Michel-Jean Amelot, baron de Brunelles, marquis de Gournay (1655—

Paris Paris () is the capital and 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), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

1724), was a French diplomat, ''conseiller d'état'' to

Louis XIV of France , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of Versa ...

from 1698, and connoisseur. He was the son of Charles Amelot, the President of the king's Grand Conseil, and the nephew of the elder Michel Amelot de Gournay (1612—1687),

Archbishop of Tours The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Tours (Latin: ''Archidioecesis Turonensis''; French: ''Archidiocèse de Tours'') is an archdiocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church in France. The archdiocese has roots that go back to the 3rd cent ...

. In 1682 he was appointed ambassador to

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 ...

, in which post he took with him as secretary his tutor, the connoisseur

Roger de Piles Roger de Piles (7 October 1635 – 5 April 1709) was a French painter, engraver, art critic and diplomat. Life Born in Clamecy, Roger de Piles studied philosophy and theology, and devoted himself to painting. In 1662 he became tutor to Miche ...

. His success in this embassy was followed by further commissions, to Portugal (1685), Switzerland (1688-1698) and to Spain (1705-1709), where he played a prominent role during the

War of the Spanish Succession The War of the Spanish Succession was a European great power conflict that took place from 1701 to 1714. The death of childless Charles II of Spain in November 1700 led to a struggle for control of the Spanish Empire between his heirs, Phil ...

and reorganized the Spanish army along the lines of the army of France. He presided over the seances that adjusted the differences between Victor Amadeus II, duke of Savoy, who was the new King of Sicily, and the

Prince of Monaco The sovereign prince (french: prince de Monaco) is the monarch and head of state of the Principality of Monaco. All reigning princes have taken the name of the House of Grimaldi, although some have belonged to other families (Goyon de Matignon or ...

, following the

Treaty of Utrecht The Peace of Utrecht was a series of peace treaties signed by the belligerents in the War of the Spanish Succession, in the Dutch city of Utrecht between April 1713 and February 1715. The war involved three contenders for the vacant throne o ...

; the agreement was signed in Paris, 21 June 1714. The envoy representing Great Britain on that occasion was the poet-diplomat

Matthew Prior Matthew Prior (21 July 1664 – 18 September 1721) was an English poet and diplomat. He is also known as a contributor to '' The Examiner''. Early life Prior was probably born in Middlesex. He was the son of a Nonconformist joiner at Wimborne ...

. He was named ''président du Conseil de Commerce'' in 1716.

Jacques Savary des Brûlons Jacques Savary des Brûlons (1657–1716) was the French Inspector General of the Manufactures for the King at the Paris Customs in the 18th century, and a lexicographer who wrote the ''Dictionnaire universel de commerce''. Jacques Savary des Br� ...

' encyclopedic summing-up of the contemporary state of commercial economics, ''Dictionnnaire universel de commerce'' (1723), was dedicated to him. His purchase in 1713 of a Paris house in rue Saint-Dominique, faubourg Saint-Germain, the Hôtel Amelot de Gournay, which had been begun as a speculation the previous year by the architect

Germain Boffrand Germain Boffrand () (16 May 1667 – 19 March 1754) was a French architect. A pupil of Jules Hardouin-Mansart, Germain Boffrand was one of the main creators of the precursor to Rococo called the '' style Régence'', and in his interiors, of the ...

and was in course of construction, revealed the daring of the architect and the courage of the patron. The hôtel had numerous features that set it apart from the conventional Parisian ''hôtel particulier'' of the epoch: its ''cour d'honneur'' was completely enclosed from the street by a low range with a central door in an Ionic

triumphal arch A triumphal arch is a free-standing monumental structure in the shape of an archway with one or more arched passageways, often designed to span a road. In its simplest form a triumphal arch consists of two massive piers connected by an arch, crow ...

motif; its facade was concave, with a giant order of Corinthian pilasters, and with its wings it embraced an oval forecourt. The house featured an oval salon, soon to become ''de rigueur'' in Parisian house planning. On 3 March 1712 he married his daughter Marie-Anne to Henri-Charles comte de Tavannes and marquis de Suilly and d'Arc-sur-Thil, and his daughter Catherine to Joseph-Antoine Crozat, marquis de Tugny, the nephew and eventual heir of

Watteau Jean-Antoine Watteau (, , ; baptised October 10, 1684died July 18, 1721) Alsavailablevia Oxford Art Online (subscription needed). was a French painter and draughtsman whose brief career spurred the revival of interest in colour and movement, as ...

's patron, the immensely rich collector and connoisseur,

Pierre Crozat Pierre Crozat (1665–1740) was a French financier, art patron and collector at the center of a broad circle of ''cognoscenti''; he was the brother of Antoine Crozat. Biography The brothers Crozat were born in Toulouse, France, the sons of a we ...

Notes

References

Essential Architecture:Hôtel Amelot de Gournay
(Abrams), 1999. *'' Dictionnaire de biographie française'' *''Memoirs of the duc de Saint-Simon'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Amelot de Gournay, Michel-Jean 1655 births 1724 deaths Ambassadors of France to the Republic of Venice 17th-century French diplomats 18th-century French diplomats