In Georgetown, an Improbable Family Reunion
By • August 14, 2024 0 417
By Gerard Leval
A recent find in a Georgetown antique shop has resulted in the reunion of an 18th-century family from a small town in the Burgundy region of France, located over 4,000 miles from Washington, D.C. Although the reunion was only in the form of an assemblage of portraits, it was the product of a pair of absolutely remarkable coincidences.
A number of years ago, I was prompted to write a book about a young French lawyer named Jacques Godard, who over the course of a very brief career, around the time of the French Revolution, represented many oppressed individuals. Among his clients were a young black man who sought his freedom when people of color were enslaved; a Protestant who sought to protect his property rights against the religious prejudices of the era; and the Jewish community as it sought to obtain full equal rights, at a time when Jews were considered pariahs.
The young lawyer died at the age of 29. But his career was punctuated by great achievements as he successfully promoted the interests of his eclectic clientele. In particular, he played a preeminent role in causing a grant of full equal civil rights to Jews — a first in any European nation.
Following extensive research, I wrote a lengthy manuscript about Godard. I sought to bring to life a young man who had so skillfully used the French legal system to advance many of the rights we take for granted today.
However, missing from my research was any image of Jacques Godard. In spite of searches at a multitude of museums, archives and private collections, I was unable to find any portrait of the young lawyer. My only impression of the physical appearance of the man to whom I devoted several years of my life was a description in an obituary honoring him.
I had given up ever knowing what Jacques Godard actually looked like when one evening, just weeks before my manuscript was scheduled to be published, as I was scanning the website of an auction house in Semur-en-Auxois in eastern France, I came across four oval portraits of members of a local family. The pastel portraits had all been created in the late 18th century.
When I was able to look at the reverse side of one of them, I found a label that identified the portrait as being of a certain Marie-Colombe Godard. With a growing sense of excitement, I recognized the name as being that of the younger sister of Jacques Godard. One of the other portraits turned out to be of Jacques Godard himself, the only known portrait of the young man. All four portraits were in identical, attractive, late 18th-century frames. They were clearly painted by the same artist and labeled in a distinctive handwriting.
It was a particular pleasure purchasing the four portraits. They were then brought into our Hillandale home, where they have adorned our walls for a couple of years. To my great satisfaction, my editors agreed to have the one of Jacques Godard incorporated into my book.
My wife and I marveled over the coincidence that had permitted us to locate and acquire the portraits. But that was only the first coincidence.
A few weeks ago, my wife was walking down the 3200 block of O Street. She passed Côté Jardin Antiques, one of the area’s several antique stores, which specializes in French antiques. She decided to go in to look at the items for sale. As she entered, her attention was immediately drawn to two portraits in precisely the same format as our four Godard family portraits. The frames were identical to those of our portraits. On the back were labels, in the same handwriting as on the labels of our portraits, identifying the sitters as two brothers of Jacques Godard.
Without a moment’s hesitation, we purchased the two portraits and brought them home, incredulous at the coincidences that had permitted us to acquire six Godard family portraits.
All six portraits are now gathered together in our house. With the portrait of Jacques Godard — the young lawyer who had such a powerful impact on the lives of so many, hundreds of years ago and thousands of miles away — the portraits of his brothers, their sister and her husband form a very pleasant ensemble. We are host to an improbable French family reunion.
Georgetown is an extraordinary place, with a delightful mix of interesting people, beautiful buildings, cultural attractions and fascinating stores — stores which contain appealing, historic and unexpected objects. By a strange twist of circumstance, among those objects were the images of two members of a Burgundian family who had died more than 200 years ago. They have now found a home in the Georgetown area, where they will be cherished for years to come.
This most unusual set of coincidences serves to highlight our good fortune at living in one of the most interesting neighborhoods anywhere in the world.
Gerard Leval, who lives with his wife Lisa in Hillandale, is a partner in the Washington, D.C., office of a national law firm. He is the author of “Lobbying for Equality: Jacques Godard and the Struggle for Jewish Civil Rights during the French Revolution,” published by HUC Press.
