Every word has its story. A few years ago, on the occasion of a novel title, one could find out the origin of the “belongings”. A word that is used every day and as a matter of course suddenly takes on new contours. And what about the contours themselves, or the synonym, the “silhouette”? It was very fashionable in the second half of the 18th century to depict the outlines of well-known personalities. There is hardly a poet or thinker from Goethe to Voltaire who does not have a silhouette made from his silhouette.
Today the word is mainly used in fashion. It has been proven in French since 1788, but the wording a la silhouette existed thirty years earlier. as a la silhouette referred to objects that were sparsely made, to a certain extent scurried about, that is, something at best outlined, empty. So the trousers that were fashionable at that time, which had no pockets, became as a la silhouette characterized, as well as tobacco boxes made of raw wood and also the simple black portraits in profile. At the same time there were a number of funny ditties and satirical rhymes along the lines of “What God once gave us, the nice one, Mr. Silhouette is now taking away from us”.
Voltaire, the philosopher and critical observer of his time, gives a decisive indication of how this came about: “As finance ministers, we had a silhouette that we only knew that he (…) translated Pope. He was considered an eagle, and after four months he turned out to be a chick. He solved the secret of how to destroy creditworthiness in such a way that the state couldn’t get any money.” Voltaire refers to Étienne de Silhouette, who only held office for a short time, so that his politics could not really take shape. And that was exactly what his opponents were aiming for: the finance minister should not be able to get his way with his plan to put the state finances, which had been battered by the Seven Years’ War, in order.
In order to fill the coffers, the finance minister even had gold and silver goods melted down
Silhouette was born in Limoges in 1709, the son of a tax farmer. Even as a 22-year-old, he turned against gluttony and luxury in the face of recurring famines with the same tax burden. On March 4, 1759, he was crowned by King Louis XV. appointed Controller General of Finances. Just six weeks later, the tax privileges of the nobility, the bourgeoisie and the military were abolished: “As long as the war is raging and two years after the conclusion of peace, we have not found a fairer means than to let those of our subjects rejoin the class of taxpayers, who were born to be taxable, but who, by acquiring all sorts of offices, have avoided the payment of taxes, which they were better able to bear than the others.”
The resolution read, among other things: abolition of the tax exemptions, abolition of unjustified wages and pensions awarded and assignment of half of the commissions of the tax tenants. With his measures, Silhouette had suddenly created a vast number of enemies who had previously been exempt from taxes. The fact that he was a noble himself and nevertheless attacked the special rights of the nobility made him a traitor in the eyes of his peers. But the abolition of the privileges did not stop there: Madame de Pompadour and the Minister of War, Maréchal de Belle-Isle, wanted to conquer England, they needed money for this, and Silhouette soon had to levy further taxes. In order to fill the state coffers, he even had gold and silver goods melted down.
His enemies burdened him with the cost of their own defeats
The abolition of aristocratic privileges had made Silhouette popular with the people, but now the mood has changed. Voltaire noted: “(…) at least they don’t tax the air we breathe; but otherwise I don’t know of anything that isn’t taxed.” It was the best opportunity to fail the minister, but in the manner of the court of Versailles. The dagger, which was the weapon of choice, was not used for murder le ridicule: “Vice has no consequences, but ridiculousness is death.” Silhouette’s name became synonymous with things that were considered cheap, inferior, or unfinished. On November 21, 1759 he was released. But even that was not enough for his enemies. The marshal and whoever had wasted money saddled the ousted minister with the cost of their own defeats until no one wanted to be associated with Silhouette anymore.
While the respective authors are still present with some everyday terms such as diesel or X-ray, it is probably unique that a person’s name is corrupted to the point that it is known as a word, but the person behind it is hushed up. Jean-Jacques Rousseau paid homage to Étienne de Silhouette in a letter dated December 2, 1759: “You defied the clamor of the profiteers. When I saw you trampling on these miserable people, I envied your office; I admire you for leaving it without recanting.” Rousseau’s friend Madame de Luxembourg found out about this and asked for a copy of the letter. The philosopher gave it to her, unaware that she was one of Silhouette’s enemies, and fell out of favor with her. How successful the suppression of the name was can be seen in Rousseau’s “Confessions”: A few years later he casually noted that someone had asked him for a “profil à la silhouette”. The thought of the minister had already faded. He wasn’t even a silhouette of himself anymore, at most an idea remained.