- Ernest Grandidier
Ernest Grandidier (1833 –1912) was a French
industrialist ,naturalist andart collector .The Grandidier family was very wealthy and in 1857 Ernest Grandidier, with his brother Alfred (1836-1921) and tutor
Jules Janseen , went on a voyage to the Americas. LeavingParis they travelled toLiverpool , then to North America, travelling inCanada then crossing the United States toNew Orleans . After the five months M. Janssen fell ill and returned to France but the two brothers continued their journey going on to South America in 1858 and 1859. They went toBolivia andPeru , where they explored the mineral mining regions andInca sites,Chile and the passes between Santiago andBuenos Aires . They returned to France with extensive geological, zoological and botanical collections.Ernest published an account of their travels and collections in 1861 as "Voyages dans Amerique du Sud, Perou et Bolivie" (Paris, J. Claye for Michel Levy Freres).Ernest Grandidier was later appointed "Auditeur" at the
Conseil d'État . After 1870, he travelled toAsia andIndia and became a specialist ofChinese art . He donated a large portion of his collection of porcelains to theLouvre Museum in 1894 It is now in theGuimet Museum in Paris.He wrote "La Ceramique Chinoise, Porcelain Orientale" Paris Librairie De Firmin-Didto Et Cie (1894)and many articles on Chinese ceramics. He was a very keen photographer, taking pictures of all of his travels and the peoples he encountered.The Guimet holds his photographic archive.
References
Xavier Besse , 2001 "A passion for Chinese ceramics : The story of the Ernest Grandidier collection" or "Une passion pour la céramique chinoise : L'histoire de la collection Ernest Grandidier " Chinese department of the Musée Guimet, FRANCE ISSN 0030-5448
External links
* [http://www.guimet-grandidier.fr/html/4/index/index.htm] Biography in French, portrait.
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