Les mystérieuses antiquités de Prosper Biardot (1805–1873)

Somewhere between an antiquarian keen on Neapolitan archaeology and an impostor, Prosper Biardot cut a paradoxical figure in many ways: his collection comprised particularly interesting terracottas from Magna Graecia and, for some of them, one of the first hypogea excavated in Canosa, Puglia, known...

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Main Author: Angélique Allaire
Format: Article
Language:fra
Published: École du Louvre 2019-12-01
Series:Les Cahiers de l'École du Louvre
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Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/cel/5328
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author Angélique Allaire
author_facet Angélique Allaire
author_sort Angélique Allaire
collection DOAJ
description Somewhere between an antiquarian keen on Neapolitan archaeology and an impostor, Prosper Biardot cut a paradoxical figure in many ways: his collection comprised particularly interesting terracottas from Magna Graecia and, for some of them, one of the first hypogea excavated in Canosa, Puglia, known as Lagrasta I. He made a not terribly flattering reputation for himself in French archaeological circles because of his inconsistent purchases in the domain of gold- and silverwork and his ideas, which found an echo abroad, particularly in Germany, and especially Switzerland in the thinking of philologist Johann Jakob Bachofen. His publications contain contrasting ideas fluctuating between very innovative positions on restorations and now outdated theories on the symbolism of the terracottas, which were part of the trends of the times. His album of chromolithographic plates is, on the other hand, one of the rare illustrated accounts of this type of work and for this reason regularly cited in the historiography of the discipline. It is the career and the identity of this ambiguous personally of nineteenth-century collecting, the contemporary of Marquis Campana, that this article sets out to illuminate while the analysis of the sources of his books allow us to understand better his work.
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spelling doaj-art-21140945c9a04a7392f1fd2927706e532025-01-30T14:00:16ZfraÉcole du LouvreLes Cahiers de l'École du Louvre2262-208X2019-12-011410.4000/cel.5328Les mystérieuses antiquités de Prosper Biardot (1805–1873)Angélique AllaireSomewhere between an antiquarian keen on Neapolitan archaeology and an impostor, Prosper Biardot cut a paradoxical figure in many ways: his collection comprised particularly interesting terracottas from Magna Graecia and, for some of them, one of the first hypogea excavated in Canosa, Puglia, known as Lagrasta I. He made a not terribly flattering reputation for himself in French archaeological circles because of his inconsistent purchases in the domain of gold- and silverwork and his ideas, which found an echo abroad, particularly in Germany, and especially Switzerland in the thinking of philologist Johann Jakob Bachofen. His publications contain contrasting ideas fluctuating between very innovative positions on restorations and now outdated theories on the symbolism of the terracottas, which were part of the trends of the times. His album of chromolithographic plates is, on the other hand, one of the rare illustrated accounts of this type of work and for this reason regularly cited in the historiography of the discipline. It is the career and the identity of this ambiguous personally of nineteenth-century collecting, the contemporary of Marquis Campana, that this article sets out to illuminate while the analysis of the sources of his books allow us to understand better his work.https://journals.openedition.org/cel/5328nineteenth centuryBiardotterracottaNaplescollectorarchaeology
spellingShingle Angélique Allaire
Les mystérieuses antiquités de Prosper Biardot (1805–1873)
Les Cahiers de l'École du Louvre
nineteenth century
Biardot
terracotta
Naples
collector
archaeology
title Les mystérieuses antiquités de Prosper Biardot (1805–1873)
title_full Les mystérieuses antiquités de Prosper Biardot (1805–1873)
title_fullStr Les mystérieuses antiquités de Prosper Biardot (1805–1873)
title_full_unstemmed Les mystérieuses antiquités de Prosper Biardot (1805–1873)
title_short Les mystérieuses antiquités de Prosper Biardot (1805–1873)
title_sort les mysterieuses antiquites de prosper biardot 1805 1873
topic nineteenth century
Biardot
terracotta
Naples
collector
archaeology
url https://journals.openedition.org/cel/5328
work_keys_str_mv AT angeliqueallaire lesmysterieusesantiquitesdeprosperbiardot18051873