Anne Claude de Caylus

Anne- Claude- Philippe de Thubières, de Grimoard, de Pestel, de Lévis, Comte de Caylus ( born October 31, 1692 in Paris, † September 5, 1765 in Paris) was a French antiquarian and collector.

Caylus came from the French nobility and began with a military career, but this ended 1714. Subsequently, he began to travel in Italy (1714 /15), in the wake of the French ambassador to Constantinople Opel and Asia Minor (1714 /15) and by the Netherlands and England (1722). He devoted himself to writing and literature, wrote gallant tales, was among circles interested in art, promoted artists and was a friend of the painter Jean -Antoine Watteau. He also worked as a talented engraver.

Since the 1730s, encouraged by his friendship with Pierre -Jean Mariette, Caylus developed an interest in the ancient world and began building up a collection of antiquities. He became one of the most outstanding art connoisseurs of his time. Since 1731 as an amateur member of the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture he stopped there numerous lectures on the art since the 16th century. Since 1742, he was also a member of the Royal Academy of Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, before which he usually kept about 50 lectures on ancient art. In 1755 he published his research on the encaustic painting of the ancient world.

Writings (selection )

• Recueil d' antiquités Egyptiennes, étrusques, grecques et romaines. 7 volumes. Desaint & Saillant, Paris 1752-1767 digitized.
• Michel Joseph Majault: Mémoire sur la peinture a l' encaustique et sur ​​la peinture à la cire. Pissot, Paris 1755 digitized. English translation: Johann Heinrich Muntz: Encaustic: or, Count Caylus 's method of painting in the manner of the ancients. London 1760 digitized.

• Histoire de Guillaume. Paris 1740.
• Oeuvres badines complettes, comte de Caylus you. 12 volumes. Visse, Amsterdam, Paris, 1787.
• Comte de Caylus, Contes. Édition critique par establish itself Julie Boch, Honoré Champion ( = Bibliothèque des Génies et des Fees Vol 12) Paris 2005.