Samuel-Jacques Bernard (19 May 1686 — 22 November 1753), comte de Coubert after the death of his father in 1739, was the son of the financier

Samuel Bernard Samuel Bernard may refer to: * Samuel Bernard (financier) (1651–1739), French noble and financier * Samuel Bernard (artist) (1615–1687), his father, French miniature painter and engraver * Samuel Bernard (Jamaica), speaker of the House of Assem ...

, a rich noble in France and his first wife, née (Anne)-Magdeleine Clergeau; he was superintendent of finance for Queen

Maria Leszczyńska Maria may refer to: People * Mary, mother of Jesus * Maria (given name), a popular given name in many languages Place names Extraterrestrial * 170 Maria, a Main belt S-type asteroid discovered in 1877 * Lunar maria (plural of ''mare''), large, ...

from 1725, a ''

maître des requêtes A Master of Requests () is a counsel of the French ''Conseil d'État'' (Council of State), a high-level judicial officer of administrative law in France. The office has existed in one form or another since the Middle Ages. The occupational titl ...

'', ''conseiller du roi'' and ''Grand Croix'' and Master of Ceremonies of the

Order of Saint-Louis The Royal and Military Order of Saint Louis () is a dynastic order of chivalry founded 5 April 1693 by King Louis XIV, named after Saint Louis (King Louis IX of France). It was intended as a reward for exceptional officers, notable as the fir ...

. In 1715 Bernard married Elisabeth-Olive-Louise Frot er, daughter of the marquis de La Coste-Messelière. At his father's death he inherited a fortune estimated at 33,000,000 ''livres''. His sensational bankruptcy in 1751, which involved

Voltaire François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778), known by his ''Pen name, nom de plume'' Voltaire (, ; ), was a French Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment writer, philosopher (''philosophe''), satirist, and historian. Famous for his wit ...

in a loss of 80,000 ''livres'' representing 8,000 ''livres'' of income, did not interrupt his career as a ''grand seigneur'', though the estate at his death remained deeply in debt. His richly furnished ''

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 ...

'' was designed by

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 built in 1741-45 at 46,

rue du Bac The Rue du Bac () is a street in the 7th arrondissement of Paris. The street, which is 1,150 m long, begins at the junction of the quais Quai Voltaire, Voltaire and Quai Anatole-France, Anatole-France and ends at the Rue de Sèvres. Rue du Bac ...

, backing onto the Paris. He filled it with works of art. For the dining-room, panelled in oak left its natural color (''à la capucine''),

Jean-Baptiste Oudry Jean-Baptiste Oudry (; 17 March 1686 – 30 April 1755) was a French Rococo painter, engraver, and tapestry designer. He is particularly well known for his naturalistic pictures of animals and his hunt pieces depicting game. His son, Jacques-Cha ...

painted in 1742 two large canvases with hunting dogs, which rank among Oudry's most splendid decorations. They now hang in the Palais Rohan in

Strasbourg Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est Regions of France, region of Geography of France, eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin Departmen ...

. The white-and-gold ''

boiserie Panelling (or paneling in the United States) is a millwork wall covering constructed from rigid or semi-rigid components. These are traditionally interlocking wood, but could be plastic or other materials. Panelling was developed in antiquity ...

s'' of the grand salon, with their

overdoor An "overdoor" (or "Supraporte" as in German, or "sopraporte" as in Italian) is a painting, bas-relief or decorative panel, generally in a horizontal format, that is set, typically within ornamental mouldings, over a door, or was originally intend ...

s of the

Four Continents Europeans in the 16th century divided the world into four continents: Africa, America, Asia, and Europe. Each of the four continents was seen to represent its quadrant of the world—Africa in the south, America in the west, Asia in the east, a ...

painted by four painters who were providing

tapestry cartoons Tapestry is a form of Textile arts, textile art which was traditionally Weaving, woven by hand on a loom. Normally it is used to create images rather than patterns. Tapestry is relatively fragile, and difficult to make, so most historical piece ...

for the looms at Aubusson:

Jacques Dumont le Romain Jacques Dumont called "le Romain" (10 May 1704 — 17 February 1781), was a French artist, who worked in painting, engraving and drawing. He was called "the Roman" from his youthful residence at Rome and to distinguish him from other artists named ...

Charles-Joseph Natoire Charles-Joseph Natoire (3 March 1700 – 23 August 1777) was a French painter in the Rococo manner, a pupil of François Lemoyne and director of the French Academy in Rome, 1751–1775. Considered during his lifetime the equal of François Bou ...

, Charles Restout and

Carle Van Loo Carle or Carlé is a surname. Notable people with the name include: *Andrea Cosima Carle, whose stage name is Maggie Mae (1960–2021), German singer * Barbara Carle (born 1958), French-American poet, critic, translator and Italianist * David Ca ...

, are now installed in the

Israel Museum The Israel Museum (, ''Muze'on Yisrael'', ) is an Art museum, art and archaeology museum in Jerusalem. It was established in 1965 as Israel's largest and foremost cultural institution, and one of the world's leading Encyclopedic museum, encyclopa ...

, Jerusalem. Books and manuscripts from his extensive library, dispersed at auction in 1754 and 1756, are recognizable from the arms surrounded by the collar of the Order of Saint-Louis and the motto ''Bellicae vitutis praemium'' stamped on their rich bindings.Ernest Coyecque, "Manuscrits du

Tribunal de Commerce In France, the ''tribunal de commerce'' (plural ''tribunaux de commerce'', literally "commercial courts") are the oldest courts in the French judicial organization. They were created at the end of the Middle Ages. The commercial court has jur ...

de la Seine", in ''Revue des bibliothèques'' 3 1893:98 and notes,

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bernard, Samuel Jacques French billionaires Converts to Roman Catholicism from Calvinism 1686 births 1753 deaths