Portrait Of Talleyrand

Charles Maurice de Talleyrand Périgord, (1754-1838) nicknamed the Lame Devil said "I bring bad luck to governments that neglect me". Fascinating, this great aristocrat from one of the oldest families of the French nobility experienced the splendor of the Ancien Régime, the horrors of the Revolution, the advent of Napoleon I, until the Restoration. In 1830, appointed Ambassador Extraordinary, he went to London and remained in office until 1834. This portrait, in ink, from life, dates from this period. It was made by Count Alfred Grimaud d'Orsay (1801-1852), from an illustrious family, nicknamed the Dandy, his talents as a painter and sculptor earned him the appointment of Director of the Ecole des Beaux Arts by Napoleon III. Talleyrand died in Paris on May 17, 1838 in his hotel in St Florentin where, with the supreme honor, King Louis Philippe visited him in defiance of etiquette.