Honoré Théodore Paul Joseph d'Albert, 8th
Duke of Luynes
The Duke of Luynes ( ) is a territorial name belonging to the noble France, French house d'Albert. Luynes, Indre-et-Loire, Luynes is, today, a commune in France, commune of the Indre-et-Loire ''département in France, département'' in France. The ...
(15 December 1802 – 15 December 1867) was a wealthy
French nobleman and scholar. He is most remembered for the collection of exhibits he gave to the
Cabinet des Médailles in 1862, and for supporting the exiled
Comte de Chambord's claim to the throne of France. Throughout his life, D'Albert inherited a number of French titles, including
Duke of Luynes
The Duke of Luynes ( ) is a territorial name belonging to the noble France, French house d'Albert. Luynes, Indre-et-Loire, Luynes is, today, a commune in France, commune of the Indre-et-Loire ''département in France, département'' in France. The ...
, de Chevreuse, and de Chaulnes.
Early life
D'Albert was born on 15 December 1802 in Paris. He was the eldest son of
Charles Marie d'Albert de Luynes (1783–1839) and Françoise Ermessinde de Narbonne-Pelet. His paternal grandparents were
Louis Joseph Charles Amable d'Albert, 6th Duke of Luynes and Elisabeth of
Montmorency-Laval, the daughter of
Guy André Pierre de Montmorency-Laval, 1st Duke of Laval. His maternal grandparents were Francois-Bernard de Narbonne, Count of Pelet and Adelaide Le Conte
de Nonant de Pierrecourt.
His youthful
Grand Tour to Italy was marred by the death of his companion, his cousin Henri de Montmorency-Laval; he returned to join
Louis XVIII
Louis XVIII (Louis Stanislas Xavier; 17 November 1755 – 16 September 1824), known as the Desired (), was King of France from 1814 to 1824, except for a brief interruption during the Hundred Days in 1815. Before his reign, he spent 23 y ...
's ''garde du corps''.
Career
After his first wife's death in 1824, he returned to Italy, consoling himself with researches at the site of
Metapontum
Metapontum or Metapontium () was an ancient city of Magna Graecia, situated on the gulf of Taranto, Tarentum, between the river Bradanus and the Casuentus (modern Basento). It was distant about 20 km from Heraclea (Lucania), Heraclea and 40 ...
in the Kingdom of Two Sicilies, which he published, and at the age of twenty-eight was received by the
Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres
The () is a French learned society devoted to history, founded in February 1663 as one of the five academies of the . The academy's scope was the study of ancient inscriptions (epigraphy) and historical literature (see Belles-lettres).
History ...
; his archaeological interests ranged from ancient numismatics and ceramics, the subject of his collections, to recovering the secrets of
damscening steel: he received a silver medal for his blades at the Exposition of 1844. He offered a prize of 8000 livres for the first successful process of
photolithography
Photolithography (also known as optical lithography) is a process used in the manufacturing of integrated circuits. It involves using light to transfer a pattern onto a substrate, typically a silicon wafer.
The process begins with a photosensiti ...
while he was assembling one of the finest contemporary natural history collections in France at his
château de Dampierre
The Château de Dampierre () is a château in Dampierre-en-Yvelines, in the ''Vallée de Chevreuse'', France.
History
Built by Jules Hardouin-Mansart in 1675–1683 for the Charles Honoré d'Albert, duc de Luynes, de Chaulnes et de Chevreuse, d ...
. His collection of ancient coins, medals, engraved stones and Greek vases, he donated to the Cabinet des Médailles. His archaeological interests took him as far as the
Dead Sea
The Dead Sea (; or ; ), also known by #Names, other names, is a landlocked salt lake bordered by Jordan to the east, the Israeli-occupied West Bank to the west and Israel to the southwest. It lies in the endorheic basin of the Jordan Rift Valle ...
and to
Petra
Petra (; "Rock"), originally known to its inhabitants as Raqmu (Nabataean Aramaic, Nabataean: or , *''Raqēmō''), is an ancient city and archaeological site in southern Jordan. Famous for its rock-cut architecture and water conduit systems, P ...
, in May 1864.
At Dampierre he commissioned extensive renovations under the antiquarian architect
Félix Duban, who had restored the
Château de Blois
A château (, ; plural: châteaux) is a manor house, or palace, or residence of the lord of the manor, or a fine country house of nobility or gentry, with or without fortifications, originally, and still most frequently, in French-speaking re ...
. Paintings by
Marc-Charles-Gabriel Gleyre and
Jean-Hippolyte Flandrin graced the gallery walls that were hung with red velvet, against which Luynes also mounted trophies of his antique arms, the prize piece of which was the ceremonial sword of Youssuf, son of
Boabdil, the last Moorish king of Granada; it followed Luynes' collections to the Cabinet des Médailles. He was quite naturally the head of the committee reporting on metalwork at the
Great Exhibition of 1851
Great may refer to:
Descriptions or measurements
* Great, a relative measurement in physical space, see Size
* Greatness, being divine, majestic, superior, majestic, or transcendent
People
* List of people known as "the Great"
* Artel Great (bo ...
, and published his findings.
He was also a patron of living classicizing artists, with varying success. In 1840 he commissioned
Charles Gleyre
Marc Gabriel Charles Gleyre (2 May 1806 – 5 May 1874), was a Swiss artist who was a resident in France from an early age. He took over the studio of Paul Delaroche in 1843 and taught a number of younger artists who became prominent, including He ...
to paint murals in the Grand Gallery at Dampierre, but after Gleyre had worked on them for a year, with the prospects of fame before him, the installed decorations were effaced when Félix Duban inspired Luynes to commission
Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres
Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres ( ; ; 29 August 1780 – 14 January 1867) was a French Neoclassicism, Neoclassical Painting, painter. Ingres was profoundly influenced by past artistic traditions and aspired to become the guardian of academic ...
, recently returned from Rome, to paint large canvases for the Gallery instead. Ingres insisted on frescoing the gallery at Dampierre with the grand subjects Luynes requested, ''The Age of Gold'' and ''The Age of Iron'', rather than providing canvases. Ingres installed himself enthusiastically at Dampierre for the project, for which the gallery was replastered to his orders; many drawings and sketches for the proposed works survive, and Luynes' classicizing bent encouraged Ingres' obsessive search for suitable inspiration but Ingres' ardor cooled by 1847, and the contract was eventually cancelled in 1850. From
François Rude
François Rude (; 4 January 1784 – 3 November 1855) was a French sculptor, best known for the ''Departure of the Volunteers'', also known as ''La Marseillaise'' on the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. (1835–36). His work often expressed patriotic t ...
Luynes commissioned a sculpture of the king who had founded the fortunes of his family; the ''Louis XIII as a Child'' was cast in silver rather than bronze. For the ''Penelope'' of the sculptor
Pierre-Jules Cavelier he paid more than the sculptor asked, and he commissioned
Pierre-Charles Simart to recreate the ''Athena'' of
Phidias
Phidias or Pheidias (; , ''Pheidias''; ) was an Ancient Greek sculptor, painter, and architect, active in the 5th century BC. His Statue of Zeus at Olympia was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Phidias also designed the statues of ...
, in ivory and gold, based on ancient descriptions: "it cost Luynes a hundred thousand francs to prove that Simart was not Phidias". The bloodstone cup with enamelled gold mounts made for him in 1854-55 by
Jean-Valentin Morel, who pioneered the taste for gold-mounted hardstones in
neo-Renaissance
Renaissance Revival architecture (sometimes referred to as "Neo-Renaissance") is a group of 19th-century Revivalism (architecture), architectural revival styles which were neither Greek Revival architecture, Greek Revival nor Gothic Revival ar ...
taste, is now at the
Indianapolis Museum of Art
The Indianapolis Museum of Art (IMA) is an encyclopedic art museum located at Newfields, a campus that also houses Lilly House, The Virginia B. Fairbanks Art & Nature Park, the Garden at Newfields and more. It is located at the corner of No ...
.
His politics were liberal. He took an active part in the
Revolution of 1830, equipping and arming at his own expense a contingent of National Guard, but refused the offer from the
July Monarchy
The July Monarchy (), officially the ''Kingdom of France'' (), was a liberalism, liberal constitutional monarchy in France under , starting on 9 August 1830, after the revolutionary victory of the July Revolution of 1830, and ending 26 Februar ...
of a ''
pairie
The Peerage of France () was a hereditary distinction within the French nobility which appeared in 1180 during the Middle Ages.
The prestigious title and position of Peer of France () was held by the greatest, highest-ranking members of the Fr ...
'' but consented to be appointed a representative of the
Second Republic, 1848–51, where his role was that of an independent, before he withdrew to Dampierre with the rise of
Napoleon III
Napoleon III (Charles-Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was President of France from 1848 to 1852 and then Emperor of the French from 1852 until his deposition in 1870. He was the first president, second emperor, and last ...
. He was awarded the Prussian order
Pour le Mérite
The (; , ), also informally known as the ''Blue Max'' () after German WWI flying ace Max Immelmann, is an order of merit established in 1740 by King Frederick II of Prussia. Separated into two classes, each with their own designs, the was ...
in 1853.
Yet he died at Rome, a defender of the Papacy against the resurgent powers of a united Italy.
Personal life

In 1822 married Marie Françoise Dauvet de Maineville, daughter of
Gabriel Nicolas Dauvet, Marquis de Maineville, and Marie-Françoise Vachon de Belmont-Briançon.
Before her early death on 23 July 1824, she and d'Albert had one son:
*
Honoré-Louis d'Albert de Luynes, Duke of Chevreuse (1823–1854), who married Julie Valentine
de Contades (1824–1900), a daughter of Jules Gaspard Amour de Contades (son of
François-Jules de Contades) and Gabrielle Adèle Alexandrine Amys du Ponceau.
His second wife was Jeanne d'Amys de Ponceau, whom he married on March 19, 1846. She died on July 26, 1861, in
Dampierre. The Duke died in Rome on 15 December 1867.
Descendants
Through his son Honoré-Louis, he was a grandfather of Marie Julie d'Albert de Luynes (the wife of Elzéar Charles Antoine de Sabran-Pontevès, 3rd
Duke of Sabran),
Charles Honoré Emmanuel d'Albert de Luynes, 9th Duke of Luynes (1846–1870),
and
Paul Marie Stanislas Honoré d'Albert de Luynes, 10th
Duke of Chaulnes
The title of Duke of Chaulnes (), a French peerage, is held by the d'Albert family beginning in 1621.
History
First creation (1621–1698)
The duchy of Chaulnes was established by letters patent in January 1621 and registered on 6 March 1621 a ...
(1852–1881).
Publications
Luynes was responsible for numerous papers and reports. His major publications are:
*''Métaponte'' (Paris:P. Renouard) 1833;
*''Commentaire historique et chronologique sur les éphémérides, intitulées Diurnali di messer Matteo di Giovenazzo'' (Paris: Firmin Didot) 1839;
*''Description de quelques vases peints'' (Laborde, Paris, 1840). Luynes' collection of Greek pottery;
*''Choix de médailles grecques'', (Paris: Firmin Didot) 1840;
*''Essai sur la numismatique des Satrapies et de la Phénicie sous les rois Achæménides'' (Paris: Firmin Didot, 1846);
*''Numismatique et inscriptions cypriotes''(Paris:Plon 1852);
*''Mémoire sur le sarcophage et l'inscription funéraire d'Esmunazar, roi de Sidon, (Paris: Plon), 1856;
*''Voyage d'exploration à la mer Morte, à Petra et sur la rive gauche du Jordan'' Published posthumously by the comte de Vogüé from Luynes' notes
Notes
References
*Boissieu, Arthur de. ''Lettres d'un Passant'', 2nd series 1869, pp. 256–69. January 1868
Further reading
*Shedd, Meredith. "Phidias at the Universal Exposition of 1855: the duc de Luynes and the Athena Parthenos" ''Gazette des Beaux-Arts'' (October 1986), pp. 123–34.
*Aghion, I. and M. Avisseau-Broustet, "Le duc de Luynes, archéologue, historien, homme de sciences et collectionneur", ''Revue de la Bibliothèque nationale de France'' 3 (1994), pp. 12–19.
* Silvestrelli, Francesca. '' Le duc de Luynes et la découverte de la Grande Grèce '', CJB - Institut National d'Histoire de l’Art, 2018.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Luynes, Honore Theodoric Dalbert De
Luynes, Honore Theodore Paul Joseph d'Albert, duc de
Luynes, Honore Theodore Paul Joseph d'Albert, duc de
Luynes, Honore Theodore Paul Joseph d'Albert, duc de
Honore Thoedoric
House of Albert
19th-century French nobility
Recipients of the Pour le Mérite (civil class)
19th-century French philanthropists