Belle van Zuylen becomes Isabelle de Charrière
3 August 2025
Isabella Agneta Elisabeth van Tuyll van Serooskerken was born on October 20, 1740, at Zuylen Castle in the village of Zuilen (province of Utrecht). Her father, Baron Diederik Jacob van Tuyll van Serooskerken (1706-1776), was a high-ranking politician in the province of Utrecht and the States General of the Republic of the Seven United Provinces (Holland, Groningen, Gelderland, Utrecht, Overijssel, Zeeland, and Friesland). Her mother, Helena Jacoba de Vicq (1724-1768), belonged to a family of regents from Amsterdam. Isabella’s nickname was Belle from the beginning.
Belle’s house at Kromme Nieuwe Gracht 35 in Utrecht during the winter months, with a view of the Dom Tower and close to the Walloon/Waalse (Pieters) Kerk
The Republic and the Swiss Confederation, the Principality of Neuchâtel, and Geneva
The Republic of the United Provinces, the Swiss Confederation (Eidgenossenschaft) of the thirteen cantons, the Republic of Geneva, and the Prussian Principality of Neuchâtel maintained close cultural, economic, diplomatic, military, and religious relations at that time.
Nijmegen, Bastion Museum, model of a wooden raft that sailed down the Rhine from Basel for centuries. A testimony from 1611.: “Als ich 1611 im Früling mit Gottes hilff auff meinem Handwerck zu wandern auf den Rhenistrom hinabgezogen und zu Amsterdam angelangt, allda auch einen Meister gefunden“, from the Reiseberichte (1624) by Samuel Braun from Basel, used in a roman by Helen Liebendörfer, Die Abenteuer des Samuel Braun. Als Schiffarzt nach Afrika (Basel 2023)
In Belle’s life, Swiss citizens played an important role from an early age. Geneva was the capital of Calvinism, the dominant religion in the Dutch Republic. Many citizens of the Republic lived and studied at Calvin’s Academy in Geneva for a short or long period.
In winter, the family attended religious services at the French-speaking Reformed Church, known as Waalse or Pieterskerk, in Utrecht, and in summer, at the castle chapel. Belle’s family was also Calvinist, which later played a role in rejecting a marriage suitor.
Constant d’Hermenches (right) and two other Swiss officers in their red uniforms serving the Republic. Anonymous. Collection: Zuylen Castle
Many Swiss also served in the army of the Republic. Belle maintained long-term correspondence and friendship with some of them, notably with Constant d’Hermenches.
The Cent Suisses in the Republic. They introduced klaverjassen to Switzerland, under the name Jass.
The Cent Suisses at the Fête des Vignerons in Vevey, 2019
Additionally, Swiss diplomats and officers were frequent guests in The Hague, the residence of the Stadtholder, the Prince of Orange, and the seat of the States General, the equivalent of the Tagsatzung of the Confederation. The provinces and cantons were sovereign republics.
A Swiss soldier in a blue uniform serving the Republic. Collection Landesmuseum Zurich
Belle’s Childhood
Belle had four brothers (Reinout Gerard (1741-1759), Willem René (1743-1839), Diederik Jacob (1744-1773), and Vincent Maximiliaan (1747-1794)), and two sisters (Johanna Maria (1746-1803) and Geertruida Jacoba (1749-1749)). This noble and ancient family resided at the castle from May to October and in Utrecht from November to April.
In her childhood, Belle received the typical French-speaking education for noble girls of the time, which included religion, writing, reading, music, literature, drawing, history, geography, arithmetic, painting, and other manual skills.
Jeanne-Louise Prevost from Geneva was her governess from 1746 to 1753. Belle spent 9 months with her (from August 1750 to May 1751) in Lausanne and Geneva, and on the return journey in Lyon, Chambéry, and Paris.
Belle van Zuylen, 1771, copy of plaster original (wedding gift) by Jean Antoine Houdin (1741-1828). The original is in Neuchâtel. Collection: Zuylen Castle
Upon her return, she was bilingual and, more importantly for her literary education, she was exposed to French literature, theatre, and music, which the governess encouraged.
The governess also encouraged her to study “boy-studies,” such as philosophy, geometry, mathematics, physics, or architecture. Belle was very receptive to these subjects.
The governess returned to Geneva in 1753, but they continued to correspond intensively. Unfortunately, only the governess’s correspondence has been preserved. Her successor was the Swiss governess Suzanne Girard-Trembley from Geneva.
Left: J. Maurer (1737-1780), Belle van Zuylen, after a portrait by Maurice Quentin de Latour (1704-1788), right: Helena Jacoba de Vicq, attributed to Belle van Zuylen. Collection: Zuylen Castle
After 1755, Belle had other concerns: finding a marriage partner. Following her first love, she began writing letters, marking the beginning of a correspondence that spans approximately 2,600 preserved letters. These letters already show the influence of French and sometimes English literature translated into French, for example, Samuel Richardson’s “Clarissa, or the History of a Young Lady.”
Belle’s writing room (replica) in Zuylen Castle
In addition to searching for a suitor, Belle also sought to establish her place in society, particularly through personal development. She was aware of her high birth and the expectations of marrying a man of the same rank, but she did not want and could not deny her curious and independent character.
The Writer Belle
We owe not only an archive of approximately 2,600 preserved letters but also newspaper articles, novels, fables, essays, plays, poems, some musical compositions, and even political pamphlets from the French Revolution, all written in the French language. Most of her literary works were written after 1771 until she died in 1805 in Colombier (canton of Neuchâtel).
Her first literary publications appeared in French-language publications in the Republic and France. Her self-portrait, “Zélide,” appeared in 1762 in the Mercure de France, and “Le Noble” in 1763 in the Journal étranger, combined with L’Année littéraire of Amsterdam. “Le Noble” (the noble) is a caricature of the life of an aristocrat. It shows Belle’s critical spirit, which was not appreciated by everyone, including her father, who purchased the entire print run!
Picture: Wikipedia
Additionally, French-language publications were available in the castle’s library, the house in Utrecht, or elsewhere, including volumes of Diderot and d’Alembert’s Encyclopedia, the Gazette littéraire de l’Europe, and Montesquieu’s De l’Esprit des Lois.
Belle read these publications and others to stay informed about the latest political, literary, and cultural developments and also discussed them in her correspondence.
As the daughter of a noble family, she was a frequent guest at soirées and other events of the upper circles from 1755. On February 28, 1760, she attended her first ball in The Hague at the Stadtholder’s (the Prince of Orange) and his family’s residence.
The Marriage
It was there that she met the Swiss colonel David-Louis, Baron de Constant de Rebecque, Lord of Villars-Mendraz and Hermenches (1722-1785). The baron was in the service of the Republic, and they corresponded very openly until 1775 about friendship, love, fidelity, suitors, their poems and other literary works, politics, war, and peace.
Jean Baptist Bonjour (1801-1882), portrait of Baron de Constant de Rebecque, Lord of Villars-Mendraz et d’Hermenches, 1839, copy of an original painting
At the time, it was delicate to correspond with a married man 17 years her senior, and Belle asked him to destroy all the letters she had written. Fortunately, he did not. A good friend of d’Hermenches was Henri de la Sarraz, the commander of the famous Hundred Swiss, the bodyguard of the Stadtholder in The Hague, similar to the Swiss Guard in the Vatican.
A series of Scottish, German, Dutch, Danish, and French candidates paraded until 1768, including the Danish king, German princes and counts, Scottish lords, and many nobles of the Republic.
Although this did not lead to a marriage, Belle and the candidates corresponded a lot. A marriage proposal in the highest circles was a time-consuming affair, especially if the candidates lived far away or were travelling. The Polish count Pieter Dönhoff (1720-1764) and the young Scottish lord James Boswell (1740-1795) were promising suitors.
But the most serious candidate from 1764 to 1768 was François-Eugène Robert Noyel, Marquis de Bellegarde (1720-1790). He was a major general in the service of the Republic and came from the Savoy. Savoy was then a duchy within the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia. However, there was a problem: Bellegarde was Catholic. And her father was inflexible.
Isabelle de Charrière
In June 1768, another candidate appeared, the Swiss lord Charles-Emmanuel de Charrière de Penthaz (1735-1808). He was the governor of Belle’s brother, Willem René, from 1763 to 1766.
De Charrière’s country house, “Le Pontet,” is situated among the vineyards of Colombier. The correspondence between the two began with a letter from De Charrière.
Louis-Ami Arlaud-Jurine (1751–1829), Charles-Emmanuel de Charrière, 1781, Collection: Bibliothèque de Genève
There was a good understanding between Belle and Charles-Emmanuel, but his financial position and low nobility were less evident. Belle’s parents initially hesitated, but the marriage contract was signed on January 14, 1771. They were married on February 17 in the chapel of Zuylen Castle. After various visits and stays in Brussels and Paris, the couple arrived at Le Pontet in September 1771.
Belle van Zuylen became Isabelle de Charrière. Belle visited Zuylen and the Netherlands for the last time due to her father’s death in 1776. Her mother had already passed away in 1768. In Switzerland, she wrote most of her literary works, played music and composed, and met (famous) Swiss and French personalities.
Le Pontet in Colombier
Epilogue
The correspondence (in French) of Belle van Zuylen/Isabelle de Charrière is available in digital form. Her complete works (in French) have been collected in several volumes.
In Utrecht, she occupies a prominent place in the literary canon. She was elected the greatest Utrechter of all time in 2004 and has a place in the Pantheon of the Literature Museum in The Hague. Additionally, several literary prizes, streets and other places bear her name. The University of Paris even dedicated a chair to her in 2024!
The Belle van Zuylen Society/Isabelle de Charrière Association and the Huygens Institute are the main points of contact in the Netherlands.
Sources: Huygens Instituut, Correspondentie Belle van Zuylen; K. Verboeket, Slot Zuylen, Oud-Zuilen, Amsterdam, 2003; K. van Strien, Belle van Zuylen. Een leven in Holland, Soesterberg, 2019; J. Bujard et autres, ‘Le Manoir du Pontet à Colombier’, in la Nouvelle Revue neuchâteloise, Hiver 2002, No 76).