Colonel Antoine-Louis Henri de Polier (1741–1795) was a

Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland *Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri *Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia *Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports * Swiss Internation ...

adventurer, art collector, military engineer and soldier who made his fortune in India in the eighteenth century. He was the father of Count Adolphe de Polier.

Life

Image:PolierMartinWombwellZoffany.jpg, 200px, Antoine Polier, General Claude Martin, John Wombwell, assay master, and Johann Zoffany, the painter, surrounded by servants and Polier's art collection. rect 269 140 344 305

Claude Martin Major-General Claude Martin (5 January 1735 – 13 September 1800) was a French army officer who served in the French and later British East India companies in colonial India. Martin rose to the rank of major-general in the British East India C ...

rect 124 147 181 298 Antoine-Louis Polier rect 208 146 253 217

Johann Zoffany Johan Joseph Zoffany (born Johannes Josephus Zaufallij; 13 March 1733 – 11 November 1810) was a German neoclassical painter who was active mainly in England, Italy and India. His works appear in many prominent British collections, includin ...

desc none Antoine-Louis was born in Lausanne from a French Huguenot family who emigrated to Switzerland in the mid 16th century to escape the wars of religion. He was the youngest son of Jacques-Henri de Polier and his wife Jeanne-Françoise Moreau. He later learned Hindi and Persian. Antoine Polier was an engineer from Lausanne who supported the military adventures of

Robert Clive Robert Clive, 1st Baron Clive, (29 September 1725 – 22 November 1774), also known as Clive of India, was the first British Governor of the Bengal Presidency. Clive has been widely credited for laying the foundation of the British ...

and later became a rich trader and loyal supporter of the British Raj administration in Calcutta. He devoted his free moments to collecting rare manuscripts in Sanskrit, Persian and Arabic. Many were sent back to France to augment the growing collection in the Royal Library. France was now the center for the study of ancient Indian languages and its 'orientalism' spread to Germany in the early 1800s as Europe began to show a keen interest in early Indian-Persian-Zoroastrian origins.Maya Jasanoff, 'Edge of Empire: Conquest and Collecting on the Eastern Frontiers of the British Empire, 1750-1850' Fourth Estate He designed the Bibiyapur Kothi, a royal residence outside of Lucknow. On learning Indian mythology, Polier notes:

When one begins such a study without the advantage of possessing the Samscrite anskrit or sacred, tongue of the Indous, which the Pundits or savants so constantly draw upon in their usual discourse that it is difficult for me to follow them in their conversation, even though I have a deep knowledge 'je possédé à fond''of the common tongue of India, called Moors by the English, and ''Ourdouzebain'' by the natives of the land.

In India, he had two Indian wives, Jugnu and Zinat, one senior and one junior and three (or possibly, four) children who were all baptized in

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, commer ...

. He acquired a large art collection and became rich working for the Indian royalty. In 1788 he left his Indian wives with his loyal companion and fellow enlightened adventurer, Claude Martin. and settled in France with an unfortunate timing as he arrived in time for the French revolution. Having purchased a chateau and taking a French wife and two children, Charles de Polier and Adolphe de Polier. He was assassinated in Avignon on February 9, 1795, in the terror that followed the French revolution.

Legacy

Polier's ''Mythology of the Hindus'' was edited by his cousin,

Marie-Elisabeth Polier Marie-Elisabeth Polier (1742-1817), known as the Chanoinesse of Heiliggrabben, was a Swiss journalist and translator. Life Marie-Elisabeth Polier was born in 1742 in Lausanne. She was the daughter of Georges Polier, a colonel in the service of Ha ...

, for posthumous publication. Polier, who felt he had lost the ability to express himself easily in French or English as a result of his travels, dictated an autobiographical preface to her.

Sanjay Subrahmanyam Sanjay Subrahmanyam (born 21 May 1961) is a historian who specialises in the early modern period and in Connected History. He is the author of several books and publications. He holds the Irving and Jean Stone Endowed Chair in Social Sciences at ...

has suggested that her lack of knowledge of Indian geography may have introduced inconsistencies into the text. Polier's collection of miniatures are in Berlin.

Life

Legacy

See also

References

Further reading