Quatremère de Quincy, Antoine-ChrysoStome

Quatremère de Quincy, Antoine-Chryso , Stome noted French archeologist, aesthetician, art historian, writer on music, and political leader; b. Paris, Oct. 25, 1755; d. there, Dec. 28, 1849. He studied law, then took courses in art and history at the Collège de Louis-le-Grand. From 1776 he made visits to Italy, where he pursued his interest in archeology. He wrote on aesthetics and art in Paris (from 1786), his first important article on music, “De la nature des opéras bouffons italiens et de l’union de la comédie et de la musique dans ces poèmes” for the Mercure de France (March 1789). After the French Revolution, he became an advocate for artistic freedom and the inviolability of copyright protection. He was elected a deputy to the Legislative Assembly (1791), but was imprisoned for 2 years and came close to being executed during the Reign of Terror; was again spared from execution (1795). He then was named a member of the Council of the 500 (1797), a member of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres (1804), and a member of the Légion d’honneur (1808). He served as secretary of the Institut de France (from 1816), in which capacity he gave the funeral orations and wrote the biographical notices of the deceased members of the Académie.

Writings

(all publ. in Paris): Dissertation sur les opéras bouffons italiens (1789); Discours…sur la liberté des théâtres (1790); Rapport… sur les réclamations des directeurs de théâtres et la propriété des auteurs dramatiques (1792); Dissertation… sur le système imitatif des arts et le genre poétique (c. 1804); Institut royal de France-:…funérailles de Paisiello (1817), de M. de Monsigny (1818), de M. Méhul (1819), de M. Gossec (1829), de M. Catel (1820), and de M. Boieldieu (1834); De l’invention et de l’innovation dans les ouvrages des beaux-arts (c. 1828); Recueil des notices historiques lues dans les séances publiques de l’Académie royale des Beaux-arts a l’Institut (1834; notes on Paisiello, Monsigny, and Méhul publ. separately, see above); Suite du Recueil (1837; notices on Gossec, Catel, and Boieldieu publ. separately, see above).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire