Belle and Isabelle again in Palais DuPeyrou in Neuchâtel

7 December 2025

Belle van Zuylen (1740–1805) was once again the central figure in the Palais du Peyrou in Neuchâtel. The latest edition of the Nouvelle Revue neuchâteloise is entirely dedicated to Belle, who, after her marriage in 1771, lived in Colombier and called herself Isabelle de Charrière, the name of her husband Charles-Emmanuel de Charrière de Penthaz (1735–1808).

Michel Schulp presents the new edition of The Nouvelle Revue neuchâteloise, 4 December 2025

Under the title ‘Isabelle de Charrière d’Utrecht à Colombier. Une femme de lettres engagée au siècle des Lumières, the beautifully illustrated edition highlights the life of Belle and Isabelle in words and images.

For Isabelle, Palais DuPeyrou was not just any place, but the residence of her best friend in Neuchâtel, Pierre-Alexandre DuPeyrou. Alexandre, born in 1729 in Paramaribo as the son of a Neuchâtel native in the service of the Republic of the Seven United Provinces, built this palace after his return to Neuchâtel in 1774 (he was also the financier of the town hall of Neuchâtel). He died in 1794.

Unknown artist, Pierre-Alexandre DuPeyrou (1729-1794). Collection: Bibliothèque publique et universitaire de Neuchâtel

At that time, Neuchâtel was a principality of the King of Prussia (formally until 1857, when it had already been a canton of the Confederation for 42 years!). Not only do ‘villages’ in Innerschweiz and Appenzell often have a cosmopolitan grandeur in miniature, but so do Neuchâtel and the watchmaking cities Le Locle and La Chaux-de-Fonds. They had global trade networks. The world, not just Europe, was the limit!

Isabelle attended many gatherings in the salons of Pierre-Alexandre DuPeyrou in Neuchâtel. She was also frequently in Lausanne, Geneva, and Paris. She was a regular guest in the salons and societies of the Enlightenment and knew the most prominent French, English, German, and Swiss representatives of that period.

After more than two centuries, Isabelle was, for a short time, once again present in her salon. This publication is a sequel to ‘Le manoir du Pontet à Colombier’, in the <Nouvelle Revue neuchâteloise>, No. 76, Winter 2002.

(Source and further information: ‘Isabelle de Charrière d’Utrecht à Colombier. Une femme de lettres engagée au siècle des Lumières’, in La Nouvelle Revue neuchâteloise, Guillaume Poisson and Michel Schulp (Editors), No. 167–168, Autumn–Winter 2025, 178 pages).