A new TV documentary starring the irrepressible Philippe Charlier has recently aired on France 5: this time it is Voltaire, no less, who finds himself "under the scalpel". The core of the programme concerns the forensic investigation, prompted by recent conservation work, of Voltaire's heart, which resides in the base of his statue at the Bibliothèque nationale.
The documentary also takes the opportunity to present the whole remarkable story of Voltaire's death, dissection and posthumous peregrinations. It is fairly well-trodden ground, but nonetheless a televisual treat, especially since Charlier is filmed at all the relevant locations, many of which are not normally accessible to the public. Some fairly unobtrusive, talking-heads (Jennifer Ruimi, Laurence Macé, and the venerable Didier Masseau) contribute helpful comments, and dark, slightly gruesome dramatic reconstructions add to the atmosphere (though I don't see why the dying Voltaire sports that improbable white curly wig).
INTRODUCTION:
Philippe Charlier tells us that, after Voltaire's death, his corpse was autopsied and his body parts subjected to a "veritable dispersion" as though they were holy relics. A heart, an embalmed brain, and a body extricated clandestinely by night from Paris to escape the religious authorities - their incredible and farcical fate resembled Voltaire's own fiction. Charlier declares his intention to track down and investigate these individual remains, in particular the heart.
Voltaire was 83 when he died, with a catalogue of forty ailments. Charlier wants to examine the state of his health and, perhaps, uncover the true cause of his death.
[2.20]: Credits
[3.00]: PARIS: THE DEATH OF VOLTAIRE
[4.30]: Jennifer Ruimi, from the Université de Montpellier Paul-Valéry, explains that Voltaire was already a legend in his lifetime. Accounts of his death began to circulate almost immediately, so that it is very difficult to say exactly how he died.
[5:20]: Charlier begins by following the last week of Voltaire's life in the capital. He goes first to the Comédie-Française, the scene of Voltaire's final Parisian triumph, when his bust was famously "crowned" by the actors after the performance of his tragedy Irène. According to the Journal de Paris, the philosopher had exclaimed, "Ah! God! You want to make me die (of pleasure)!" [31st March 1778].
Louis-Gilles Pairault, the theatre archivist, introduces Houdon's famous statue of Voltaire, which stands in the .Foyer Pierre-Lux. Voltaire posed shortly before his death and the result is remarkable for its "hyper-realism"; we see clearly Voltaire's toothless and receding jaw, and frail, aged hands.
[7:40]: Charlier progresses next to the Quai Voltaire (formerly Quai des Théatins) where Voltaire lodged with the marquis de Villette in his final months. It was here that he died on 30th May 1778.
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| The Quai des Théatins in the late 18th c. Watercolour by Jean-Pierre Norblin de la Gourdaine. Musée Carnavalet |
The upper floors of the building are private property but Charlier has been allowed to film inside. This time he is accompanied by Fabien Aguglia, Conservateur at the BnF. We see the room in which tradition has it Voltaire stayed prior to his death. Charlier observes that the philosopher was said by some to have died on a makeshift bed on the floor of the kitchen in a state of physical and mental degeneration; we switch briefly to Didier Masseau who denies this hotly; the legend that Voltaire lost his mind at the end of his life was totally false, an attempt by his enemies to denigrate his memory.
What a gorgeous room! We may note, however, that this is probably not where Voltaire actually died. Two photos from the Musée Carnavalet taken in the late 19th century show the salon of the Hôtel Villette (clearly this room) and another which is labelled as Voltaire's bedchamber. At this time the latter still featured the striking "zodiac ceiling" installed by the marquis de Villette.
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| "Salon de Voltaire" and Chambre où Voltaire est mort". Photos by Pierre Emonts taken between 1862 and 1905, Musée Carnavalet (PH18070 and PH18069) |
See: Jean-Michel Blengino, "Les maisons de Villette",
Mémoires imaginaires de Charles Villette [websute]
[11: 00]: IN PURSUIT OF THE CORPSE
[12.00]: At Sellières, Charlier meets with Eric Blanchegorge, director of museums in Troyes. The site, which is at Romilly-sur-Seine, in the department of Aube, is part of a private estate and is not normally open to the public. (The owner is the Franco-Dutch artist Eugène Van Lamsweerde.) Only the former logis of the abbey now survives.
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| The "tomb of Voltaire" at Sellières on an old postcard. |
In any case, of course, Voltaire's body is no longer there....
On 11th July 1791, three years after his death, Voltaire's remains were transferred to the Panthéon by the Revolutionary government in a grandiose ceremony, worthy of a Roman emperor. Voltaire's body, with his effigy, were transported on an elaborate funerary chariot, whilst enormous crowds looked on. The huge cortege stopped topped at different points around Paris in imitation of the Stations of the Cross.
[15:20]: Is the body of Voltaire really still in the Panthéon?
In the 19th century rumours circulated that the tomb of the philosopher had been violated and his remains destroyed. In an attempt to shed light on the mystery Charlier talks with the director of the Panthéon, Barbara Wolffer.
She explains that at the Restoration, when the Panthéon again became a Catholic church, the tombs of both Voltaire and Rousseau were moved to the end of the crypt beyond the consecrated area. After they were returned to their original position in 1830 the press speculated widely that they had been emptied. Finally, in 1897 the Minister of Public Instruction set up a commission which opened the tombs and formally verified that the bones of the philosophers were still present.
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| https://www.lookandlearn.com/history-images/U201857/The-Discovery-of-the-Remains-of-Voltaire-in-the-Pantheon-Paris |
The body of Voltaire is thus definitely in the Panthéon and so - perhaps mercifully - inaccessible.
[18:30] VOLTAIRE'S HEART
The indomitable Philippe now turns his attention to the various organs which were preserved separately. Voltaire's brain (cerebellum), entrails and heart were all extracted after his death. The heart was recouped by the marquis de Villette and the cerebellum retained by the apothecary who carried out the autopsy.
[19:10]: We first of all visit the shrine at Ferney where Villette housed the embalmed heart. François-Xavier Verger, administrator of the Château, specifies that the relic was displayed on the shelf directly in front of the inscription. (The sources refer to a "boite de vermeil" in which the heart had been sealed.)
[21: 30]: Fabien Aguglia takes Charlier to see the so-called "rotunda", situated at the junction between the rue des Petits-Champs and the rue de Richelieu, which was built specifically to hold the statue. This was formerly the BnF's Salles des médailles, but is now part of the Bibliothèque de l’École nationale des chartes. The architect of the BnF, Henri Labrouste had originally been charged with creating a space dedicated to the memory of Voltaire. It was to be known as the "Rotonde de la liberté" and the central plinth, still in position, was to hold the statue. However, ten years later there was a change of plan when the Library's director, Léopold Delisle, wrote a letter asking for the statue be placed on the landing outside, where could be more easily seen by the public.
[23:10]: In 1924 the administration verified the presence of the heart and at the same time had the statue moved into the Library's salon d'honneur. Here it stayed until 2010 when, after being disturbed during restoration work, it began to emit a pungent vinegary odour. The Conservation laboratory of the BnF has since carried out stabilisation work. The heart remains sealed inside its original heart-shaped box of gilded lead - presumably the original "boite de vermeil" - but this is now contained within an air-tight plastic barrier. It has also been confirmed that the heart is preserved in alcohol, probably the customary "spirit of wine", but attempts at further investigation have so far proved inconclusive.
See Nathalie Buissonet al.. "New Insight into the heart of Voltaire using a multidisciplinary approach", International Journal of Conservation Science, 2017, vol.8(1), p.67-80. ⟩
https://hal.science/hal-02185427v1/document][25:00]: THE INVESTIGATION
And now, at last, to the main subject of the documentary. Philippe Charlier has been given the privilege of re-examining the heart, now locked away in its air-conditioned coffer in the BnF's Reserve stack.
His initial objective is to determine more precisely the products used in the embalming process. This involves an "olefactory examination" by three experts - a perfumer (Jean-Michel Duriez) and two wine connoisseurs (Félix Boulègue and Dionysos Mavrommatis). This smacks a little of televisual hype. The specialists, in their rubber gloves, solemnly pass the heart around the table for a reverential sniff. Practised noses detect hints of wood and fruit, particularly plums or prunes. It seems likely that the heart is pickled in a cognac perhaps... or maybe an armagnac.
[28:20]: Charlier now gets down to more serious scientific business. He carefully makes a 5-mm hole in the box to send in a miniature camera and then take a microscopic sample of the organic material. The BnF has released a short video showing the procedure:
Already Charlier can distinguish three different colours in the sample: white, black and brown ("marron"). He hypothesises that the white is chalk, deposited as the heart dried out, whilst the brown probably represents remnants of the substances used in embalming, or perhaps of a fabric wrapping which has since disintegrated.
[30:00]: THE BRAIN
[31:00]: In any case, the lower part of the brain, the cerebellum, was undoubtedly preserved, this time by the apothecary Mitouart, who later kept it on display in a glass reliquary in his dispensary. Fabien Aguglia emphasises that the doctor and apothecary who carried out the autopsy were local men. (In fact the term "autopsy" is misleading; they had merely hurriedly embalmed the corpse.)
The modern "Cabinet des curiosités", on the site of Mitouart's premises, 23 rue de Beaune, still preserves a few vestiges of decor from the former apothecary's shop.
[33:30]: Back at the Comédie-Française we learn of a strange transaction which took place in 1924 when one of Mitouart's descendants, a M. Alfred Monard, somewhat bizarrely, donated the remains of the brain to the theatre in exchange for two private seats in the auditorium.
Today, however, no-one knows where the reliquary is. Speculation reappears from time to time but, for practical purposes, the brain must be considered lost.
[35:40] THE HEART AGAIN
[36: 00]: The results are now ready.We are at the laboratory of the CEA (Commissar d'energie atomique) at Marcoule near Avignon, where the material from the heart has been subject to "proteomic analysis", a process which uses electrolysis and mass spectrometry to identity the complete set of proteins present.
Jean Armengaud, Director of Research, explains the findings. As Philippe Charlier had already observed, the sample was not homogenous, but made up of various concretisations or little crystals in different colours. The predominant dark brown material revealed vegetable proteins, notably those derived from plums, together with other plants involved in the embalming process: colza (rapeseed), cereals and eucalyptus. Jean Armengaud confirms that the plum was probably from the eau de vie in which the heart was pickled.
At first sight more surprising was the detection in the lighter, more orange-coloured material, not only of human protein, but of protein from poultry. This mystery is best explained by the presence of egg white. Plum, eucalyptus, egg white, perhaps colza; these classic ingredients suggest that embalmers used substances that were readily to hand, possibly in the kitchen itself.
[40:20]: Do the results shed any light on Voltaire's cause of death?
Back to the academics: Jennifer Ruimi, Laurence Macé, and Didier Masseau fill in the background, informing us that Voltaire had fragile health throughout his life and suffered from a whole multitude of ailments. In 1723 he contracted smallpox and spent three days between life and death. (He was made to drink large quantities of lemonade,which probably saved his life.)
[42:20]: Jennifer Ruimi, who is an expert on Voltaire's correspondence, joins Charlier to elucidate further. So was Voltaire really as sickly as he claimed, or was he just a hypocondriac?
- Certainly he was preoccupied with his health, as his correspondents knew well, but he genuinely suffered. For instance, he frequently complained of constipation, regaling Mme Deffand, a fellow-sufferer, with all the details.
- How about bladder or prostate troubles? prompts Philippe.
- Yes, he suffered from urinary retention,"strangurie" in the graphic terminology of the time. This caused him great pain. The condition began about five or six years before his death. In the year of his death 1778 he had several very severe attacks, accompanied by swelling of the abdomen and sometimes by vomiting.
[45:00]: Back in the lab Jean Armengaud informs us that they have found two proteins which are common markers for cancer, viz. Squamous Cell Carcinoma Antigen (SCCA), which occurs in elevated levels in the blood of cancer patients, and the gastric cancer-related protein FKSG9/Gasdermin-A (GSDMA).
It is agreed that these could be associated with urinary-genital cancer. But what sort of cancer exactly?
[46: 20]: THE AUTOPSY REPORT
The programme concludes with a final visit, to the Archives Nationales to see the original manuscript of the autopsy report. Archivist Romain Legendre is on hand.
Philippe Charlier reads out the brief text and is impressed by the degree of precision it shows. The doctors refer to a decomposed bladder, with thickened wall and abscesses, and an enlarged, heavily-scarred prostate.(See Reading) These observations, made without the aid of modern medical diagnostic tools, clearly indicate the presence of an advanced and untreated urogenital cancer with considerable metastasis.
[49:30]: Somewhat mercilessly, Charlier now calls upon the services of a modern urogenital specialist, Yann Neuzillet of the Hôpital Foch, to comment on the findings. The latter confirms that the SCCA protein found in the heart sample is associated with chronic inflammation and is often found in cases of bladder cancer. In all probability, Voltaire's cancer originated in the bladder where urine retention, the result of an enlarged prostate, had provoked chronic inflammation and local necrosis. The cancer eventually spread into the peritoneal cavity and intestine, bringing about Voltaire's death.
For the medically-minded the results of Charlier's study were published as a formal paper in 2025. (See References)
To me all this detail seems a little superfluous. We can admire the tech.but the conclusion is not really ground-breaking: it was already generally assumed from the written record, that Voltaire had died of prostate cancer or similar. He was a frail old man of 83, living in an age when medicine was still in its infancy, so his condition was scarcely unusual.
I am torn between admiration for all the forensic virtuosity and the idea that historical personages, even very famous ones, deserve a certain privacy.
Charlier, however, wins the debate, for he is able to end the programme with an apposite quote from Voltaire himself:
On doit des égards aux vivants ; on ne doit aux morts que la vérité
["We owe respect to the living; to the dead we owe only the truth"]
References
"L'histoire au scalpel : Voltaire, à la recherche du corps dispersé (Science Grand Format)". TV documentary conceived and introduced by Philippe Charlier; directed by Dominique Adt.
Broadcast on France 5, 4th June 2026 and temporarily available online.
Press release: https://www.francetvpro.fr/contenu-de-presse/77035251
Trailer on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEnOrCkaVbE
Charlier, P., Neuzillet, Y., Le Gendre, R. and Armengaud, J. (2025), "Paleoproteomic study of blood residues shows that Voltaire (1778) died of perforated bladder squamous cell cancer with peritoneal extension" BJU Int [Wiley], 2025, 136: 1002-1003. Publisher's preview on Research Gate
Additional resources
C. Portier-Kaltenbach, Histoires d’os et autres illustres abattis, morceaux choisis de l’histoire de France, JC Lattès, Millau, 2010, p.113-32.
Fabien Aguglia Auverlot, "Le coeur de Voltaire", BnF Gallica, 30.05.2019.
Nathalie Buissonet al.. "New Insight into the heart of Voltaire using a multidisciplinary approach", International Journal of Conservation Science, 2017, vol.8(1), p.67-80. ⟩
https://hal.science/hal-02185427v1/document
Reading
The text of the "autopsy report".
OF THE OPENING AND EMBALMINATION OF THE BODY OF M. DE VOLTAIRE
Made on the thirty-first of May 1778
IN THE HÔTEL OF M. LE MARQUIS DE VILLETTE.
Upon opening the skull, we observed nothing extraordinary; the brain and cerebellum were very healthy, and the chest organs were in excellent condition. Those of the lower abdomen presented nothing unusual, except for the bladder and the right kidney, the latter showing signs of gangrene in its lower and posterior portion. The bladder was decomposed, having grown to a thickness of more than an inch in its upper and posterior part. The fluid inside was mucous and resembled lard, its nerve membrane completely dissected by the pus it contained. Tubercles had formed within it, suppuration from which had spread externally and seeped into the lower abdomen, spreading over the intestines, which were adjacent to the bladder, with a jelly-like consistency. The prostate gland was very large and entirely hardened. All the rest of the viscera were in their natural state.
In Paris, this 31st of May 1778
Published in Voltaire, Œuvres complètes de Voltaire Garnier, Paris, 1877. Vol.1, p.330.
https://fr.wikisource.org/wiki/Page:Voltaire_-_%C5%92uvres_compl%C3%A8tes_Garnier_tome1.djvu/504
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