Jean-Baptiste Boisot
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Jean-Baptiste Boisot | |
|---|---|
 Portrait of Abbé Jean-Baptiste Boisot, 1676, oil on canvas by Cesare Fiori, Museum of Fine Arts and Archeology. | |
| Born | July 1638 |
| Died | 4 December 1694 (aged 56) |
| Occupation | Abbot |
Jean-Baptiste Boisot (July 1638 – 4 December 1694) was a French Benedictine Abbot, bibliophile, and scholar. He founded the first French museum on his death in 1694 when he bequeathed his personal collection of artwork and manuscripts to the Benedictine monks of Saint-Vincent, Besançon. This collection became the Besançon Municipal Library.
Jean-Baptiste Boisot was the third son of Claude Boisot II, a merchant banker who was governor of the imperial city of Besançon from 1652 to 1658. At the end of the sixteenth century, the Boisot family was ennobled, then attained high-ranking church positions with the help of François-Michel le Tellier, Marquis de Louvois.[1][verification needed]
Boisot was thirteen years old when he left his hometown to study civil and canon law in Dole.[2]: p79
Travels
Boisot was sent on a mission to Milan, Northern Italy, to the Marquis of Mortar, then governor of Milan, to negotiate with him sending reinforcements.[3][verification needed] Meanwhile, the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle was signed, and the king restored the Franche-Comté. It is for this reason that Boisot exiled himself and left Savoy in 1673 and Italy in 1674. He remained in Spain, preferring to stay in Madrid, studying at the Escorial Library until 1678. During these travels he collected a great number of paintings, medals, bronzes, and of other fine art.[2][4]
The Abbey of Saint-Vincent
Louis XIV made him abbot of the Benedictine Abbey of Saint-Vincent Besançon on his return.[2]: p79
Death
Boisot died on 4 December 1694, at the age of fifty-six, at his abbey. He bequeathed to his hometown of Besançon its most valuable asset, its library.[5]
