Source note

SOMMERVIEUX (Theodore de), a painter, winner of the prix de Rome, knight of the Legion of Honor, was particularly successful in interiors; and excelled in chiaro-oscuro effects, in imitation of the Dutch. He made an excellent reproduction of the interior of the Cat and Racket, on the rue Saint-Denis, which he exhibited at the Salon at the same time with a fascinating portrait of his future wife, Mademoiselle Guillaume, with whom he fell madly in love, and whom he married in 1808, almost in spite of her parents, and thanks to the kind offices of Madame Roguin, whom he knew in his society life. The marriage was not a happy one; the daughter of the Guillaumes adored Sommervieux without understanding him. The painter often neglected his rooms on the rue des Trois-Freres (now a part of the rue Taitbout) and transferred his homage to the Marechale de Carigliano. He had an income of twelve thousand francs; before the Revolution his father was called the Chevalier de Sommervieux. [At the Sign of the Cat and Racket.] Theodore de Sommervieux designed a monstrance for Gohier, the king's goldsmith; this monstrance was bought by Madame Baudoyer and given to the church of Saint-Paul, at the time of the death of F. de la Billardiere, head clerk of the administration, whose position she desired for her husband. [The Government Clerks.] Sommervieux also drew vignettes for the works of Canalis. [Modeste Mignon.]