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DENON, DOMINIQUE VIVANT, BARON DE (17...

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Originally appearing in Volume V08, Page 45 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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DENON, DOMINIQUE VIVANT, See also:BARON DE (1747—1825) , See also:French artist and archaeologist, was See also:born at Chalon-sur-See also:Saone on the 4th of See also:January 1747. He was sent to See also:Paris to study See also:law, but he showed a decided preference for See also:art and literature, and soon gave up his profession. In his twenty-third See also:year he produced a See also:comedy, Le Bon Pere, which obtained a succes d'estime, as he had already wan a position in society by his agreeable See also:manners and exceptional teooversatiorlal See also:powers. He became a favourite of See also:Louis XV., who entrusted him with the collection and arrangement of a See also:cabinet of medals and See also:antique gems for Madame de See also:Pompadour, and subsequently appointed him attache to the French See also:embassy at St See also:Petersburg. On the See also:accession of Louis XVI. Denon was transferred to See also:Sweden; but he returned, after a brief See also:interval, to Paris with the See also:ambassador M. de See also:Vergennes, who had been appointed See also:foreign See also:minister. In 1775 Denon was sent on a See also:special See also:mission to See also:Switzerland; and took the opportunity of visiting See also:Voltaire at Ferney. He made a portrait of the philosopher, which was engraved and published on his return to Paris. His next See also:diplomatic See also:appointment was to See also:Naples, where he spent seven years, first as secretary to the embassy and after-wards as See also:charge d'affaires. He devoted this See also:period to a careful study of the monuments of See also:ancient art, See also:collecting many specimens and making drawings of others. He also perfected himself in See also:etching and mezzotitito See also:engraving. The See also:death of his See also:patron, M. de Vergennes, in 1787, led to his recall, and the See also:rest of his See also:life was given mainly to See also:artistic pursuits.

On his return to Paris he was admitted a member of the See also:

Academy of See also:Painting. After a brief interval he returned to See also:Italy, living chiefly at See also:Venice. He also visited See also:Florence artd See also:Bologna, and afterwards went to Switzerland. While there he heard that his See also:property had been confiscated, and his name placed on the See also:list of the proscribed, and with characteristic courage he resolved at once to return to Paris. His situation was See also:critical, but he was spared, thanks to the friendship of the painter See also:David, who obtained for him a See also:commission to furnish designs for republican costumes. When the Revolution was over, Denon was one of the See also:band of eminent men who frequented the See also:house of Madame de See also:Beauharnais. Here he met See also:Bonaparte, to whose fortunes he wisely attached himself. At Bonaparte's invitation he joined the expedition to See also:Egypt, and thus found the opportunity of gathering the materials for his most important See also:literary and artistic See also:work. He accompanied See also:General Desaix to Upper Egypt, and made numerous sketches of the monuments of ancient art, sometimes under the very See also:fire of the enemy. The results were published in his Voyage clans la basse et la haute Egypte (2 vols. fol., with 141 plates, Paris, 18o2), a work which crowned his reputation both as an archaeologist and as an artist. In 1804 he was appointed by See also:Napoleon to the important See also:office of director-general of museums, which he filled until the restoration in 1815, when he had to retire. He was a devoted friend of Napoleon, whom he accompanied in his expeditions to See also:Austria, See also:Spain and See also:Poland, taking sketches with his wonted fearlessness on the various battlefields, and advising the conqueror in his choice of spoils of art from the various cities pillaged.

After his retirement he began an illustrated See also:

history of ancient and See also:modern art, in which he had the co-operation of several skilful engravers. He died at Paris on the 27th of See also:April 1825, leaving the work unfinished. It was published posthumously, with an explanatory See also:text by Amaury See also:Duval, under the See also:title Monuments See also:des arts du dessin chez See also:les peuples See also:tent anciens que modernes, recueillis See also:par Vivant Denon (4 vols. fol., Paris, 1829). Denon was the author of a novel, Point de lendemain (1777), of which further See also:editions were printed in 1812, 1876 and 1879. See J. See also:Renouvier, Histoire de l'art See also:pendant la Revolution ; A. de la Fizeliere, L'fEuvre originale de Vivant-Denon (2 vols., Paris, 1872—'873) ; See also:Roger Portallis, Les Dessinateurs d'illustrations au X VIII siecle; D. H. Beraldi, Les Graveurs d'illustrations au X VIII siecle.

End of Article: DENON, DOMINIQUE VIVANT, BARON DE (1747—1825)

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