J-B Réveillon, a Nouveau Riche in a Working-Class Neighborhood

When the riot broke out at the end of April 1789, Jean-Baptiste Réveillon was a model of success. This entrepreneur made his fortune in wallpaper, a product that delighted the city’s nobility and bourgeoisie. Selling to an international clientele, he created models inspired by English and even Asian fashions. In 1789, he was a rich man. His house, the “Titon pleasure palace” on the rue de Montreuil, was a luxurious extravaganza in the heart of a working-class neighborhood: Saint-Antoine, where a portion of his workers lived. As long as he provided work, this wealth was accepted. However, when the rumor spread that he wanted to decrease his workers’ already ridiculously low wages, the working-class neighborhoods’ populations erupted in anger. A few weeks later, Réveillon defended himself: “Never has slander been more unjust, and never has it seemed so cruel! In my opinion, I only need a few words to justify myself. For all of my employees who work in my workshops, most of them earn 30, 35 and 40 cents per day; some earn 50; the lowest amount received is 25. How could I then have set workers’ wages at 15 cents? (…) I don’t know or I cannot say exactly what dishonest mouth prompted this rage in the heart of all these poor people; but I know that the slander that led them astray was artificially hatched; I know that they were stirred up gradually.”