Antoine Crozat [SEP] date of death
Antoine Crozat
Antoine Crozat, marquis du Châtel (c. 1655 – 7 June 1738), French founder of an immense fortune, was the first proprietary owner of French Louisiana, from 1712 to 1717.
Born in Toulouse, France, the sons of modest merchants, he and his brother, Pierre, rose from obscurity to become two of the wealthiest merchants of France. By way of lending money to the government, Antoine was ennobled as the marquis du Châtel, a title he transmitted to his elder son Louis-
The painting was later in the collection of Pierre Crozat and reproduced as "Portrait de Comédien", an engraving by Nicolas de Larmessin in the "Recueil Crozat" (1729), where it is noted that the actor had been in the service of the Duke of Mantua. It is also mentioned in an inventory made after Crozat's death in 1740 and was inherited by Crozat's nephew, Louis-Antoine Crozat. It was described in a 1755 inventory as a portrait of a "Comédien la tête découverte, tenant un