Marc Antoine René de Voyer, Marquis de Paulmy and Marquis d'Argenson (1757) (22 November 1722,

Valenciennes Valenciennes (, also , , ; nl, label=also Dutch, Valencijn; pcd, Valincyinnes or ; la, Valentianae) is a commune in the Nord department, Hauts-de-France, France. It lies on the Scheldt () river. Although the city and region experienced a s ...

13 August 1787), was a French ambassador to

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

and to the

Holy See The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of Rome ...

, and later became the Minister of War. He was also a noted bibliophile and collector of art.

Biography

Marc Antoine René de Voyer was the only son of René-Louis de Voyer de Paulmy, marquis d' Argenson. He should not be confused with his grandfather, Marc-René, or his great-grandfather, also Marc-René, or in particular with his cousin Marc-René de Voyer d'Argenson (1721–1782). Appointed councillor at the ''

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 ...

'' (1744), and ''maître des requêtes'' (1747), he was associated with his father in the ministry of foreign affairs and with his uncle, Marc-Pierre, in the ministry of war, and, in recognition of this experience, was commissioned to inspect the troops and fortifications and sent on embassy to

(1748). In 1750 he was appointed to head the stables of King

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 reache ...

and appointed governor of the

Château de Vincennes The Château de Vincennes () is a former fortress and royal residence next to the town of Vincennes, on the eastern edge of Paris, alongside the Bois de Vincennes. It was largely built between 1361 and 1369, and was a preferred residence, after ...

in 1754. In addition to Switzerland, he served as

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

ambassador to

and to the

. He followed his uncle as war minister when the latter was forced from office by the influence of

Madame de Pompadour Jeanne Antoinette Poisson, Marquise de Pompadour (, ; 29 December 1721 – 15 April 1764), commonly known as Madame de Pompadour, was a member of the French court. She was the official chief mistress of King Louis XV from 1745 to 1751, and rema ...

in 1757. The outbreak of the

Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War (1756–1763) was a global conflict that involved most of the European Great Powers, and was fought primarily in Europe, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific. Other concurrent conflicts include the French and Indian War (1754� ...

made this post exceedingly difficult to hold, and he resigned on 23 March 1758. He was a noted bibliophile and collector of art, whose private hope, reported in his memoirs was to be appointed director of the

Bâtiments du Roi The Bâtiments du Roi (, "King's Buildings") was a division of the Maison du Roi ("King's Household") in France under the Ancien Régime. It was responsible for building works at the King's residences in and around Paris. History The Bâtiments ...

, a post that devolved upon Mme de Pompadour's highly competent brother. He built a

château A château (; plural: châteaux) is a manor house 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 regions. Nowaday ...

at Asnières in 1750, with expenses that scandalized his virtuous uncle, to set the tone for the Court and display his collection of works by Northern Renaissance masters. In the decade 1748–58 he appears repeatedly in the daybook of the ''

marchand-mercier A ''marchand-mercier'' is a French term for a type of entrepreneur working outside the guild system of craftsmen but carefully constrained by the regulations of a ''corporation'' under rules codified in 1613. The reduplicative term literally mean ...

'' Lazare Duvaux, often purchasing Chinese celadon porcelains set in rococo French gilt-bronze mounts, and even bringing to Duvaux fine examples from his own collection to be mounted according to his taste.Courajod 1873. He was compelled by financial troubles to sell the house in 1769. His library was one of the finest collections of a private individual. It included some 100,000 carefully selected volumes, largely by French writers and especially poets. He catalogued the library himself, dictating or writing the documents which display his expertise and taste. The library was purchased in 1785 by the Count of Artois, brother of the king, who allowed Argenson to retain it his lifetime. This library formed the basis of the Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal since, as grand master of artillery, he had used the Arsenal to house his library.

Literary works and academic positions

He planned the ''Bibliothèque universelle des romans'', published between 1775 and 1778 in 40 octavo volumes, a collection of

novels A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itself ...

including some of his own writing. His own novellas were published in 1782 as ''Choix de petits romans de différents genres''. He also produced the ''Mélanges tirés d'une grande bibliothèque'' (69 volumes, 1779 to 1787) containing extracts from his library. At his death he forbade his library to be dispersed: it was bought by the comte d’Artois (afterwards Charles X) and formed the nucleus of the Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal (now the Bibliothèque nationale de France) in Paris. He was elected to the

Académie française An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary education, secondary or tertiary education, tertiary higher education, higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membershi ...

in 1748 and also to the Academy of Sciences and the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres.

Notes

References

External links

Biiographical notice
on the

website. {{DEFAULTSORT:Argenson, Marc-Rene de Voyer de Paulmy d 1722 births 1787 deaths People from Valenciennes 18th-century French politicians Voyer de Paulmy, Marc-Rene Secretaries of State for War (France) French book and manuscript collectors Members of the Académie Française Members of the French Academy of Sciences Members of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres