Jean-Ja

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s The SwiSS flora

S witzerland became Rousseau’s

refuge in 1762, and in Môtiers he

began to study its flora with local experts

who introduced him to the work of the

great Swiss botanist, Albrecht von Haller

(1708-1777). Rousseau was particularly

interested in mosses and lichens, which

grow abundantly in Switzerland.

Rousseau collected many alpine species

for his herbarium, proudly displaying

those he found; he brought many Swiss

plant specimens to England in 1766,

and consulted treatises on the Swiss

flora. After returning to France in 1767,

he collected alpine plants in the eastern

part of the country.

“The entire [Neuchâtel] region is

brimming with natural curiosities

that can only be discovered gradually and

where every day these discoveries bring

something new. Here botany has treasures

waiting to be discovered, and often as I look

at this profusion of rare plants around me,

I unfortunately tread on them with the foot

of an ignoramus.”

rousseau to the Marshal of luxembourg, 28 January 1763; Correspondance complète, vol. XV

[Banbury: Voltaire foundation, 1972], p. 115

(alexandra Cook & rinske Kuiper, trans.)

J. J. Rousseau in Switzerland, persecuted and without refuge

Drawing by f. Bouchot engraved by l.-f. Charon

© akg-images / De agostini Picture library

J.-J. Rousseau. View of the interior of the room Rousseau occupied in 1765 on St Peter’s Island in the Lake of Bienne in Switzerland

Drawing by a.-f.-l. de Girardin engraved by N. e. Maurin

Jacquemart-andré Museum, fontaine-Chaalis / © The art archive / Gianni Dagli orti

Jean-Ja

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s aDMiraTioN for The MouNTaiNS aND Their iNhaBiTaNTS

T he Swiss landscape had strong

political connotations for Rousseau.

The mountains, woods, rivers, and pas-

tures of Switzerland recalled the way

of life of the ideal alpine republic : poor,

egalitarian, and democratic. Rousseau

believed this way of life assured political

independence, and advised the Corsicans

to adopt it, but Rousseau only knew the

Alps and their inhabitants from books.

The Switzerland he knew was the canton

of Vaud, Lake Geneva, and the Val du

Travers (Jura mountains) ; he declared

that the mixture of industry and farming

in the Suisse romande “exudes liberty

and well-being”.

“We once found in the Swiss as well the same

character that Diodorus attributes to the

Corsicans : equity, humanity, good faith... each

practiced all the necessary arts in his house ; all were

masons, carpenters, joiners, wheelwrights... This is how

they, living on their land in the midst of their precipices

and their valleys[,] succeeded in drawing all they needed

from it... desiring nothing beyond that.”

Projet de constitution pour la Corse; œuvres complètes, vol. iii

[Paris: Gallimard, 1964], p. 914

(alexandra Cook, trans.)

The Glacier of Lauteraar

oil on canvas by C. wolf, 1776

© Kunstmuseum, Bâle / The Bridgeman art library

[Rousseau contemplating the natural beauties of Switzerland]

engraving by Kirk & ridley published by Vernor & hood, 1797

© BGe - Geneva library, Geneva iconographic Collection

[Mme de Wolmar and Saint-Preux on the rocks of Meillerie, Julie, or the New Héloïse]

Drawing by N. Monsiau engraved by P. Trière

© BGe - Geneva library, Geneva iconographic Collection

Jean-Ja

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s rouSSeau aND haller: a frauGhT relaTioNShiP

r ousseau admired the works of the

most important Swiss botanist

of the era, Albrecht von Haller (1708-

1777) of Berne. Haller documented

2,486 Swiss species, taking greater

Switzerland as his domain, including

the allies, Geneva, and Neuchâtel. He

rejected Linnaean nomenclature and

classification, and based his work on

ecological principles ; he was particu-

larly interested in mosses and lichens.

Rousseau acquired Haller’s master-

piece, Historia stirpium indigenarum

Helvetiae, shortly after its publication

in 1768, and used it to identify plants.

For his part, Haller disapproved of

Rousseau’s political ideas.

“I have bankrupted myself with books on Botany, and have resolved not to buy any more;

nevertheless I feel that becoming fond of Alpine Plants, I cannot pass up that of Haller.”

rousseau to Pierre-alexandre du Peyrou, 19 December 1768 (Modified from Alexandra Cook (trans.), “Botanical writings” in The collected writings of Rousseau, vol. 8

[hanover, Nh: university Press of New england, 2000], p. 197)

Albrecht von Haller

oil on canvas by e. handmann, 1757

© Burgerbibliothek Bern

Title page of “Historia stirpium” of Albrecht von Haller, 1768

rousseau’s annotated copy

© royal horticultural Society, london