Laurent Gravier

Laurent Gravier (* 1651 or 1654 in Marseille ; † January 9, 1717 ibid) was a French archeologist .

Life

Laurent Gravier received his basic education in the schools of his hometown and was then able to pursue his inclination for historical and antiquarian research undisturbed, as his financial circumstances ensured him an independent position. He collected ancient coins as well as Egyptian antiquities and soon had a valuable cabinet of coins, sculptures and paintings. He was happy to make his cabinet available to the archaeologists of his time, with whom he established connections everywhere, for their work. That is why many of these archaeologists dedicated the results of their research to him.

Gravier himself wrote several treatises on individual important points in the ancient and middle history of Provence , but did not publish them out of modesty. He even seems to have destroyed his writings shortly before his death, as no manuscripts were found in his estate. He died on the night of January 8th to 9th, 1717.

Laurent Gravier had five sons, of which Félix-Joseph Gravier (1687–1747) was a founding member of the Marseille Academy, founded in 1726, and an important advocate on the royal councils. Gravier's possibly eldest son, François Gravier (1675–1718), was a wholesale merchant, like his father an antiquarian and coin collector as well as a correspondent for Bernard de Montfaucon .

literature

• Philipp H. Külb : Gravier (Laurent) . In: Johann Samuelansch , Johann Gottfried Gruber (Ed.): General Encyclopedia of Sciences and Arts , 1st section, vol. 88 (1868), p. 287 f.

Remarks

1. ↑ ^{a b} Odile Cavalier: Un ciel brillant d'images. Un recueil de dessins d'antiquités du XVIII ^e siècle . In: Monuments et mémoires de la Fondation Eugène Piot , vol. 92, 2013. pp. 93–175, here: p. 120 ( online ).