Count Hippolyte-Nicolas-Honoré Fortoul (1811 – 1856), historian, Minister of Education

1^st image: Soirée; 2^nd: photo (unknown, c.1850); 3^rd: drawing by Chenu (early 1850s).

Note: Notice the probable mirroring of the third image. The painting includes the red Legion d’honneur ribbon (cravate rouge) indicating Fortoul’s Commander level (obtained December 3, 1853).

Count Hippolyte Fortoul attended the vendredi-soirées many times, starting on December 3, 1852, participating in all subsequent sessions that year. Despite his frequent attendance, there is no caricature known by Giraud. An article from 1854, when the painting was partially completed, mentions that he is “in discussion with the archeologists.” In the present version, there are two archeologists (Longpérier³⁷, and de Saulcy⁶⁹), but even the nearest one, Longpérier, stands with his back to Fortoul at a considerable distance to the left. This is likely caused by a redesign on the painting in the latter half of 1854.

Fortoul was known for his excellent academic essays in the Revue Encyclopedique, and cooperated with de Musset⁷³ in the Revue des Deux-Mondes. Incited by his many travels between 1834 and 1837, he wrote two volumes about German art (that remained unsold). Despite this, he was firmly convinced of the French superiority in this (and any other) aspect.
Rather than continuing to write about the Romantic era, he preferred a position where he could be in control. He enjoyed his intriguing even more than his journalistic writing, and quickly worked his way through the ranks, making sure any new role was more prestigious than the previous one. With his Bonapartist view, and a large network, he moved to a position as civil servant in the changing government structure in France by the late 1840’s.

His background was democratic and republican. When the monarchy of Louis-Philippe collapsed, after the 1848 February Revolution, his friends recommended him for government positions.

The first position, in October 1851, for this professor of Literature in Toulouse, was the unlikely post as Minister of the Navy. He was chosen only because it was impossible to find a navy candidate which supported Louis Napoleon. Two months later, the day after Napoleon took power, he managed to trade this post for the newly created position of minister of Education.
His contemporaries weren’t overwhelmed by his qualifications. Caricaturist Henry Monnier wrote (as his character Joseph Prudhomme): “As minister of the Navy he was ridiculous, as minister of Education he was a clown.”
In 1853, he remembered his friend Alfred de Musset by awarding him a position for life with annual salary of 3,000 francs as librarian of his Ministry of Instruction.

Fortoul obtained his long-awaited position as member of the Academy in 1855 (at an earlier session, Longpérier gained more votes). It did not last long. Pained from several maladies already in his early forties, he traveled to Bad Ems in Germany, but passed away from a heart-attack. Bad Ems became known in 1870 for the failed negotiations with Von Bismarck, causing the French-German war, ending the Second Empire and de Nieuwerkerke's¹⁶ position.

Horace de Viel-Castel⁴³ hated him, and wrote “Mr. Fortoul aims for personal honors, he praises his bad remarks on the arts and archeology in the newspapers, and he does not pay any attention to schools. “

The house where Fortoul was born in Digne is now a bar.