Alphonse de Cailleux, in full Alexandre Achille Alphonse de Cailleux[1] but numerous variations exist[2] (31 December 1788 – 24 May 1876) was a painter, connoisseur and arts administrator who became director of the Musée du Louvre and all the royal museums of France. Under the Bourbon Restoration. he was attached to the reconstituted royal household (maison du roi).

Alphonse de Cailleux
Born
Alexandre Achille Alphonse de Cailleux

(1788-12-31)31 December 1788
Died24 May 1876(1876-05-24) (aged 87)
NationalityFrench
OccupationMuseum Director
Awards Legion of Honour - Knight
Legion of Honour - Officer (1826)

Bibliography

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Early life

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Cailleux was born on 31 December 1788 in Rouen (Normandie, France).

Employment

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As secrétaire général des Musées royaux, he shared a carriage with Charles Nodier,[3] Jean Alaux and Victor Hugo at the coronation of Charles X in 1825. In 1836, he was appointed directeur adjoint at the Louvre, where he assisted the increasingly debilitated Louis Nicolas Philippe Auguste de Forbin. Upon Forbin's death he was appointed directeur général des beaux-arts, a precursor of the position of Minister of Fine Arts.

In 1845, he was elected a membre libre (not being an artist himself) of the Académie des Beaux-Arts of the Institut de France. As revolt erupted and Louis Philippe abdicated in February 1848, Cailleux, a confirmed royalist, resigned his posts.

Death

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On 24 May 1876, Cailleux died in Paris (Île-de-France, France).

Awards

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He was a Knight of the Legion of Honour, but was promoted to Officer by decree on 17 May 1826.[1] His portrait,[4] attributed to Georges Rouget, is at the Musée de Versailles.[5][6]

Notes

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  1. ^ a b "Cailleux de, Alexandre Achille Alphonse". National Archives - Léonore Database (in French). France. 24 May 1876. p. 1 & 2. Archived from the original on 9 August 2021. Retrieved 30 July 2021. Alt URL
  2. ^ "Union List of Artists' Nsme - Online Full Record Display". Getty Center. Archived from the original on 2 January 2021. Retrieved 9 August 2021.
  3. ^ With Nodier and Baron Isidore-Juste-Séverin Taylor he collaborated that same year, writing the section on Normandy in Taylor's Voyages pittoresques et romantiques dans l'ancienne France (Paris: Firmin Didot) 1825. Ingres mentioned it when he sent a letter of recommendation to introduce Cailleux to his patron Jacques-Louis Leblanc at Florence, 16 March 1825 (Hans Naef and Claus Virch, "Ingres to M. Leblanc: An Unpublished Letter" The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin New Series, 29.4 [December 1970], pp. 178-184).
  4. ^ Under the name Achille Alexandre Alphonse, vicomte de Cailleux
  5. ^ "Achille Alexandre Alphonse, vicomte de Cailleux (1788-1876), Directeur des Musées Royaux". Louvre (in French). Archived from the original on 9 August 2021. Retrieved 9 August 2021.
  6. ^ "Joconde - Portail des Collections des Musées de France" [Mona Lisa - Portal of the Collections of the Museums of France]. Minister of Culture (in French). Archived from the original on 26 March 2016. Retrieved 9 August 2021. Alt URL