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an old photo of a man in a coat and hatan old black and white photo of a piece of paper with writing on it
Balsan Encheres

747 - AUVERGNE / RIOM / DORAT / LITERATURE – PROSPER de BARANTE (*…
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Estimate €40
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Description
AUVERGNE / RIOM / DORAT / LITERATURE – PROSPER de BARANTE (*). PHOTOGRAPH, circa 1850–1855, by DISDERI, photographer to His Majesty the Emperor. Albumen bromide mounted on card, visiting-card size 9.9 x 6.2 cm. ( * ) Amable, Guillaume, Prosper, Brugière, Baron de Barante. Born in RIOM on 10 June 1782, died at the Château de Barante in Dorat on 21 November 1866 – Historian, writer, diplomat, politician. Admitted to the École Polytechnique in 1798. Began his career in 1800 at the prefecture of Carcassonne. In 1806, he became an auditor at the Council of State and an extraordinary envoy to Spain, then a special representative in Warsaw. He also contributed to the newspapers *Le Publiciste* and *La Décade philosophique*, as well as assisting with the drafting of the memoirs of the Marquise de la Rochejacquelein, which recounted her experiences of the Wars of the Vendée. He served as sub-prefect in Bressuire in 1807 and as prefect of the Vendée in 1809 – on 2 April 1810, in his capacity as prefect, he attended the second marriage of Napoleon I. In the same year, he published his work *Tableau de la littérature française au XVIIIe siècle*; in 1813, he became Prefect of the Lower Loire. Under Louis XVIII, he served as a Councillor of State and Secretary-General of the Ministry of the Interior. He was elected Member of Parliament for the Lower Loire and Puy-de-Dôme in 1815. Elevated to the hereditary title of Peer of France in 1819 – he published his “History of the Dukes of Burgundy of the House of Valois” in 13 volumes – in 1828 he was elected to the 33rd seat of the Académie Française. Ambassador to Denmark in 1820. Ambassador to Turin in 1830. Ambassador to St Petersburg in 1835. President of the Geographical Society in the same year. He spent his final days at his château in Barante, surrounded by mementos of his friends Germaine de Staël and Juliette Récamier, his collections of rare furniture, and his remarkable library of 60,000 volumes; there he would entertain his friends Chateaubriand, Lamartine, Guizot, Cousin, Thiers, the Duke of Broglie… Together with his wife, he devoted himself to charitable works to improve the lot of the inhabitants of the cutlery-making town of Thiers, founding the ‘mutual aid society’ there in 1853.
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About the sale SALE OF COINS, BANKNOTES, MEDALS, CIVILIAN AND MILITARY HEADGEAR, INSIGNIA AND DECORATIONS – lots 300 to 598 Followed by OLD PAPERS, PHOTOGRAPHS, POSTCARDS, DOCUMENTS AND MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS – Lots 599 to 862
Auction location
Auction time 10/20/2026 at 2:00 PM
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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