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etienne silhouette biography
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[Biography] [Gallery]
Lived: 1709 - 1767
Type: Silhouettes
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France
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Captain Robert Conig (painted on card)
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Silhouette took its name, from Louis XV.'s the miserly finance minister,
Etienne de Silhouette 1709-1767). Born at Limoges on July 8th,
he received as good an education as could then be obtained in a
provincial town, studying such books on finance and administration
as he could obtain. |
After traveling in Europe, he settled in London for a year to examine
the practice of English public economy; he then determined that one
day France should have the same sound financial system. On returning
to Paris, he translated some English works, which made his name known,
and, becoming attached to the household of Marshal Nivelles, was
appointed Secretary to the Duc d'Orleans, the son of the Regent,
who in a short time made him his Chancellor. |
Portrait of a Man 1791
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Portrait of a Private in an English Regiment
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At this time costly wars were depleting the treasury of France,
and ministers were rapidly succeeding each other as head of the
finance department of the State. Silhouette had always preached
economy, a most uncommon plank in the political platform of those
days of huge personal and State expenditure, Disgusted at the extremes
of the Grand Monarque and the Regency, a section of thinking men
gathered round Silhouette, seeing in him the controller who would
straighten out the finances of the State. A party headed by the
Prince de Conde opposed him, on the ground that he had committed
a crime by translating English books into French. |
Silhouette, however, possessed the powerful influence of Madame
de Pompadour, and was, through her, elected Controleur-General
in March 1757. It is said that he saved the treasury seventy-two
millions of francs before he had been in office twenty-four hours.
This is the more remarkable because many of his relations were
amongst those whose salaries he cut down. Economies next came in
the household expenditure of Louis XV, and it is owing to Silhouette's
policy that so many of the splendid masterpieces of the goldsmith's
and silversmith's art of that epoch found their way into the melting-pot.
Silhouette next proposed a novel system of banking. This led to the
unpopularity, which centrally brought about his downfall. He was
forced to resign after a term of office lasting eight months,
and on retiring he spent his time in regulating his estate on
economical lines, and in silhouette cutting at Brie sur Marne. |
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Portrait of a Woman (on plaster)
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