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

Valenciennes Valenciennes (, also , , ; ; or ; ) is a communes of France, commune in the Nord (French department), Nord Departments of France, department, Hauts-de-France, France. It lies on the Scheldt () river. Although the city and region experienced ...

13 August 1787), was a French ambassador to

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

, the

Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, also referred to as Poland–Lithuania or the First Polish Republic (), was a federation, federative real union between the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania ...

, the

Republic of Venice The Republic of Venice, officially the Most Serene Republic of Venice and traditionally known as La Serenissima, was a sovereign state and Maritime republics, maritime republic with its capital in Venice. Founded, according to tradition, in 697 ...

and to the

Holy See The Holy See (, ; ), also called the See of Rome, the Petrine See or the Apostolic See, is the central governing body of the Catholic Church and Vatican City. It encompasses the office of the pope as the Bishops in the Catholic Church, bishop ...

, 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 Under the French Ancien Régime, a ''parlement'' () was a provincial appellate court of the Kingdom of France. In 1789, France had 13 ''parlements'', the original and most important of which was the ''Parlement'' of Paris. Though both th ...

'' (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 (), 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 reached maturity (then defi ...

and appointed governor of the Château de Vincennes in 1754. In addition to Switzerland, he served as French ambassador to

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

and to the

. He followed his uncle as war minister when the latter was forced from office by the influence of Madame de Pompadour in 1757. The outbreak of the

Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War, 1756 to 1763, was a Great Power conflict fought primarily in Europe, with significant subsidiary campaigns in North America and South Asia. The protagonists were Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and Kingdom of Prus ...

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 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 ...

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 The Northern Renaissance was the Renaissance that occurred in Europe north of the Alps, developing later than the Italian Renaissance, and in most respects only beginning in the last years of the 15th century. It took different forms in the vari ...

masters. In the decade 1748–58 he appears repeatedly in the daybook of the '' marchand-mercier'' Lazare Duvaux, often purchasing Chinese

celadon Celadon () is a term for pottery denoting both wares ceramic glaze, glazed in the jade green Shades of green#Celadon, celadon color, also known as greenware or "green ware" (the term specialists now tend to use), and a type of transparent glaze, ...

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. 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 The count of Artois (, ) was the ruler over the County of Artois from the 9th century until the abolition of the countship by the French Revolution, French revolutionaries in 1790. House of Artois *Odalric () *Altmar () *Adelelm (?–932) *''C ...

, 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 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. His collection of publications from the German-speaking area was supplied by the Strasbourg publishing house Bauer, Treuttel and Würtz. He was elected to the

Académie française An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

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 Expatriates in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth