Antoine de Laroque (1672,

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...

– 3 October 1744, Paris) was an 18th-century French

librettist A libretto (Italian for "booklet") is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major litu ...

Biography

When Laroque was constable of the Royal Guard, a cannonball smashed his leg during the

battle of Malplaquet The Battle of Malplaquet took place on 11 September 1709 during the War of the Spanish Succession and was fought between a French army commanded by the Duke of Villars and a Grand Alliance force under the Duke of Marlborough. In one of the blo ...

, and they had to cut it off above the knee. He left the service with the Cross of Chevalier of the

Order of Saint Louis The Royal and Military Order of Saint Louis (french: Ordre Royal et Militaire de Saint-Louis) is a dynastic order of chivalry founded 5 April 1693 by King Louis XIV, named after Saint Louis (King Louis IX of France). It was intended as a rewar ...

and a pension from Louis XIV. In 1721, he took over the privilege of the ''

Mercure de France The was originally a French gazette and literary magazine first published in the 17th century, but after several incarnations has evolved as a publisher, and is now part of the Éditions Gallimard publishing group. The gazette was published f ...

'', to which his brother Jean de Laroque also participated and perfected it, writing in collaboration with Fuzelier and Dufresny, from June 1721 up to 31 October 1744. When Dufresny died in October 1724, Laroque was left alone to administer the review and d’Antoine also participated. He also wrote an opera, ''Théoné'', five-act

tragédie lyrique This is a glossary list of opera genres, giving alternative names. "Opera" is an Italian word (short for "opera in musica"); it was not at first ''commonly'' used in Italy (or in other countries) to refer to the genre of particular works. Most c ...

, Paris, Ribou, (1715). Abbott Pellegrin under the name Laroque gave the theater his tragedy ''Medée et Jason'', which was even printed several times under his own name from 1716 until 1760. Antoine Laroque was also known for being a great collector, particularly of paintings. In 1745, Gersaint, the famous art dealer of the

Pont Notre-Dame The Pont Notre-Dame is a bridge that crosses the Seine in Paris, France linking the ''quai de Gesvres'' on the Rive Droite with the ''quai de la Corse'' on the Île de la Cité. The bridge is noted for being the "most ancient" in Paris, in the se ...

, wrote a catalog of chevalier Laroque's cabinet. Among the 300 paintings from his collection were ''the Flight into Egypt'' by

Paul Veronese Paolo Caliari (152819 April 1588), known as Paolo Veronese ( , also , ), was an Italian Renaissance painter based in Venice, known for extremely large history paintings of religion and mythology, such as ''The Wedding at Cana'' (1563) and ''The ...

, a ''St. George'' by

Rubens Sir Peter Paul Rubens (; ; 28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish artist and diplomat from the Duchy of Brabant in the Southern Netherlands (modern-day Belgium). He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque traditio ...

, drinkers and auctioneers by Terburg, a lady by Gérard Nesscher, Bathsheba leaving her bath by

Nicolas Poussin Nicolas Poussin (, , ; June 1594 – 19 November 1665) was the leading painter of the classical French Baroque style, although he spent most of his working life in Rome. Most of his works were on religious and mythological subjects painted for a ...

, two landscapes by

Claude Lorrain Claude Lorrain (; born Claude Gellée , called ''le Lorrain'' in French; traditionally just Claude in English; c. 1600 – 23 November 1682) was a French painter, draughtsman and etcher of the Baroque era. He spent most of his life in It ...

, three paintings by Wouwerman, two paintings by

Antoine Watteau Jean-Antoine Watteau (, , ; baptised October 10, 1684died July 18, 1721) Alsavailablevia Oxford Art Online (subscription needed). was a French painter and draughtsman whose brief career spurred the revival of interest in colour and movement, a ...

etc. All these paintings would be sold at a modest price, probably given the disasters of France.Emile Perrier, ''Les bibliophiles et collectionneurs provençaux'', Barthelet, Marseille, 1897, (p. 271–274)

References

Sources

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Antoine de Léris Antoine de Léris ( Mont-Louis, Roussillon, 28 February 1723 — 1795) was a French journalist and drama critic of the 18th century and a historian of the French theatre, author of the ''Dictionnaire portatif historique et littéraire des théâtr ...

, '' Dictionnaire portatif historique et littéraire des théâtres (Leris)'', Paris, C. A. Jombert, . *

Joseph-Marie Quérard Joseph Marie Quérard (25 December 1797 – 3 December 1865) was a French bibliographer. He was born at Rennes, where he was apprenticed to a bookseller. Sent abroad on business, he remained in Vienna from 1819 to 1824, where he drew up the fi ...

, ''La France littéraire'', t. 4, Paris, Firmin Didot, 1830, .

External links

Antoine de Laroque
on data.bnf.fr
His plays
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Laroque, Antoine de Writers from Marseille 1672 births 18th-century French dramatists and playwrights 18th-century French journalists French military personnel of the War of the Spanish Succession French opera librettists Knights of the Order of Saint Louis 1744 deaths French art collectors