Louis Hesselin,

Seigneur ''Seigneur'' is an originally feudal title in France before the Revolution, in New France and British North America until 1854, and in the Channel Islands to this day. A seigneur refers to the person or collective who owned a ''seigneurie'' (or ...

de Condé (February 1602 – 8 August 1662)Weil-Courier 2011. was a French aristocrat, government official, patron and collector. He held various positions in the royal household and became Intendant of the Menus Plaisirs around 1655.Beresford 1996.

Ancestry, name, and early career

Louis Hesselin was born in Paris in the early days of February 1602 to a family of

magistrates The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judici ...

, originally from the

Marne Marne can refer to: Places France *Marne (river), a tributary of the Seine *Marne (department), a département in northeastern France named after the river * La Marne, a commune in western France *Marne, a legislative constituency (France) Nethe ...

, but living in Paris for several generations. His father was Pierre Cauchon, Seigneur de Condé, and an

auditor An auditor is a person or a firm appointed by a company to execute an audit.Practical Auditing, Kul Narsingh Shrestha, 2012, Nabin Prakashan, Nepal To act as an auditor, a person should be certified by the regulatory authority of accounting and au ...

of the

Chambre des Comptes Under the French monarchy, the Courts of Accounts (in French ''Chambres des comptes'') were sovereign courts specialising in financial affairs. The Court of Accounts in Paris was the oldest and the forerunner of today's French Court of Audit. ...

. His mother was Elisabeth (or Isabelle) Morin. His father, who died sometime between 1609 and 1614, was the son of Thierry Cauchon and his second wife, Madeleine Brulart, daughter of Noël Brulart, ''procureur général au

parlement A ''parlement'' (), under the French Ancien Régime, was a provincial appellate court of the Kingdom of France. In 1789, France had 13 parlements, the oldest and most important of which was the Parlement of Paris. While both the modern Fre ...

''. The first wife of Thierry Cauchon was Madeleine Hesselin, daughter of Paris, ''maître des comptes''. Elisabeth Morin was the daughter of Mathurin Morin, Seigneur de la Planchette en Brie, and Marie Hesselin, sister of Madeleine Hesselin. Their brother, Louis Hesselin, who never married, treated his grandnephew like a son and by his

will and testament A will or testament is a legal document that expresses a person's (testator) wishes as to how their property ( estate) is to be distributed after their death and as to which person ( executor) is to manage the property until its final distributi ...

(18 August 1620) left him his entire fortune, provided he change his name to Louis Hesselin. The latter signed his name Louis Hesselin as early as 1623 and regularised the change by ''

lettres patentes Letters patent ( la, litterae patentes) ( always in the plural) are a type of legal instrument in the form of a published written order issued by a monarch, president or other head of state, generally granting an office, right, monopoly, titl ...

'', registered with ''parlement'' on 19 December 1626. Not long after, Louis Hesselin obtained the office of ''maître de la chambre aux deniers'' aster of the Chamber of Funds In 1634 and 1638 he is recorded as ''conseiller du roi en ses conseils'' and ''maître d'hôtel ordinaire du roi'', as well as ''maître de la chambre aux deniers''.Crèvecœur 1885, pp. 2–3

Trips to Italy

Louis Hesselin took at least two extended trips to Italy in the 1630s: one in 1632–1633 and another in 1637. While there he may have taken the opportunity to acquire a large number of books, paintings, 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 ...

, documented much later in an inventory made after his death. He was portrayed in a bust by

Domenico Pieratti Domenico is an Italian given name for males and may refer to: People * Domenico Alfani, Italian painter * Domenico Allegri, Italian composer * Domenico Alvaro, Italian mobster * Domenico Ambrogi, Italian painter * Domenico Auria, Italian archit ...

now in Florence,

Pitti Palace The Palazzo Pitti (), in English sometimes called the Pitti Palace, is a vast, mainly Renaissance, palace in Florence, Italy. It is situated on the south side of the River Arno, a short distance from the Ponte Vecchio. The core of the present ...

.Freddolini 2016.

Residences

In the early 1640s Hesselin had the architect

Louis Le Vau Louis Le Vau (1612 – 11 October 1670) was a French Baroque architect, who worked for Louis XIV of France. He was an architect that helped develop the French Classical style in the 17th Century.''Encyclopedia of World Biography''"Louis Le Vau", ...

build him a house, the

Hôtel Hesselin The Hôtel Hesselin, later known as the Hôtel d'Ambrun, was a Parisian town house (''hôtel particulier''), erected around 1639 to 1642 for Louis Hesselin to the designs of the French architect Louis Le Vau.Cojannot 2012, p. 103. It was located o ...

(demolished 1935), on the Île Saint-Louis in Paris. He also owned a country house, the Maison Chantemesle, in

Essonnes Corbeil-Essonnes () on the River Seine is a commune in the southern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris. Although neighboring Évry is the official seat of the Arrondissement of Évry, the sub-prefecture building ...

on the road between Paris and the

Palace of Fontainebleau Palace of Fontainebleau (; ) or Château de Fontainebleau, located southeast of the center of Paris, in the commune of Fontainebleau, is one of the largest French royal châteaux. The medieval castle and subsequent palace served as a residence ...

. At Chantemesle he entertained French royalty and foreign travelers, including

John Evelyn John Evelyn (31 October 162027 February 1706) was an English writer, landowner, gardener, courtier and minor government official, who is now best known as a diarist. He was a founding Fellow of the Royal Society. John Evelyn's diary, or memo ...

in 1644 and

Queen Christina of Sweden Christina ( sv, Kristina, 18 December (New Style) 1626 – 19 April 1689), a member of the House of Vasa, was Queen of Sweden in her own right from 1632 until her abdication in 1654. She succeeded her father Gustavus Adolphus upon his death ...

in 1656.

Notes

Bibliography

* Beresford, Richard (1996)
"Hesselin, Louis (Cauchon)"
vol. 14, p. 492, in ''

The Dictionary of Art ''Grove Art Online'' is the online edition of ''The Dictionary of Art'', often referred to as the ''Grove Dictionary of Art'', and part of Oxford Art Online, an internet gateway to online art reference publications of Oxford University Press, ...

'', 34 volumes, edited by Jane Turner, reprinted with minor corrections in 1998. London: Macmillan. . * Crèvecœur, R.

obert Obert may refer to the following people: ;Given name *Obert Bika (born 1993), Papua New Guinean football midfielder *Obert Logan (1941–2003), American football safety *Obert Mpofu, Zimbabwean politician *Obert Nyampipira (born 1966), Zimbabwean ...

de (1895). ''Louis Hesselin, amateur parisien, intendant des plaisirs du Roi''. Paris
Copy
at Gallica. * Freddolini, Francesco (2016). "A Rediscovered Work by Domenico Pieratti: The Bust of Louis Hesselin", ''Mitteilungen des Kunsthistorisches Institutes in Florenz'', vol. 58 (2016), no. 3, pp. 411–420. . * Weill-Courier, Moana (2011)
mweilcuriel.blogspot.com
a
Archive copy (3 March 2020)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hesselin, Louis 1602 births 1662 deaths Ancien Régime office-holders