community near Lake Geneva, four kilometres north of Geneva. Part of the territory of France in the eighteenth century, Pregny was incorporated into the canton of Geneva only in 1815.

In late 1758, Voltaire acquired from the président de Brosses a life interest in the Château de Tournay (as well as the seigneurial title that went with the domain), situated adjacent to Pregny. He would use the property mainly for receptions and theatre performances. In acquiring the property of Tournay, Voltaire became the closest neighbour of the Gallatin family.

Mme Gallatin has been described as ‘one of Voltaire’s favourite neighbours, a woman of superior mind and character’ (Perey et Maugras, La Vie intime de Voltaire, p.87). She corresponded with Frederick II, landgrave of Hesse-Cassel. ‘Dès la prise de possession de Tournay, des rapports de bon voisinage s’établissaient […] entre les Gallatin et Voltaire. […] Très vite aussi des Délices et de Ferney, de nombreux billets prirent le chemin de Pregny. […] Il y est question de vendanges, de gravier, de routes et même de procès, puis à côté de toutes ces choses intéressant deux propriétaires voisins qui gèrent avec soin leur domaine, ce sont aussi des invitations à souper ou à la Comédie, des demandes de services, des remerciements ou de simples compliments’ (Peter, Une Amie de Voltaire, p.9-10).

The only known portrait of Mme Gallatin is a drawing attributed to J. B. Perroneau (New York Historical); it is reproduced as the frontispiece to Peter, Une Amie de Voltaire.

• Fernand Caussy, Voltaire, seigneur de village (Paris, Hachette, 1912)
• Lucien Perey et Gaston Maugras, La Vie intime de Voltaire aux Délices et à Ferney, 1754-1778, 3e éd. (Paris, Calmann Lévy, 1892)
• Marc Peter, Une Amie de Voltaire: Mme Gallatin (Lausanne, Éditions SPES, 1925)