Bernard Amé Léonard Du Bus de Gisignies

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Bernard Amé Léonard Du Bus de Gisignies

Baron Bernard Amé Léonard Du Bus de Gisignies (born June 21, 1808 in Tournai , Belgium ; † July 6, 1874 in Ems , then Prussia ) (short: Bernard Du Bus de Gisignies or Bernard Dubus ) was a Belgian ornithologist , paleontologist and artist . He was also the founder and museum director of the Muséum des sciences naturelles de Belgique .

Life

His father Leonard du Bus de Gisignies (1770–1849) was a well-known statesman who was Governor General of the East Indies under the government of the Netherlands . His mother's name was Marie Anne Catherine Bernadine geb. de Deurwaerder (1783-1836). They had six children from their marriage. The siblings Clémentine Catherine Françoise (1803–1817), Gustave Bernard Joseph (1807–1831), Chétien Henri Honoré Léonard (1819–1835) and Constantin Léonard Anne François Marie Joseph (1823–1850) died relatively young. Like his brother Albéric du Bus de Gisignies (1810–1874), Bernard was a member of the Belgian Senate. While the two sons stayed behind in Belgium, the father built a large collection in East India, consisting of preparations for birds and shellfish. These treasures, which their father sent them from East India, aroused a passion for natural history in the brothers early on. Both brothers studied at the request of the father at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven , the trade law .

In his youthful urge for freedom, Bernard finally broke off his law studies to devote himself fully to natural history. The beautiful bird hides from the Indian archipelago fascinated him so much that he initially devoted himself to ornithology.

Du Bus was one of the scientists who followed the tradition of Carl von Linné (1707–1778) and limited themselves to the description of external characteristics. The comparative anatomy according to Georges Cuvier (1769-1832) did not correspond to his scientific understanding.

In the first phase of his scientific activity he mainly dealt with ornithology. Later he devoted himself to paleontology. While working on the fortifications of Antwerp , whale fossils came to light that shaped his later research.

Du Bus married Pétronille Dorothée geb. Truyts, from whose marriage the sons Bernard Daniel (1832–1917) and Chrétien Bernard Alexandre (1845–1883) emerged.

After his death in Ems, he was finally buried with his family in his home village of Oostmalle . Another service in his honor took place on July 14, 1874 in the Marienkirche in Schaerbeek .

  • The father Baron Leonard Pierre Joseph du Bus de Gisignies (1770–1849)

  • The brother Baron Albéric du Bus de Gisignies (1810–1874)

Du Bus de Gisignies, the ornithologist

In 1835 he published his first scientific article. The supposedly new genus Leptorhynchus for the common wilt ( Cladorhynchus leucocephalus ) ( Vieillot , 1816) later turned out to be invalid. Finally, in 1838 he described the olive ibis ( Bostrychia olivacea ) for the first time in his career, a species that was new to science. The type specimen came from a box that Wilhelm I had received from Guinea and which he made available to the Muséum des sciences naturelles . In 1840 he dedicated the scientific epithet of the green-footed grouse ( Gallinula mortierii ) to his friend Barthélemy Charles Joseph Dumortier (1797-1878 ).

Even though many of his bellows of his descriptions of exotic birds came from different continents, he did not focus his research exclusively on exotic birds. In 1846, for example, he reported on a bustard who was a stray visitor on the Woluwe plain .

Over the years Du Bus published many articles on new bird species and so the government in Brussels gave in to its desire to build a new natural history museum . This achievement is all the more important because the unification of Belgium and Holland as a result of the Congress of Vienna in 1815 created the United Kingdom of the Netherlands . In the course of this association, all zoological collections moved from Brussels to Leiden .

In 1840 the government set up a commission to determine the cost of creating a collection for the city of Brussels. The commission included Du Bus, the entomologist Constantin Wesmael (1798–1872), the ichthyologist François Joseph Cantraine (1801–1863), the entomologist Jean Théodore Lacordaire (1801–1870) and the parasitologist and paleontologist Pierre-Joseph van Beneden (1809–1863) 1894). Du Bus was appointed President of the Commission and Van Beneden became its Secretary. On May 15, 1840, van Benden informed the ministry that 244,230 Belgian francs would be required to establish the museum.

On December 31, 1842, the state rented appropriate premises from the city of Brussels for the new collections. The Interior Minister Sylvain van de Weyer (1802–1874) declared the Baron Du Bus, member of the House of Representatives and correspondent of the Académie royale des Sciences, des Lettres et des Beaux-Arts de Belgique as director of the museum by royal decree . As the new director, he sold his entire collection of bird feathers to the state. Over the years he merged this collection with that of the Royal Museum in Brussels. The result was a collection that attracted the attention of all the leading ornithologists of the era. She often took his friend, Prince Charles Lucien Jules Laurent Bonaparte (1803–1857), to the museum, always on the lookout for new types that did not exist in other museums.

Unfortunately, the museum's resources were insufficient to exhibit other animal species to the same extent. With only one curator it was impossible to serve both great classes, the mammals and the birds, equally. Only the historian and archaeologist Henri Charles Anne Paul Guillaume Schuermans (1825–1905), who held the position of curator, published some articles on rare or new mammal species.

In 1845 he published the first volume of Esquisses Ornithologiques , a work in which he described and illustrated rare and unknown bird species. Three more volumes were published by 1848. Gustav Hartlaub (1814–1900) wrote about the fourth volume:

"The progress of this beautiful work is extremely slow, probably as a result of insufficient public participation, because the author cannot lack material."

A year later he mentioned only briefly that there was no continuation of the work.

His last ornithological article appeared in 1855, in which he reported on new bird species from New Holland , Colombia and Senegal .

At a meeting of the royal academy on August 1, 1857, he was commissioned to write a necrology for the late Bonaparte. Due to Bonaparte's eventful work and life, Du Bus was never able to fulfill this wish.

Du Bus de Gisignies, the paleontologist

In 1860 Du Bus changed his research focus. The government had planned major works in the catchment area around the economic metropolis of Antwerp, knowing full well that there were many bone fossils there. Du Bus managed to win over scientists for the excavations, and he demanded special measures from the War Ministry to preserve the animal fossils. His studies shifted from the mere description of external features towards anatomy and analysis of bone finds. He began to compare the skeletal remains of the coastal whales with other fossils. He also benefited from seafood skeletons van Beneden in 1830 from Greenland and Spitsbergen had received. The museum also received skeletons of toothed whales from Greenland and the arctic waters from him.

On October 9, 1860, a commission commissioned by the government of Du Bus and Henri Joseph Pierre Nyst (1813–1880) proposed to sift through the new discoveries and secure valuable objects. In May 1861 Du Bus communicated some of the first results of the paleontological finds. He campaigned in the academy to recommend that the government conduct geological surveys on the right bank of the Scheldt near Antwerp. To carry out this work, he recommended the geologist Gustave de Walque (1826-1905).

In a letter from Oostmalle dated November 7, 1860, he wrote to van Beneden that for health reasons he was currently unable to examine the material he had collected. Here he also mentioned that at the moment he did not feel able to contribute to the end of the second part of the Conspectus generum avium by the late Bonaparte. He also complained that not all of the finds made their way to the royal museum. He attributed this to the poor work of amateurs and speculators who carried out the excavations. In truth, the work was done by officers on behalf of the government.

In 1867, after a long time, he again published an article about mammals found on the coast of Antwerp. His list was based on older literature from this area by Baron Adolf von Hüpsch (1730–1805), Louis de Launay (approx. 1740 - approx. 1805), A. de La Jonkaire (had often published under the pseudonym Jonathan) , Antoine-Vincent Arnault (1766–1834) and Frédéric Cuvier (1773–1838). Two more paleontological works by Du Bus followed in 1868, before his last article on the subject appeared in 1872.

Du Bus also earned a reputation as an exceptional artist in the field of palaeontology by drawing the bones of most whales. Many of his tablets were finished and were then valued at between 50,000 and 60,000 francs.

After Du Bus's death, it was the conservator Louis De Pauw (1844–1918) who continued to look after the bones found in Antwerp.

Du Bus de Gisignies, the artist

In addition to science, Du Bus was also considered an artist and art lover. In addition to a remarkable collection of paintings, he managed the luxury of a library. Since 1851 the field of ornithology was no longer sufficient for him. When selling his picture collection by Thadée Joseph Antoine Hyacinthe van Saceghem (1767–1852), Victor Le Roy had only words of praise for Bernard Du Bus de Gisignies in his Catalog des tableaux anciens des écoles flamande et hollandaise composant la galerie de feu M. le vicomte in 1882 a man of good taste.

In 1855 Du Bus represented the interests of all Belgian artists at the world exhibition . The government nominated him as a jury member.

In 1874 Du Bus became a member of the decision-making committee of the Musée Royal de peinture et de sculpture . Like François-Xavier de Burtin (1743–1818), he loved to be surrounded by masterpieces, and like Burtin, he left the museum an important gallery. His sons contributed a portrait and three photographs of their father to Victor Le Roy's catalog. The art historian Edouard Fétis (1812–1909) described Du Bus as a person with two existences, on the one hand science and on the other hand art.

In addition to art, he served the commission for the preservation of the royal library.

Du Bus de Gisignies, the politician

Du Bus was a member of the House of Representatives for twelve years . It was the Arrondissement de Soignies that nominated him in 1833. For many years he worked there as a quaestor . In 1867 he was offered the post of senator, a post that was incompatible with his work as museum director.

Dedication names

Bonaparte dedicated the name of the genus Dubusia to Du Bus de Gisignies in 1850 , a genus to which only the silver-browed mountain tangerine was added.

"DUBUSIA, BP., En l'honneur de l'excellent ornitologiste, directeur du Musée de Bruxelles."

In addition, in 1855 Bonaparte described a new species named Leptotila dubusi . He had received the type copy from Du Bus at the museum in Brussels. Later, he was kind of a subspecies of the Gray-fronted dove ( Leptotila rufaxilla dubusi ) classified.

Van Beneden dedicated the name Physeterula dubussi to him in 1877 for a fossil of a sperm whale species .

In the royal museum, the hall with the fossil bone finds was finally given to its founder.

Memberships

In 1839 Du Bus de Gisignies was introduced by Félix Édouard Guérin-Méneville as member number 177 of the Société cuviérienne . In 1841 he was elected compatriot ( régnicole ) of the Académie royale des Sciences, des Lettres et des Beaux-Arts de Belgique . Eventually he was made a member in 1846. In 1855 the German Ornithological Society elected him an honorary member. His letter of thanks finally arrived on August 19, 1855 at the DO-G.

In 1865 he was elected director of the Academy's Scientific Class , an office he held until 1867.

First descriptions by Du Bus de Gisignies

Du Bus de Gisignies was the first author to describe some species and subspecies.

species

The species that Du Bus de Gisignies described include chronologically:

Subspecies

The subspecies that Du Bus de Gisignies described include chronologically:

  • Mennigohr Mountain Tangare ( Anisognathus igniventris lunulatus ) ( Du Bus de Gisignies , 1839)
  • Snow buzzard ( Leucopternis albicollis ghiesbreghti ) ( Du Bus de Gisignies , 1845)
  • Black- billed tityra ( Tityra inquisitor albitorques ) Du Bus de Gisignies , 1847
  • Sperber consecration ( Geranospiza caerulescens nigra ) ( Du Bus de Gisignies , 1847)
  • White-rein lazy bird ( Malacoptila panamensis inornata ) ( Du Bus de Gisignies , 1847)
  • Gray-headed tangar ( Eucometis penicillata cristata ) ( Du Bus de Gisignies , 1855)
  • Green organist ( Chlorophonia cyanea longipennis ) ( Du Bus de Gisignies , 1855)
  • Steel Bishop ( Cyanocompsa cyanoides concreta ) ( Du Bus de Gisignies , 1855)

Works

Year 1835

  • Ornithology - M. Dumortier remet à l'Académie . In: Bulletins de l'Académie royale des Sciences, des Lettres et des Beaux-Arts de Belgique . tape 2 , no. 1 , 1835, p. 26–27 ( online [accessed February 6, 2012]).
  • Ornithology - Description d'un nouveaux genre d'oiseaux de l'ordre de échassiers . In: Bulletins de l'Académie royale des Sciences, des Lettres et des Beaux-Arts de Belgique . tape 2 , no. 12 , 1835, pp. 419-421 ( online [accessed February 6, 2012]).

Year 1838

  • Ornithology - Description d'une espèce nouvelle de Héron . In: Bulletins de l'Académie royale des Sciences, des Lettres et des Beaux-Arts de Belgique . tape 4 , no. 2 , 1838, p. 39-41 ( online [accessed February 6, 2012]).
  • Ornithology - Notes sur l'Ibis olivacea: Ibis olivâtre . In: Bulletins de l'Académie royale des Sciences, des Lettres et des Beaux-Arts de Belgique . tape 4 , no. 3 , 1838, p. 105-106 ( online [accessed February 6, 2012]).

Year 1839

  • Description d'une nouvelle espèce de Philédon de la Nouvelle-Zélande . In: Bulletins de l'Académie royale des Sciences, des Lettres et des Beaux-Arts de Belgique . tape 6 , no. 4 , 1839, pp. 295-297 ( online [accessed February 6, 2012]).
  • Description of Tangara nouveau . In: Bulletins de l'Académie royale des Sciences, des Lettres et des Beaux-Arts de Belgique . tape 6 , no. 5 , 1839, pp. 439-441 ( online [accessed February 6, 2012]).
  • Notice sur un merle inédit . In: Bulletins de l'Académie royale des Sciences, des Lettres et des Beaux-Arts de Belgique . tape 6 , no. 6 , 1839, pp. 506-507 ( online [accessed February 6, 2012]).

Year 1840

  • Description d'un nouveau genre de la famille des Gallinules . In: Bulletins de l'Académie royale des Sciences, des Lettres et des Beaux-Arts de Belgique . tape 7 , no. 4 , 1840, p. 212–215 ( online [accessed February 6, 2012]).

Year 1842

  • Diagnoses spécifiques de trois espèces nouvelles d'Oiseaux-mouches de la Colombie . In: Bulletins de l'Académie royale des Sciences, des Lettres et des Beaux-Arts de Belgique . tape 9 , no. 6 , 1840, p. 524-526 ( online [accessed February 6, 2012]).

Year 1845

  • Esquisses ornithologiques; descriptions et figures d'oiseaux nouveaux ou peu connus . tape 1 . A. Vandale, Brussels 1845 ( online [accessed 6 February 2012]).

Year 1846

  • Esquisses ornithologiques; descriptions et figures d'oiseaux nouveaux ou peu connus . tape 2 . A. Vandale, Brussels 1846 ( online [accessed 25 March 2016]).
  • Note sur l'apparition en Belgique d'une Outarde Houbara et d'une star leucoptère . In: Bulletins de l'Académie royale des Sciences, des Lettres et des Beaux-Arts de Belgique . tape 13 , no. 3 , 1846, p. 166–168 ( online [accessed February 6, 2012]).

Year 1847

  • Esquisses ornithologiques; descriptions et figures d'oiseaux nouveaux ou peu connus . tape 3 . A. Vandale, Brussels 1847.
  • Note on quelques espèces nouvelle d'oiseaux d'Amérique . In: Bulletins de l'Académie royale des Sciences, des Lettres et des Beaux-Arts de Belgique . tape 14 , no. 8 , 1847, p. 101-108 ( online [accessed February 6, 2012]).

Year 1848

  • Esquisses ornithologiques; descriptions et figures d'oiseaux nouveaux ou peu connus . tape 4 . A. Vandale, Brussels 1848 ( online [accessed 6 February 2012]).
  • Sure une note intitulée: Les Pigeons messagers . In: Bulletins de l'Académie royale des Sciences, des Lettres et des Beaux-Arts de Belgique . tape 15 , no. 2 , 1848, p. 56-58 ( online [accessed February 6, 2012]).

Year 1855

  • Note on quelques espèces inédites d'oiseaux . In: Bulletins de l'Académie royale des Sciences, des Lettres et des Beaux-Arts de Belgique . tape 22 , no. 2 , 1855, p. 150–157 ( online [accessed February 6, 2012]).

Year 1861

  • Observations on the récentes découvertes paleontologiques faites à Ànvers . In: Bulletins de l'Académie royale des Sciences, des Lettres et des Beaux-Arts de Belgique . tape 11 , no. 5 , 1861, p. 511-512 ( online [accessed February 6, 2012]).

Year 1867

  • Sur quelques mammifères du crag d'Anvers . In: Bulletins de l'Académie royale des Sciences, des Lettres et des Beaux-Arts de Belgique . tape 24 , no. 12 , 1867, p. 562-577 ( online [accessed February 6, 2012]).

Year 1868

  • Sur différents Ziphiides nouveaux du crag d'Anvers . In: Bulletins de l'Académie royale des Sciences, des Lettres et des Beaux-Arts de Belgique . tape 25 , no. 6 , 1868, p. 621-630 ( online [accessed February 6, 2012]).
  • Note sur une découverte paleontologique faite à Bomm . In: Bulletins de l'Académie royale des Sciences, des Lettres et des Beaux-Arts de Belgique . tape 26 , no. 7 , 1868, p. 20–61 ( online [accessed February 6, 2012]).

Year 1872

  • Mammifères nouveaux du crag d'Anvers . In: Bulletins de l'Académie royale des Sciences, des Lettres et des Beaux-Arts de Belgique . tape 34 , no. 12 , 1872, p. 491-509 ( online [accessed February 6, 2012]).

literature

  • Pierre-Joseph van Beneden : Bernard-Amé-Léonard Viscount Du Bus de Gisignies . In: Annuaire de l'Académie royale des Sciences, des Lettres et des Beaux-Arts de Belgique . tape 49 , 1883, p. 243-270 ( online [accessed February 6, 2012]).
  • Pierre-Joseph van Beneden : Note sur un Cachalot nain du crag d'Anvers (Physeterula dubussi) . In: Bulletins de L'académie Royal des Sciences, des Lettres et des Beaux-Arts . tape 44 , 1877, pp. 851-856 ( online [accessed February 6, 2012]).
  • François Stockmans: Bus de Gisignies (Bernard-Amé-Léonard, vicomte du) in Biographie Nationale de Belgique . tape 33 . Établissements Émile Bruylant, Brussels 1965 ( online [PDF; accessed February 6, 2012]).
  • August Carl Eduard Baldamus: Minutes of the ninth meeting of the German Ornithological Society . In: Naumannia . tape 5 , 1855, p. 226–246 ( online [accessed October 3, 2011]).
  • August Carl Eduard Baldamus: Minutes of the tenth meeting of the German Ornithological Society . In: Naumannia . tape 6 , 1856, pp. 273–382 ( online [accessed October 3, 2011]).
  • l'Académie: Notice cinq correspondants régnicole . In: Bulletins de l'Académie royale des Sciences, des Lettres et des Beaux-Arts de Belgique . tape 8 , no. 5 , 1841, p. 267 ( online [accessed February 6, 2012]).
  • l'Académie: Notice cinq correspondants régnicole . In: Bulletins de l'Académie royale des Sciences, des Lettres et des Beaux-Arts de Belgique . tape 13 , no. 12 , 1846, pp. 426 ( online [accessed February 6, 2012]).
  • Charles Lucien Jules Laurent Bonaparte: Sur plusieurs genres nouveaux de Passereaux . In: Compte Rendus Hebdomadaire des Séances de l'Académie des Sciences . tape 31 , 1850, pp. 423-424 ( online [accessed February 6, 2012]).
  • Charles Lucien Jules Laurent Bonaparte: Coup d'œil sur le Pigeons . In: Compte Rendus Hebdomadaire des Séances de l'Académie des Sciences . tape 40 , 1855, pp. 96-102 ( online [accessed February 6, 2012]).
  • Gustav Hartlaub: Reports on the achievements in the natural history of birds during the year 1850 . In: Archives for Natural History . tape 12 , no. 2 , 1851, pp. 33-67 ( online [accessed February 6, 2012]).
  • Gustav Hartlaub: Reports on the achievements in the natural history of birds during the year 1851 . In: Archives for Natural History . tape 18 , no. 2 , 1852, p. 1-38 ( online [accessed February 6, 2012]).
  • Société Cuvierienne: Nouveaux membres admis dans la Société curvienne . In: Revue Zoologique par La Société Cuvierienne . tape 2 , 1839, p. 352 ( biodiversitylibrary.org ).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Pierre-Joseph van Beneden (1883), p. 245
  2. ↑ a b c d Pierre-Joseph van Beneden (1883), p. 244
  3. ↑ a b c Pierre-Joseph van Beneden (1883), p. 262
  4. ↑ Pierre-Joseph van Beneden (1883), p. 246
  5. ^ Bernard Du Bus de Gisignies (1840), p. 213
  6. ^ Bernard Du Bus de Gisignies (1846), p. 166
  7. ↑ a b Pierre-Joseph van Beneden (1883), p. 247
  8. ↑ a b Pierre-Joseph van Beneden (1883), p. 248
  9. ↑ a b Pierre-Joseph van Beneden (1883), p. 249
  10. ↑ Gustav Hartlaub (1851), p. 36
  11. ↑ Gustav Hartlaub (1852), p. 7
  12. ↑ a b c Pierre-Joseph van Beneden (1883), p. 251
  13. ↑ a b Pierre-Joseph van Beneden (1883), p. 252
  14. ↑ a b c Pierre-Joseph van Beneden (1883), p. 254
  15. ↑ Bernard Du Bus de Gisignies (1861), p. 512
  16. ↑ Pierre-Joseph van Beneden (1883), p. 255
  17. ^ Bernard Du Bus de Gisignies (1867), p. 564
  18. ↑ a b c Pierre-Joseph van Beneden (1883), p. 260
  19. ↑ a b Pierre-Joseph van Beneden (1883), p. 262
  20. ^ Charles Lucien Jules Laurent Bonaparte (1850), p. 423
  21. ^ Charles Lucien Jules Laurent Bonaparte (1855), p. 99
  22. ↑ Pierre-Joseph van Beneden (1877), p. 851
  23. ^ Société cuviérienne, p. 352.
  24. ^ L'Académie, p. 367
  25. ^ L'Académie, p. 426
  26. ↑ August Carl Eduard Baldamus (1855), p. 256
  27. ↑ August Carl Eduard Baldamus (1856), p. 351
  28. ↑ Pierre-Joseph van Beneden (1883), p. 257
personal data
SURNAME Du Bus de Gisignies, Bernard Amé Léonard
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Du Bus de Gisignies, Bernard; Dubus, Bernard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Belgian ornithologist, paleontologist and artist
DATE OF BIRTH June 21, 1808
PLACE OF BIRTH Tournai
DATE OF DEATH July 6, 1874
Place of death Bad Ems