Louis Petit de Bachaumont
Louis Petit de Bachaumont (born June 2, 1690 in Paris , † April 29, 1771 ibid) was a French writer and art critic.
Life
As the son of an official of the royal financial administration, Bachaumont grew up at the court in Versailles and was raised by his grandfather, who was the personal physician of the Prince de Conti and the Dauphin . Before he made a name for himself as a writer and salon critic, he was a welcome guest in the Paris salons, among which he especially visited the salon of M me Doublet. In these salons he collected the news, which he then passed on in the form of letters, thus maintaining an information network. The famous Mémoires secrets , which are still an important source for understanding the 18th century in Paris, were published under his name . Author of these Mémoires secretswas however Pidansat de Mairobert , who did not want to act as the official author.
Bachaumont took an active part in the art life of the city of Paris, which met in private circles such as the Salon des Pierre Crozat , and fought, among other things, for a revival of French history painting. He appears as the author of various works on art and architecture such as the Essai sur la peinture, la sculpture et l'architecture (1751) and the Mémoire sur la vie de M. l'abbé Gédoyn . Bachaumont was the spiritus rector of the M me Doublet salon . He was able to permanently tie around 30 habitués to her salon. The news and gossip stories converging here were collected and - often under his leadership - handwritten and secretly distributed to subscribers on news papers as nouvelles à la main . This way they could avoid censorship . In 1748 he saved the Colonne Médicis from destruction and donated it to the city of Paris.
literature
- Jean Sgard (ed.): Dictionnaire des journalistes (1600–1789). Voltaire Foundation, Oxford 1999.
Web links
- The Memoires secrets of Bachaumont
- Register of the persons named there
- Information on Louis Petit de Bachaumont in the database of the Bibliothèque nationale de France .
Individual evidence
- ↑ See Robert S. Tate Jr .: Petit de Bachaumont: His Circle and the Mémoires Secrets. Institut Voltaire, Geneva 1968; see also Basil Guy: The French Review. Volume 44, December 2, 1970, pp. 460-461 and Louis A. Olivier: Modern Language Notes. Volume 86, May 4, 1971, pp. 587-589.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Bachaumont, Louis Petit de |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Petit de Bachaumont, Louis |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | French author |
| DATE OF BIRTH | June 2, 1690 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Paris |
| DATE OF DEATH | April 29, 1771 |
| Place of death | Paris |