James-Alexandre de Pourtalès, Comte de Pourtalès-Gorgier (28 November 1776 – 24 March 1855) was a Swiss-French banker, diplomat and art collector.

Early life

The Count de Pourtalès was born in

Neuchâtel Neuchâtel (, ; ; ) is a list of towns in Switzerland, town, a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality, and the capital (political), capital of the cantons of Switzerland, Swiss canton of Neuchâtel (canton), Neuchâtel on Lake Neuchâtel ...

, then in the Principality of Neuchâtel under Prussian rule, into a large family of Protestant financiers on 28 November 1776. He was the son of Countess Rose Augustine Marie de Luze (1751–1791) and Jacques-Louis de Pourtalès (1722–1814), a banker in

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

who amassed a fortune in commerce and was made a count by King Frederick William II. Among his siblings were Louis de Pourtalès (husband of Sophie d'Audanger) and Frédéric de Pourtalès (husband of Marie Louise de

Castellane Castellane (; Provençal dialect, Provençal Occitan language, Occitan: ''Castelana'') is a Communes of France, commune in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence Departments of France, department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region ...

and grandfather of Friedrich von Pourtalès). His paternal grandparents were Jérémie de Pourtalès and Marguerite de Luze (who was the younger sister of his maternal great-grandfather). The Pourtalès family were French Huguenots who settled in Neuchâtel following the

revocation Revocation is the act of wikt:recall, recall or annulment. It is the cancelling of an act, the recalling of a grant or privilege, or the making void (law), void of some deed previously existing. A temporary revocation of a grant or privilege is c ...

of the

Edict of Nantes The Edict of Nantes () was an edict signed in April 1598 by Henry IV of France, King Henry IV and granted the minority Calvinism, Calvinist Protestants of France, also known as Huguenots, substantial rights in the nation, which was predominantl ...

in 1685. His maternal grandparents were the former Marianne-Françoise Warney (a niece of Daniel Roguin of

Yverdon Yverdon-les-Bains () (called Eburodunum and Ebredunum during the Ancient Rome, Roman era) is a municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Jura-North Vaudois District, Jura-Nord vaudois of the canton of Vaud in Switzerland. It ...

) and Baron Jean-Jacques III de Luze, a prosperous textile manufacturer at Colombier and were both friends of writer and philosopher

Jean-Jacques Rousseau Jean-Jacques Rousseau (, ; ; 28 June 1712 – 2 July 1778) was a Republic of Geneva, Genevan philosopher (''philosophes, philosophe''), writer, and composer. His political philosophy influenced the progress of the Age of Enlightenment through ...

.. They had an elegant country house near the

governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

's château in what was then the

principality of Neuchâtel A principality (or sometimes princedom) is a type of monarchical state or feudal territory ruled by a prince or princess. It can be either a sovereign state or a constituent part of a larger political entity. The term "principality" is often ...

Career

In 1813, he acquired the

seigneury A seigneur () or lord is an originally feudal system, feudal title in Ancien Régime, France before the French Revolution, Revolution, in New France and British North America until 1854, and in the Channel Islands to this day. The seigneur owne ...

of Gorgier, which he added to the family name, from Charles Henry, Vicomte de Gorgier. He served as Chamberlain to the

King of Prussia The monarchs of Prussia were members of the House of Hohenzollern who were the hereditary rulers of the former German state of Prussia from its founding in 1525 as the Duchy of Prussia. The Duchy had evolved out of the Teutonic Order, a Roman C ...

and was awarded the title of Count on 20 November 1814 by King

Frederick William III Frederick William III (; 3 August 1770 – 7 June 1840) was King of Prussia from 16 November 1797 until his death in 1840. He was concurrently Elector of Brandenburg in the Holy Roman Empire until 6 August 1806, when the empire was dissolved. ...

, who ruled Prussia during the

Napoleonic Wars {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Napoleonic Wars , partof = the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars , image = Napoleonic Wars (revision).jpg , caption = Left to right, top to bottom:Battl ...

and the end of the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire, also known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation after 1512, was a polity in Central and Western Europe, usually headed by the Holy Roman Emperor. It developed in the Early Middle Ages, and lasted for a millennium ...

. Pourtalès freed the Bérochaux from cartage chores in 1822 and, in recognition, received a bench with his coat of arms at the church. From 1816 to 1829, he was a member of the General Audiences.

Residences and art collection

In 1815, he settled in Paris before residing in a mansion in the

Place Vendôme The Place Vendôme (), earlier known as the Place Louis-le-Grand, and also as the Place Internationale, is a square in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, France, located to the north of the Tuileries Gardens and east of the Église de la Madelein ...

in the

1st arrondissement of Paris The 1st arrondissement of Paris (''Ier arrondissement'') is one of the 20 Arrondissements of Paris, arrondissements of the capital city of France. In spoken French, this arrondissement is colloquially referred to as ''le premier'' (the first). I ...

. Between 1838 and 1839, Pourtalès had

Félix Duban Jacques Félix Duban () (14 October 1798, Paris – 8 October 1870, Bordeaux) was a French architect, the contemporary of Jacques Ignace Hittorff and Henri Labrouste. Life and career Duban won the Prix de Rome in 1823, the most prestigious awa ...

build the Pourtalès mansion, a

hôtel particulier () is the French term for a grand urban mansion, comparable to a Townhouse (Great Britain), British townhouse. Whereas an ordinary (house) was built as part of a row, sharing party walls with the houses on either side and directly fronting on a ...

(essentially a grand townhouse) on rue Tronchet, Paris. At his mansion, Pourtalès assembled one of the most important

collection Collection or Collections may refer to: Computing * Collection (abstract data type), the abstract concept of collections in computer science * Collection (linking), the act of linkage editing in computing * Garbage collection (computing), autom ...

s of antiques and paintings of his time, including the ''

Laughing Cavalier The ''Laughing Cavalier'' (1624) is a portrait by the Dutch Golden Age painter Frans Hals in the Wallace Collection in London. It was described by art historian Seymour Slive as "one of the most brilliant of all Baroque portraits". The title is ...

'' by

Frans Hals Frans Hals the Elder (, ; ; – 26 August 1666) was a Dutch Golden Age painter. He lived and worked in Haarlem, a city in which the local authority of the day frowned on religious painting in places of worship but citizens liked to decorate thei ...

and works by

Bronzino Agnolo di Cosimo (; 17 November 150323 November 1572), usually known as Bronzino ( ) or Agnolo Bronzino, was an Italians, Italian Mannerism, Mannerist painter from Florence. His sobriquet, ''Bronzino'', may refer to his relatively dark skin or r ...

Rembrandt Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (; ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), mononymously known as Rembrandt was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker, and Drawing, draughtsman. He is generally considered one of the greatest visual artists in ...

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 ...

and a

Sandro Botticelli Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi ( – May 17, 1510), better known as Sandro Botticelli ( ; ) or simply known as Botticelli, was an Italian painter of the Early Renaissance. Botticelli's posthumous reputation suffered until the late 1 ...

portrait. In 1825, he donated a mummy and coffin he acquired from the Thedenat-Duvent sale, to the Berlin Museum. In February and March 1865, ten years after his death, his collection was auctioned off in Paris in accordance with his will. The majority of his collection was photographed and published in a large folio by

Goupil & Cie Goupil & Cie is an international auction house and merchant of contemporary art and collectibles. Jean-Baptiste Adophe Goupil founded Goupil & Cie in 1850. Goupil & Cie became a leading art dealership in 19th-century France, with its headquart ...

. The ''Laughing Cavalier'' was purchased by the

Marquess of Hertford The titles of Earl of Hertford and Marquess of Hertford have been created several times in the peerages of Peerage of England, England and Peerage of Great Britain, Great Britain. The third Earldom of Hertford was created in 1559 for Edward Sey ...

(who outbid Baron de Rothschild).

Lord Amherst Field Marshal Jeffery Amherst, 1st Baron Amherst, (29 January 1717 – 3 August 1797) was a British Army officer and Commander-in-Chief of the Forces in the British Army. Amherst is credited as the architect of Britain's successful campaig ...

bought some of the important Egyptian objects. Sir Charles Newton spent 60,919 francs on bronzes and vases for the

British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...

, and 47,000 francs on

Giustiniani The House of Giustinian or Giustiniani was a prominent Italian family which originally belonged to Venice, but also established itself in Genoa, and at various times had representatives in Naples, Canary Islands, Corsica and in the islands of the ...

's ''

Apollo Apollo is one of the Twelve Olympians, Olympian deities in Ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek and Ancient Roman religion, Roman religion and Greek mythology, Greek and Roman mythology. Apollo has been recognized as a god of archery, mu ...

''. In 1806, he purchased the Château de Bandeville in Saint-Cyr-sous-Dourdan where, in 1833, he had the English-style park redeveloped by landscape designer Louis-Sulpice Varé, in one of the first known works. Today, Varé is known for his

French landscape garden The French landscape garden () is a style of garden inspired by idealized romantic landscapes and the paintings of Hubert Robert, Claude Lorrain and Nicolas Poussin, European ideas about Chinese gardens, and the philosophy of Jean-Jacques Rousseau ...

s at several famous chateaux, including the Château de Châtenay-en-France, and the

Bois de Boulogne The Bois de Boulogne (, "Boulogne woodland") is a large public park that is the western half of the 16th arrondissement of Paris, near the suburb of Boulogne-Billancourt and Neuilly-sur-Seine. The land was ceded to the city of Paris by the Em ...

park. In 1809, he also acquired Château de Luins in the Swiss

Canton of Vaud Vaud ( ; , ), more formally Canton of Vaud, is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. It is composed of ten districts; its capital city is Lausanne. Its coat of arms bears the motto "Liberté et patrie" on a white-green bicolou ...

for 150,000 Swiss francs. The estate passed to his eldest daughter and her husband, the Marquis de Ganay, and their family.

Personal life

On 12 June 1809, he was married to Anne Henriette de

Palézieux Palézieux () is a village and former municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Lavaux-Oron District, Lavaux-Oron in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud in Switzerland. Since 2012 it forms part of the municipality of O ...

-Falconnet (1792–1836) in Neuchâtel. His wife was a daughter of banker Jean Louis de Palézieux-Falconnet and the former Anna Hunter, an American who was the sister of William Hunter, a

U.S. Senator The United States Senate is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and House have the authority under Article One of the ...

from

Newport, Rhode Island Newport is a seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Rhode Island, United States. It is located in Narragansett Bay, approximately southeast of Providence, Rhode Island, Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, and nort ...

. His wife's sister, Eliza Augusta, married the American

archeologist Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscapes. Archaeol ...

and artist John Izard Middleton. Together, they were the parents of: * Élisa Calixte de Pourtalès (1810–1877), who married diplomat Charles-Alexandre, Marquis de Ganay (1803–1881), son of Gen. Antoine-Charles de Ganay, in 1831. * Cécile de Pourtalès (1812–1833), who married Rodolphe Émile Adolphe de Rougemont (1805–1844) in 1830. * Henri de Pourtalès-Gorgier (1815–1876), who married Anne Marie d'Escherny (1820–1901) in 1840. * Charles de Pourtalès (1816–1871). * Jacques-Robert de Pourtalès (1821–1874), a French politician who married Adèle Anna Hagermann (1825–1898), a daughter of Swedish banker Jonas-Philip Hagerman, in 1846. * Edmond de Pourtalès-Gorgier (1828–1895), who married Mélanie Renouard de Bussière (1836–1914), a

lady-in-waiting A lady-in-waiting (alternatively written lady in waiting) or court lady is a female personal assistant at a Royal court, court, attending on a royal woman or a high-ranking nobility, noblewoman. Historically, in Europe, a lady-in-waiting was o ...

Empress The word ''emperor'' (from , via ) can mean the male ruler of an empire. ''Empress'', the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), mother/grandmother (empress dowager/grand empress dowager), or a woman who rules ...

Eugénie, wife 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 ...

. Count de Pourtalès died on 24 March 1855.Boisset, Olivier ''Les antiques du comte JA de PG: une introduction'', in Monica Preti-Hamard & Philippe Sénéchal (eds), ''Collections et Marché de l'Art en France 1789-1848'', Rennes 2005.

Descendants

Through his eldest daughter Élisa, he was a grandfather of General Jacques de Ganay (1843–1899), who married Renée de Maillé de La Tour-Landry, the third daughter of Jaquelin Armand Charles, Duc de Maillé (son of the Duke and Duchess of Maillé) and his wife Jeanne d'Osmond (daughter of Gen. Rainulphe d'Osmond). Through his son Henri, he was a grandfather of Count

Arthur de Pourtalès Arthur de Pourtalès, Count de Pourtalès-Gorgier (31 August 1844 – 1928) was a Swiss-French diplomat. Early life Pourtalès was born in Gorgier in the Canton of Neuchâtel, Switzerland on 31 August 1844. He was a son of Anne Marie, Countess d'E ...

(1844–1928), a diplomat who twice married Americans. File:Jacques-Louis de Pourtalès (1722-1814).png, His father, Jacques-Louis de Pourtalès. File:Jacques-Louis de Pourtalès et sa famille.png, Portrait of his parents and family, . File:Elisa de pourtales, marquise de Ganay.jpg, His daughter, Élisa, Marquise de Ganay, . File:James Tissot - The Circle of the Rue Royale - Marquis Charles-Alexandre de Ganay.jpg, His son-in-law, Charles-Alexandre, Marquis de Ganay, by

James Tissot Jacques Joseph Tissot (; 15 October 1836 – 8 August 1902), better known as James Tissot ( , ), was a French painter, illustrator, and caricaturist. He was born to a drapery merchant and a milliner and decided to pursue a career in art at a y ...

, 1868. File:Pourtalès, Edmond de.jpg, His son, Edmond de Pourtalès, . File:Mélanie Renouard de Bussière, comtesse Edmond de Pourtalès.jpg, His daughter-in-law, Mélanie de Bussière, by

Franz Xaver Winterhalter Franz Xaver Winterhalter (20 April 1805 – 8 July 1873) was a German painter and lithography, lithographer, known for his flattering portraits of royalty and upper-class society in the mid-19th century. His name has become associated with fashio ...

, 1857. File:Général Jacques de Ganay (Le Monde illustré).jpg, His grandson, Général Jacques de Ganay. File:Portrait de la Comtesse Jacques de Ganay.jpg, Portrait of his grandson's wife, Renée, the Countess de Ganay, by

John Singer Sargent John Singer Sargent (; January 12, 1856 – April 15, 1925) was an American expatriate artist, considered the "leading portrait painter of his generation" for his evocations of Edwardian era, Edwardian-era luxury. He created roughly 900 oil ...

, 1885.

References