Dominique Vivant, Baron Denon (4 January 1747 – 27 April 1825) was a French artist, writer,
diplomat, author, and
archaeologist.
Denon was a diplomat for France under
Louis XV
Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (french: le Bien-Aimé), was King of France from 1 September 1715 until his death in 1774. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five. Until he reached ...
and
Louis XVI
Louis XVI (''Louis-Auguste''; ; 23 August 175421 January 1793) was the last King of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. He was referred to as ''Citizen Louis Capet'' during the four months just before he was ...
.
He was appointed as the first Director 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 ...
museum by
Napoleon
Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...
after the
Egyptian campaign
The French campaign in Egypt and Syria (1798–1801) was Napoleon Bonaparte's campaign in the Ottoman territories of Egypt and Syria, proclaimed to defend French trade interests, to establish scientific enterprise in the region. It was the pr ...
of 1798–1801, and is commemorated in the Denon Wing of the modern museum and in the Dominique-Vivant Denon Research Center.
His two-volume ''Voyage dans la basse et la haute Egypte'' ("Journey in Lower and Upper Egypt"), 1802, was foundational for modern
Egyptology
Egyptology (from ''Egypt'' and Greek , ''-logia''; ar, علم المصريات) is the study of ancient Egyptian history, language, literature, religion, architecture and art from the 5th millennium BC until the end of its native religious p ...
.
Birth and name
![Vivant Denon](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b7/Vivant_Denon.jpg)
Vivant Denon was born at
Chalon-sur-Saône to a family called "de Non", of the "petite noblesse" or
gentry
Gentry (from Old French ''genterie'', from ''gentil'', "high-born, noble") are "well-born, genteel and well-bred people" of high social class, especially in the past.
Word similar to gentle imple and decentfamilies
''Gentry'', in its widest c ...
, and until the
French Revolution
The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in coup of 18 Brumaire, November 1799. Many of its ...
signed himself as "le chevalier de Non".
Like many of the nobility, he revised his surname at the Revolution to lose the "
nobiliary particle" "de". He seems to have consistently avoided using his baptised first name "Dominique", preferring his middle name "Vivant", and so is usually known as "Vivant Denon". He was created "Baron Denon" by Napoleon in August 1812, at the age of 65.
Early life
He was sent to Paris to study law, but he showed a decided preference for art and literature, and soon gave up his profession. In his twenty-third year he produced a comedy, ''Le Bon Pére'', which obtained a ''succès d'estime'', as he had already won a position in society by his agreeable manners and exceptional conversational powers. He became a favorite of
Louis XV
Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (french: le Bien-Aimé), was King of France from 1 September 1715 until his death in 1774. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five. Until he reached ...
, who entrusted him with the collection and arrangement of a cabinet of medals and
antique gems for
Madame de Pompadour, and subsequently appointed him ''
attaché
In diplomacy, an attaché is a person who is assigned ("to be attached") to the diplomatic or administrative staff of a higher placed person or another service or agency. Although a loanword from French, in English the word is not modified accord ...
'' to the French embassy at
St. Petersburg
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
.
Diplomatic career
![Le représentant du peuple François en fonction2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1e/Le_repr%C3%A9sentant_du_peuple_Fran%C3%A7ois_en_fonction2.jpg)
On the accession of
Louis XVI
Louis XVI (''Louis-Auguste''; ; 23 August 175421 January 1793) was the last King of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. He was referred to as ''Citizen Louis Capet'' during the four months just before he was ...
, Denon was transferred to Sweden; but he returned, after a brief interval, to Paris with the ambassador
M. de Vergennes, who had been appointed foreign minister. In 1775 Denon was sent on a secret mission to Switzerland, and took the opportunity of visiting
Voltaire
François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778) was a French Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher. Known by his ''nom de plume'' M. de Voltaire (; also ; ), he was famous for his wit, and his criticism of Christianity—es ...
at
Ferney
Ferney-Voltaire () is a Communes of France, commune in the Ain Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, region of eastern France. It lies between the Jura Mountains and the France–Switzerland border, Sw ...
. He made a portrait of the philosopher, which was engraved and published on his return to Paris. His next diplomatic appointment was to
Naples
Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...
, where he spent seven years, first as secretary to the embassy and afterwards as ''
chargé d'affaires''. He devoted this period to a careful study of the monuments of ancient art, collecting many specimens and making drawings of others. He also perfected himself in
etching
Etching is traditionally the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio (incised) in the metal. In modern manufacturing, other chemicals may be used on other types ...
and ''
mezzotint
Mezzotint is a monochrome printmaking process of the '' intaglio'' family. It was the first printing process that yielded half-tones without using line- or dot-based techniques like hatching, cross-hatching or stipple. Mezzotint achieves tonal ...
o'' engraving.
While in Naples he met Sir
William
William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...
and
Lady Hamilton
Dame Emma Hamilton (born Amy Lyon; 26 April 176515 January 1815), generally known as Lady Hamilton, was an English maid, model, dancer and actress. She began her career in London's demi-monde, becoming the mistress of a series of wealthy me ...
and he etched Lady Hamilton 'posing'.
The death of his
patron
Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows on another. In the history of art, arts patronage refers to the support that kings, popes, and the wealthy have provided to artists su ...
, M. de Vergennes, in 1787, led to his
recall, and the rest of his life was given mainly to artistic pursuits. On his return to Paris he was admitted a member of the
Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture (1787). After a brief interval he returned to Italy, living chiefly at
Venice
Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...
. He also visited
Florence
Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany Regions of Italy, region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilan ...
and
Bologna
Bologna (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language, Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 1 ...
, and afterwards went to Switzerland. While there he heard that his property had been confiscated, and his name placed on the list of the
proscribed, and with characteristic courage he resolved at once to return to Paris: his situation was critical, but he was spared, thanks to the friendship of the painter
David
David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...
, who obtained for him a commission to furnish designs for republican costumes. When the
Revolution
In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...
was over, Denon was one of the bands of eminent men who frequented the house of
Madame de Beauharnais. Here he met
Bonaparte, to whose fortunes he wisely attached himself.
Egypt and the Louvre
![Buste Vivant Denon](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ec/Buste_Vivant_Denon.jpg)
At Bonaparte's invitation he joined the expedition to
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...
as part of the arts and literature section of the
Institut d'Égypte
The Institut d'Égypte or Egyptian Scientific Institute is a learned society in Cairo specializing in Egyptology. It was established in 1798 by Napoleon Bonaparte to carry out research during his Egyptian campaign and is the oldest scientific inst ...
, and thus found the opportunity of gathering the materials for his most important literary and artistic work. He accompanied
General Desaix to
Upper Egypt
Upper Egypt ( ar, صعيد مصر ', shortened to , , locally: ; ) is the southern portion of Egypt and is composed of the lands on both sides of the Nile that extend upriver from Lower Egypt in the north to Nubia in the south.
In ancient E ...
, and made numerous sketches of the monuments of ancient art, sometimes under the very fire of the enemy. The results were published in his ''Voyage dans la basse et la haute Egypte'' (''Journey in
Lower
Lower may refer to:
*Lower (surname)
*Lower Township, New Jersey
*Lower Receiver (firearms)
*Lower Wick Gloucestershire, England
See also
*Nizhny
Nizhny (russian: Ни́жний; masculine), Nizhnyaya (; feminine), or Nizhneye (russian: Ни́ ...
and
Upper Egypt
Upper Egypt ( ar, صعيد مصر ', shortened to , , locally: ; ) is the southern portion of Egypt and is composed of the lands on both sides of the Nile that extend upriver from Lower Egypt in the north to Nubia in the south.
In ancient E ...
''), published as two volumes in 1802. The work crowned his reputation both as an archaeologist and as an artist, and sparked the Egyptian Revival in architecture and decorative arts.
(See:
Egyptian Revival architecture
Egyptian Revival is an architectural style that uses the motifs and imagery of ancient Egypt. It is attributed generally to the public awareness of ancient Egyptian monuments generated by Napoleon's conquest of Egypt and Admiral Nelson's defeat ...
and
Egyptian revival decorative arts)
![Pavillon Denon at Le Louvre](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e9/Pavillon_Denon_at_Le_Louvre.jpg)
On 19 November 1802,
he was appointed by Napoleon to the important office of director-general of museums and head of the new
Musée Napoléon, which he filled until the Allied occupation of Paris in 1814, when he had to retire.
He was a devoted servant of Napoleon, on whose behalf he personally looted vast numbers of works of art in Italy, the Low Countries and Germany and, through agents (including
Goya
Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (; ; 30 March 174616 April 1828) was a Spanish romantic painter and printmaker. He is considered the most important Spanish artist of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. His paintings, drawings, and e ...
), in Spain, for the Musee Napoleon in Paris. Many of these remain in the Louvre, and elsewhere in France, today. In particular, Denon was one of the first men to appreciate the importance of the Italian 'primitives'. The majority of those now in the Louvre were looted by Denon during a sweep he made through Italy in 1812. They were publicly paraded, with elephants
and other wild animals, like a
Roman triumph
The Roman triumph (') was a civil ceremony and religious rite of ancient Rome, held to publicly celebrate and sanctify the success of a military commander who had led Roman forces to victory in the service of the state or in some historical tra ...
, through the streets of Paris, before being deposited in the Louvre.
Denon took full opportunity, while working for Napoleon, to assemble for himself an enormous collection of paintings, drawings, prints, books, statuary and ''
objets d'art
In art history, the French term Objet d’art describes an ornamental work of art, and the term Objets d’art describes a range of works of art, usually small and three-dimensional, made of high-quality materials, and a finely-rendered finish th ...
.'' This collection was sold at auction over several days after Denon's death. In 1810 he also assisted the
Hermitage Museum
The State Hermitage Museum ( rus, Государственный Эрмитаж, r=Gosudarstvennyj Ermitaž, p=ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)ɨj ɪrmʲɪˈtaʂ, links=no) is a museum of art and culture in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is the largest ...
in its acquisition of
Rosso Fiorentino
Giovanni Battista di Jacopo (8 March 1495 in Gregorian style, or 1494 according to the calculation of times in Florence where the year began on 25 March – 14 November 1540), known as Rosso Fiorentino (meaning "Red Florentine" in Italian) ...
's ''
Madonna and Child with Cherubs'' in Paris.
Retirement and Death
![The grave of Vivant Denon, Pere Lachaise Cemetery in Paris](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/93/The_grave_of_Vivant_Denon%2C_Pere_Lachaise_Cemetery_in_Paris.jpg)
At the
Bourbon Restoration of 1814 Denon was confirmed in place for a year, but was too closely associated with the former regime to keep the position for long, and was replaced by
Auguste de Forbin in 1816. After his forced retirement he began an illustrated history of ancient and modern art, in which he had the cooperation of several skillful
engravers. He died at Paris in 1825, leaving the work unfinished. It was published posthumously, with an explanatory text by
Amaury Duval, under the title ''Monuments des arts du dessin chez les peuples tant anciens que modernes, recueillis par Vivant Denon'' in 1829.
Denon was also the author of an
erotic novel
Erotic literature comprises fictional and factual stories and accounts of eros (passionate, romantic or sexual relationships) intended to arouse similar feelings in readers. This contrasts erotica, which focuses more specifically on sexual feeli ...
, ''Point de lendemain'', published in 1777 (in 1812 as a separate work), and of a number of erotic etchings.
[See Oeuvre priapique by Vivant Denon]
He died in
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
and is buried in the world famous
Père Lachaise Cemetery
Père Lachaise Cemetery (french: Cimetière du Père-Lachaise ; formerly , "East Cemetery") is the largest cemetery in Paris, France (). With more than 3.5 million visitors annually, it is the most visited necropolis in the world. Notable figure ...
, where his grave is marked by a life-sized statue.
Legacy
In
Napoleon III's Louvre expansion
The expansion of the Louvre under Napoleon III in the 1850s, known at the time and until the 1980s as the Nouveau Louvre or Louvre de Napoléon III, was an iconic project of the Second French Empire and a centerpiece of its ambitious transforma ...
in the 1850s, Denon's name was given to the central pavillon of the
Nouveau Louvre
The expansion of the Louvre under Napoleon III in the 1850s, known at the time and until the 1980s as the Nouveau Louvre or Louvre de Napoléon III, was an iconic project of the Second French Empire and a centerpiece of its ambitious transforma ...
's South Wing. In the
Grand Louvre
The Grand Louvre refers to the decade-long project initiated by French President François Mitterrand in 1981 of expanding and remodeling the Louvre – both the building and the museum – by moving the French Finance Ministry, which had been ...
project of the late 1980s, the entire South Wing 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 ...
was named after him (''aile Denon'', echoing
Richelieu to the North and
Sully to the East) as part of a signposting concept developed by the
Carbone Smolan Agency
Carbone Smolan Agency is an independent branding agency founded in 1976 in New York City.
History
In 1976 Ken Carbone opened the New York office of the Canadian graphic design firm Gottschalk+Ash International. In 1977 he met and became busines ...
.
Works
*
*
*
* A note at the beginning of this book states 'Point De Lendemain, the authorship of which has also been attributed to Vivant Denon was first published in 1777'. Hence the authorship being stated as Dorat in Sutton's translation.
*
In fiction
Anthony O'Neill included the character of Vivant Denon in his novel ''The Empire of Eternity''.
Lee Langley has written a
biographical novel
The biographical novel is a genre of novel which provides a fictional account of a contemporary or historical person's life. Like other forms of biographical fiction, details are often trimmed or reimagined to meet the artistic needs of the fict ...
of Denon's life:
Ruth McKenney
Ruth Marguerite McKenney (November 18, 1911 – July 25, 1972) was an American author and journalist, best remembered for ''My Sister Eileen'', a memoir of her experiences growing up in Ohio and moving to Greenwich Village with her sister Eileen ...
also includes the character of Vivant Denon in her novel ''Mirage''.
Milan Kundera
Milan Kundera (, ; born 1 April 1929) is a Czech writer who went into exile in France in 1975, becoming a naturalised French citizen in 1981. Kundera's Czechoslovak citizenship was revoked in 1979, then conferred again in 2019. He "sees himself ...
's ''
Slowness'' (1995) includes a rewriting of Vivant-Denon's ''Point de lendemain''.
References and sources
External links
*
*
The Louvre Dominique-Vivant Denon Research Centre
{{DEFAULTSORT:Denon, Vivant
1747 births
1825 deaths
People from Saône-et-Loire
French archaeologists
French Egyptologists
Barons of France
Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery
Directors of the Louvre
Commission des Sciences et des Arts members
Members of the Académie des beaux-arts