Human-headed Winged Bulls Gate Khorsabad - Louvre 02aa

Henry Adrien Prévost de Longpérier (21 September 1816, Paris – 14 January 1882) was a 19th-century French

numismatist A numismatist is a specialist in numismatics ("of coins"; from Late Latin ''numismatis'', genitive of ''numisma''). Numismatists include collectors, specialist dealers, and scholars who use coins and other currency in object-based research. Altho ...

, archaeologist and curator.

Biography

Adrien was the son of Henry Simon Prevost Longpérier, a commander of the National Guard who was later mayor of

Meaux Meaux () is a Communes of France, commune on the river Marne (river), Marne in the Seine-et-Marne Departments of France, department in the Île-de-France Regions of France, region in the Functional area (France), metropolitan area of Paris, Franc ...

from 1840 to 1848.T. Sarmant, ''Le cabinet des médailles de la Bibliothèque nationale 1661-1848'', Droz, 1994, (p. 286) In 1836, he entered the

cabinet des médailles The BnF Museum or Museum of the Bibliothèque nationale de France, formerly known as the Cabinet des Médailles, is a significant art and history museum in Paris. It displays collections of the ''Département des Monnaies, Médailles et Antiques ...

of the Bibliothèque royale (futur

Bibliothèque nationale A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vi ...

). Protected by Raoul-Rochette, he obtained the position of first employee in 1842. In 1840 he published a fundamental study of numismatics of

Sassanid The Sasanian () or Sassanid Empire, officially known as the Empire of Iranians (, ) and also referred to by historians as the Neo-Persian Empire, was the last Iranian empire before the early Muslim conquests of the 7th-8th centuries AD. Named ...

sovereigns, and devoted several years later to numismatics of the

Arsacids The Parthian Empire (), also known as the Arsacid Empire (), was a major Iranian political and cultural power in ancient Iran from 247 BC to 224 AD. Its latter name comes from its founder, Arsaces I, who led the Parni tribe in conqueri ...

. With baron

Jean de Witte Baron Jean Joseph Antoine Marie de Witte (24 February 1808, Antwerp - 29 July 1889, Paris) was a Belgian archeologist, epigraphist and numismatist. He collaborated with François Lenormant in founding the Gazette archéologique at the Biblioth� ...

, he founded the . In 1856, after the departure of , Adrien de Longpérier took over the direction of the ' with

. From 1847 to 1870 he was curator of the antiquities department of the

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...

. In 1848 he was the only curator of the Louvre not to be dismissed when the regime changed. As curator of antiquities he was responsible for collections from cultural areas and of varied ages. As such, he welcomed in the Louvre the first Assyrian sculptures arrived in France since

Khorsabad Dur-Sharrukin ("Fortress of Sargon"; ar, دور شروكين, Syriac: ܕܘܪ ܫܪܘ ܘܟܢ), present day Khorsabad, was the Assyrian capital in the time of Sargon II of Assyria. Khorsabad is a village in northern Iraq, 15 km northeast of Mo ...

, and took a close interest in deciphering the cuneiform script. He was also responsible for receiving the Campana collection. His numerous scientific interests include civilizations of America and national antiquities: Longpérier was behind the creation of the Louvre's

Musée mexicain The ''musée mexicain'', later ''musée américain'' (Mexican Museum / American Museum), was a section of the Louvre that was dedicated to pre-Columbian art, with an initial emphasis on Mexican archaeology. It opened in 1850, and closed in 1887 w ...

(1850) and a member of the commission for the establishment of the National Archaeological Museum in

Saint-Germain-en-Laye Saint-Germain-en-Laye () is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France in north-central France. It is located in the western suburbs of Paris, from the centre of Paris. Inhabitants are called ''Saint-Germanois'' or ''Saint-Ge ...

. In 1854 he was elected a member of the

Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres The Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres () is a French learned society devoted to history, founded in February 1663 as one of the five academies of the Institut de France. The academy's scope was the study of ancient inscriptions (epigr ...

. He was editor of the ''Revue numismatique'' from 1856 to 1872. From 1858 he was a member of the

Comité des travaux historiques et scientifiques The Comité des travaux historiques et scientifiques (CTHS) (''Committee for Historic and Scientific Works'') is a French research institution created by the Minister of Public Education François Guizot on 18 July 1834 for the purpose of 'leading ...

. In a eulogy read on 14 June 1882 at a meeting of the

Société des Antiquaires de France The Société des Antiquaires de France (Society of Antiquaries of France) is a Parisian historical and archaeological society, founded in 1804 under the name of the Académie celtique (Celtic Academy). It is now based at the Louvre, in the pavil ...

, Longpérier's disciple

Gustave Schlumberger Léon Gustave Schlumberger (17 October 1844 – 9 May 1929) was a French historian and numismatist who specialised in the era of the crusades and the Byzantine Empire. His ' (1878–82) is still considered the principal work on the coinage of the c ...

said of him that he "had read everything, had complete mastery of all the written sources left to us by Antiquity" and that he knew "all the artefacts that have been found and have accumulated in the great museums and collections of Europe (...) Mr de Longpérier was the last universal archaeologist, having studied all forms of figuration from Antiquity, capable of addressing all the corresponding topics; now there are only specialists.". French original text: ''" ongpérieravait tout lu, possédait à fond les sources écrites que nous a laissées l'Antiquité (...) t connaissaittous les monuments qui ont été retrouvés et se sont accumulés dans les grands musées et les grandes collections de l'Europe (...). M. de Longpérier était le dernier des archéologues universels, ayant fait des études sur toutes les formes de l'Antiquité figurée, et capable de traiter de tous les sujets; à présent, il n'y a plus que des spécialistes"''

References

Works

*1840
''Essai sur les médailles des rois perses de la dynastie Sassanide'', F. Didot Frères, Paris, 88 pages
*1848: ''Notice des monnaies française composant la collection de M.J. Rousseau accompagnée d’indications historiques et géographiques et précédée de considérations sur la numismatique française'', Paris. *1850: ''Notice des antiquités assyriennes, babyloniennes, perses, hébraïques Notice des monuments exposés dans la salle des antiquités américaines (Mexique et Pérou), au musée du Louvre''. *1868
des bronzes antiques exposés dans les galeries du Musée impérial du Louvre'', 224 pages
*1868
sur les insignes de la questure et sur les récipients monétaires'', Didier, 95 pages
* ''Œuvres de Longpérier'' réunies et mises en ordre par G. Schlumberger (volume 1 : ''Archéologie orientale. Monuments arabes'' ; volume 2 : ''Antiquités grecques, romaines et gauloises (1838–1861)'' ; volume 3 : ''Antiquités grecques, romaines et gauloises (1862–1883)'' ; volume 4. ''Moyen Âge et renaissance (1837–1858)'' ; volume 5 : ''Moyen Âge et renaissance (1858–1868)'' ; volume 6 : ''Moyen Âge et renaissance (1869–1883) Antiquités américaines. Supplément: Bibliographie générale'' ; volume 7 : ''Nouveau supplément et Table générale''.), Leroux, Paris, 1883–1886.

External links

Courte notice biographique sur le site du CTHS
{{DEFAULTSORT:Prevost de Longperier, Adrien French archaeologists French numismatists French Assyriologists Members of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres Scientists from Paris 1816 births 1882 deaths People associated with the Louvre Assyriologists