Joséphin PELADAN organizes his first Rose-Croix Salon. 1892.

Josephine Peladan (1858.1918)

Autographed letter signed to a colleague.

One page in quarto on rare Rosicrucian letterhead paper.

No place or date. [April 1892]

"As for the scandals within my order, they are caused by that unconscious man named Antoine de La Rochefoucauld..."

Joséphin Péladan is dismayed by the turn his first Salon de la Rose-Croix has taken and does not fail to severely criticize his patron, Antoine de La Rochefoucauld, and the harmful influence of his mistress Eugénie Dubois.

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"Honored Colleague, I am sending you the program you requested. As for the scandals within my order, they are caused by that fool named Antoine de La Rochefoucauld, who is led by a mistress, who is herself led by spirits. All this nonsense will last another three days. Next year, I will do things properly, I will do them alone, and above all, without any pretense of nobility. That, moreover, is the current emblem. Yours truly, Péladan"

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In 1892, financed by Antoine de La Rochefoucauld, Joséphin Péladan organized the first Salon de la Rose-Croix in the premises of the renowned Parisian gallery Durand-Ruel. Sixty French and foreign artists exhibited their works, which were admired by 22,000 visitors to the sound of the prelude from Parsifal. Péladan was indeed passionate about the music of Richard Wagner, which, in his eyes, constituted "a therapy to detoxify France from its materialism.

This first salon marked the breaking point between "the Sâr" and his patron: the conflict between these two egos, initially a matter of personal feelings—the Count struggling with "the Sâr's" authoritarianism—quickly became ideological when La Rochefoucauld turned to spiritualism under the influence of his companion, Eugénie Dubois. Deeming these practices heretical, Péladan excluded his main financial supporter and chose to continue alone, depriving his movement of crucial material support.