Natalis Rondot
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Cyr-François-Natalis Rondot (23 March 1821 – 26 August 1900) was a French economist, art historian and numismatist. He was in charge of several official missions abroad, especially to Asia and Africa. He studied art and artists from the twelfth to the seventeenth century, including painters, glass painters, engravers, goldsmiths, medallists, ceramicists, bookbinders, and printers.[1]
The son of Cyr Rondot, a fabric merchant and then administrator at the Banque de France, Natalis Rondot attended university in Paris, then began an industrial career in Reims. In 1843, the Chamber of Commerce of Reims sent him as a delegate on a mission to negotiate trade treaties in China, and subsequently in India, Indochina, Malaysia and Africa. The mission lasted nearly three years. On his return, aged 25, he was made Knight of the Legion of Honour.[2] In 1847, he carried out a mission for the wool industry in Russia and Belgium.[3] Rondot was a representative of the Lyon Chamber of Commerce in Paris for 30 years.
Rondot actively contributed to the development of the silk industry in Lyon in the 1850s. He first worked with the firm of Desgrand father and son and in 1854 married Sophie Bizot, sister of Paul Desgrand's son-in-law. Rondot considered himself underpaid, and left the Desgrand company for rival companies, participating in the development of other firms in Lyon.
Rondot participated in the Universal Exhibition in London (1851), Paris (1855, 1867, 1878, 1889) and Vienna (1873). In 1864, he inaugurated the Musée d'Art et d'Industrie de Lyon, which later became the Musée des Tissus et des Arts décoratifs.
After his career as an industrialist, in 1869 he devoted himself to the study of art and artists, and wrote many books, articles and notices. He was a corresponding member of the Académie des Beaux-Arts, of the Academic Society of Sciences, Arts, Belles-Lettres, Agriculture and Industry of Saint-Quentin, of the Committee of Historical and Scientific Works, Commander of the Legion of Honor, and president of a Jury at the Universal Exhibition of Paris in 1889.[4][5]
