Larive

The son of a grocer, he left his father's home to devote himself to the theatre and presented himself to Lekain in Paris for a job.

Engaged in Madame Montansier's company, he played at Tours, then at Lyon, and came back to Paris where Mademoiselle Clairon took him under her protection.

He left for Brussels where D'Hannetaire engaged him for the lead rôles at the Théâtre de la Monnaie and where he spent 4 years, acting alongside Dazincourt, Grandmesnil and Florence.

It was here that he got to known his future wife, Eugénie D'Hannetaire, the director's eldest daughter, whom he married in Paris on 18 June 1776 (they divorced in 1794).

Supplanted by Talma, he was imprisoned several times during the French Revolution and retired to his property at Montlignon, becoming the town's mayor.