 The young Théophile had already found a taste for the theatre by 1795 by learning to read Racine and Molière.In that year, aged 16, whilst his family was distressed by the Reign of Terror, Théophile found work under Aubin-Louis Millin de Grandmaison, curator of the Cabinet des médailles et antiques de la Bibliothèque royale.With his colleague Théodore-Edme Mionnet, future member of the Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres, he perfected a new system for classifying medals into geographical and chronological order, and protected the collection from dispersal by the allies after Napoleon's defeat.