Honoré Théodore Paul Joseph d'Albert, duc de Luynes
Encyclopedia
Honoré Théodore Paul Joseph d'Albert, duc de Luynes (Paris 15 December 1802 — Rome 15 December 1867), inheritor of several French titles as duc de Luynes, de Chevreuse et de Chaulnes and an immense fortune, who cut a figure of grand seigneur and supported the exiled comte de Chambord's claim to the throne of France, is remembered most for the collection he gave to the Cabinet des Médailles
in 1862.
to Italy was marred by the death of his companion, his cousin Henri de Montmorency-Laval; he returned to join Louis XVIII's garde du corps and in 1822 married Marie Francoise Dauvet de Maineville, daughter of the marquis de Maineville. After her premature death, 23 July 1824, he returned to Italy, consoling himself with researches at the site of Metapontum
in the Kingdom of Two Sicilies, which he published, and at the age of twenty-eight was received by the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres
; his archaeological interests ranged from ancient numismatics and ceramics, the subject of his collections, to recovering the secrets of damscening steel
: he received a silver medal for his blades at the Exposition of 1844. He offered a prize of 8000 livres for the first successful process of photolithography
while he was assembling at his château de Dampierre
one of the finest contemporary natural history collections in France. His collection of ancient coins, medals, engraved stones and Greek vases, he donated to the Cabinet des Médailles. His archaeological interests took him as far as the Dead Sea
and to Petra
, in May 1864
At Dampierre he commissioned extensive renovations under the antiquarian architect Félix Duban
, who had restored the Château de Blois
. Paintings by Marc-Charles-Gabriel Gleyre
and Jean-Hippolyte Flandrin
graced the gallery walls that were hung with red velvet, against which Luynes also mounted trophies of his antique arms, the prize piece of which was the ceremonial sword of Youssuf, son of Boabdil
, the last Moorish king of Granada; it followed Luynes' collections to the Cabinet des Médailles. He was quite naturally the head of the committee reporting on metalwork at the Great Exhibition of 1851, and published his findings.
He was also a patron of living classicizing artists, with varying success. In 1840 he commissioned Marc-Charles-Gabriel Gleyre
to paint murals in the Grand Gallery at Dampierre, but after Gleyre had worked on them for a year, with the propects of fame before him, the installed decorations were effaced when Félix Duban inspired Luynes to commission Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres
, recently returned from Rome, to paint large canvases for the Gallery instead. Ingres insisted on frescoing the gallery at Dampierre with the grand subjects Luynes requested, The Age of Gold and The Age of Iron, rather than providing canvases. Ingres installed himself enthusiastically at Dampierre for the project, for which the gallery was replastered to his orders; many drawings and sketches for the proposed works survive, and Luynes' classicizing bent encouraged Ingres' obsessive search for suitable inspiration but Ingres' ardor cooled by 1847, and the contract was eventually cancelled in 1850. From François Rude
Luynes commissioned a sculpture of the king who had founded the fortunes of his family; the Louis XIII as a Child was cast in silver rather than bronze. For the Penelope of the sculptor Pierre-Jules Cavelier
he paid more than the sculptor asked, and he commissioned Pierre-Charles Simart
to recreate the Athena of Phidias
, in ivory and gold, based on ancient descriptions: "it cost Luynes a hundred thousand francs to prove that Simart was not Phidias". The bloodstone cup with enamelled gold mounts made for him in 1854-55 by Jean-Valentin Morel, who pioneered the taste for gold-mounted hardstones in neo-Renaissance
taste, is now at the Indianapolis Museum of Art
.
His politics were liberal. He took an active part in the Revolution of 1830
, equipping and arming at his own expense a contingent of National Guard, but refused the offer from the July Monarchy
of a pairie but consented to be appointed a representative of the Second Republic
, 1848–51, where his role was that of an independent, before he withdrew to Dampierre with the rise of Napoleon III. He was awarded the Prussian order Pour le Mérite
in 1853. Yet he died at Rome, a defendor of the Papacy against the resurgent powers of a united Italy.
He married secondly, 19 March 1846, Jeanne d'Amys de Ponceau (died at Dampierre 26 July 1861)
Cabinet des Médailles
The Cabinet des Médailles, more formally known as Département des Monnaies, Médailles et Antiques de la Bibliothèque nationale de France, is a department of the Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris, France, housed in its former premises in Rue de Richelieu.The Cabinet des Médailles is a museum...
in 1862.
Biography
His youthful Grand TourGrand Tour
The Grand Tour was the traditional trip of Europe undertaken by mainly upper-class European young men of means. The custom flourished from about 1660 until the advent of large-scale rail transit in the 1840s, and was associated with a standard itinerary. It served as an educational rite of passage...
to Italy was marred by the death of his companion, his cousin Henri de Montmorency-Laval; he returned to join Louis XVIII's garde du corps and in 1822 married Marie Francoise Dauvet de Maineville, daughter of the marquis de Maineville. After her premature death, 23 July 1824, he returned to Italy, consoling himself with researches at the site of Metapontum
Metapontum
Metapontum, Metapontium or Metapontion , was an important city of Magna Graecia, situated on the gulf of Tarentum, between the river Bradanus and the Casuentus . It was distant about 20 km from Heraclea and 40 from Tarentum...
in the Kingdom of Two Sicilies, which he published, and at the age of twenty-eight was received by the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres
Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres
The Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres is a French learned society devoted to the humanities, founded in February 1663 as one of the five academies of the Institut de France.-History:...
; his archaeological interests ranged from ancient numismatics and ceramics, the subject of his collections, to recovering the secrets of damscening steel
Damascus steel
Damascus steel was a term used by several Western cultures from the Medieval period onward to describe a type of steel used in swordmaking from about 300 BCE to 1700 CE. These swords are characterized by distinctive patterns of banding and mottling reminiscent of flowing water...
: he received a silver medal for his blades at the Exposition of 1844. He offered a prize of 8000 livres for the first successful process of photolithography
Photolithography
Photolithography is a process used in microfabrication to selectively remove parts of a thin film or the bulk of a substrate. It uses light to transfer a geometric pattern from a photomask to a light-sensitive chemical "photoresist", or simply "resist," on the substrate...
while he was assembling at his château de Dampierre
Dampierre-en-Yvelines
Dampierre-en-Yvelines is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France.-People:* Honoré d'Albert, Dukes of Luynes * Éric Judor, humorist* Ian Delépine, humorist...
one of the finest contemporary natural history collections in France. His collection of ancient coins, medals, engraved stones and Greek vases, he donated to the Cabinet des Médailles. His archaeological interests took him as far as the Dead Sea
Dead Sea
The Dead Sea , also called the Salt Sea, is a salt lake bordering Jordan to the east and Israel and the West Bank to the west. Its surface and shores are below sea level, the lowest elevation on the Earth's surface. The Dead Sea is deep, the deepest hypersaline lake in the world...
and to Petra
Petra
Petra is a historical and archaeological city in the Jordanian governorate of Ma'an that is famous for its rock cut architecture and water conduits system. Established sometime around the 6th century BC as the capital city of the Nabataeans, it is a symbol of Jordan as well as its most visited...
, in May 1864
At Dampierre he commissioned extensive renovations under the antiquarian architect Félix Duban
Félix Duban
Jacques Félix Duban was a French architect, the contemporary of Jacques Ignace Hittorff and Henri Labrouste.Duban won the Prix de Rome in 1823, the most prestigious award of the École des Beaux-Arts...
, who had restored the Château de Blois
Château de Blois
The Royal Château de Blois is located in the Loir-et-Cher département in the Loire Valley, in France, in the center of the city of Blois. The residence of several French kings, it is also the place where Joan of Arc went in 1429 to be blessed by the Archbishop of Reims before departing with her...
. Paintings by Marc-Charles-Gabriel Gleyre
Marc-Charles-Gabriel Gleyre
Charles Gleyre , was a Swiss artist. He took over the studio of Paul Delaroche in 1843 and taught a number of younger artists who became prominent, including Claude Monet, Pierre Auguste Renoir, Alfred Sisley and James Abbott McNeill Whistler.His father and mother died when he was eight or nine...
and Jean-Hippolyte Flandrin
Jean-Hippolyte Flandrin
Jean-Hippolyte Flandrin was a 19th-century French painter. His celebrated 1836 work Jeune Homme Nu Assis au Bord de la Mer is in the Louvre.-Early life:...
graced the gallery walls that were hung with red velvet, against which Luynes also mounted trophies of his antique arms, the prize piece of which was the ceremonial sword of Youssuf, son of Boabdil
Boabdil
Abu `Abdallah Muhammad XII , known as Boabdil , was the twenty-second and last Nasrid ruler of Granada in Iberia. He was also called el chico, the little, or el zogoybi, the unfortunate...
, the last Moorish king of Granada; it followed Luynes' collections to the Cabinet des Médailles. He was quite naturally the head of the committee reporting on metalwork at the Great Exhibition of 1851, and published his findings.
He was also a patron of living classicizing artists, with varying success. In 1840 he commissioned Marc-Charles-Gabriel Gleyre
Marc-Charles-Gabriel Gleyre
Charles Gleyre , was a Swiss artist. He took over the studio of Paul Delaroche in 1843 and taught a number of younger artists who became prominent, including Claude Monet, Pierre Auguste Renoir, Alfred Sisley and James Abbott McNeill Whistler.His father and mother died when he was eight or nine...
to paint murals in the Grand Gallery at Dampierre, but after Gleyre had worked on them for a year, with the propects of fame before him, the installed decorations were effaced when Félix Duban inspired Luynes to commission Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres
Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres
Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres was a French Neoclassical painter. Although he considered himself to be a painter of history in the tradition of Nicolas Poussin and Jacques-Louis David, by the end of his life it was Ingres's portraits, both painted and drawn, that were recognized as his greatest...
, recently returned from Rome, to paint large canvases for the Gallery instead. Ingres insisted on frescoing the gallery at Dampierre with the grand subjects Luynes requested, The Age of Gold and The Age of Iron, rather than providing canvases. Ingres installed himself enthusiastically at Dampierre for the project, for which the gallery was replastered to his orders; many drawings and sketches for the proposed works survive, and Luynes' classicizing bent encouraged Ingres' obsessive search for suitable inspiration but Ingres' ardor cooled by 1847, and the contract was eventually cancelled in 1850. From François Rude
François Rude
François Rude was a French sculptor. He was the stepfather of Paul Cabet, a sculptor.Born in Dijon, he worked at his father's trade as a stovemaker till the age of sixteen, but received training in drawing from François Devosges, where he learned that a strong, simple contour was an invaluable...
Luynes commissioned a sculpture of the king who had founded the fortunes of his family; the Louis XIII as a Child was cast in silver rather than bronze. For the Penelope of the sculptor Pierre-Jules Cavelier
Pierre-Jules Cavelier
Pierre-Jules Cavelier was a French academic sculptor.Son of a silversmith and furniture maker, student of the sculptors David d'Angers and the painter Paul Delaroche, Cavelier won the Prix de Rome in 1842 with a plaster statue of Diomedes Entering the Palladium...
he paid more than the sculptor asked, and he commissioned Pierre-Charles Simart
Pierre-Charles Simart
Pierre-Charles Simart was a French sculptor.The son of a carpenter from Troyes in Champagne, Simart was the pupil of Antoine Desbœuf, Charles Dupaty, Jean-Pierre Cortot and James Pradier...
to recreate the Athena of Phidias
Phidias
Phidias or the great Pheidias , was a Greek sculptor, painter and architect, who lived in the 5th century BC, and is commonly regarded as one of the greatest of all sculptors of Classical Greece: Phidias' Statue of Zeus at Olympia was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World...
, in ivory and gold, based on ancient descriptions: "it cost Luynes a hundred thousand francs to prove that Simart was not Phidias". The bloodstone cup with enamelled gold mounts made for him in 1854-55 by Jean-Valentin Morel, who pioneered the taste for gold-mounted hardstones in neo-Renaissance
Neo-Renaissance
Renaissance Revival is an all-encompassing designation that covers many 19th century architectural revival styles which were neither Grecian nor Gothic but which instead drew inspiration from a wide range of classicizing Italian modes...
taste, is now at the Indianapolis Museum of Art
Indianapolis Museum of Art
The Indianapolis Museum of Art is an encyclopedic art museum located in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. The museum, which underwent a $74 million expansion in 2005, is located on a campus on the near northwest area outside downtown Indianapolis, northwest of Crown Hill Cemetery.The...
.
His politics were liberal. He took an active part in the Revolution of 1830
Revolution of 1830
The Revolution of 1830 can be:* The July Revolution in France leading to a constitutional monarchy lasting until the revolutions of 1848* The Belgian Revolution in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands leading to the creation of Belgium...
, equipping and arming at his own expense a contingent of National Guard, but refused the offer from the July Monarchy
July Monarchy
The July Monarchy , officially the Kingdom of France , was a period of liberal constitutional monarchy in France under King Louis-Philippe starting with the July Revolution of 1830 and ending with the Revolution of 1848...
of a pairie but consented to be appointed a representative of the Second Republic
French Second Republic
The French Second Republic was the republican government of France between the 1848 Revolution and the coup by Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte which initiated the Second Empire. It officially adopted the motto Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité...
, 1848–51, where his role was that of an independent, before he withdrew to Dampierre with the rise of Napoleon III. He was awarded the Prussian order Pour le Mérite
Pour le Mérite
The Pour le Mérite, known informally as the Blue Max , was the Kingdom of Prussia's highest military order for German soldiers until the end of World War I....
in 1853. Yet he died at Rome, a defendor of the Papacy against the resurgent powers of a united Italy.
He married secondly, 19 March 1846, Jeanne d'Amys de Ponceau (died at Dampierre 26 July 1861)
Publications
Luynes was responsible for numerous papers and reports. His major publications are:- Métaponte (Paris:P. Renouard) 1833;
- Commentaire historique et chronologique sur les éphémérides, intitulées Diurnali di messer Matteo di Giovenazzo (Paris: Firmin Didot) 1839;
- Description de quelques vases peints (Laborde, Paris, 1840). Luynes' collection of Greek pottery;
- Choix de médailles grecques, (Paris: Firmin Didot) 1840;
- Essai sur la numismatique des Satrapies et de la Phénicie sous les rois Achæménides (Paris: Firmin Didot) 1846);
- Numismatique et inscriptions cypriotes(Paris:Plon 1852);
- Mémoire sur le sarcophage et l'inscription funéraire d'Esmunazar, roi de Sidon, (Paris: Plon), 1856;
- Voyage d'exploration à la mer Morte, à Petra et sur la rive gauche du Jordan Published posthumously by the comte de Vogüé from Luynes' notes
Further reading
- Shedd, Meredith. "Phidias at the Universal Exposition of 1855: the duc de Luynes and the Athena Parthenos" Gazette des Beaux-Arts (October 1986), pp 123–34.
- Aghion, I. and M. Avisseau-Broustet, "Le duc de Luynes, archéologue, historien, homme de sciences et collectionneur", Revue de la Bibliothèque nationale de France 3 (1994), pp. 12–19.