| Surname | Le Fort | ||
| First Name | Jacques | ||
| Gender | male | ||
| Place of birth | Geneva | ||
| Place of death | Geneva | ||
| Year of birth | 1757 | ||
| Year of death | 1826 | ||
| Profession | Lawyer, professor, judge, public official | ||
| Religion | Protestant | ||
| Place(s) of activity | Geneva | ||
| Century | 18 | ||
| Biographical information | Son of Abraham and Louise Auriol. In 1784 he married Louise-Gabrielle, daughter of the banker Jean-Louis de Tourne. Jean-Louis Le Fort was born of their union in 1786. Four years later he married his second wife, Antoinette-Marie-Jeanne (daughter of Gideon Mallet, a doctor). He studied law in Geneva and had become a lawyer in 1779. He also held a number of official positions: Professor of Law at the Academy of Geneva; Judge at the Court of Justice and Civil Court of the department of Leman; President of the Criminal Court; and President of the Geneva Court of First Instance. He also became a member of the Grand Council and took office as State Councilor. | ||
| Title | Voyages en France et en Italie et à Chamonix | ||
| Genre / Art |
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| Additional genre details | |||
| Period writen | October 1788 - January 1789 | ||
| Period covered | 2 October 1788 - 27 January 1789 | ||
| Format / Language | Manuscript, French, copy | ||
| Physical description | Cardboard A: 48 thin notebooks, without cover, 484 leaflets. Carton B: 29 thin notebooks, without cover, 290 leaflets |
| Content |
The writer documents his journey. Accompanied by his servant Gabriel, he usually stops no more than a day in each city (except in Genoa and Rome) and spends the night at either a hostel or with acquaintances. He describes landscapes, towns and architecture. Sometimes he also makes a note of weather conditions. The manuscript contains information about anything that attracts the author's attention (monuments, ruins, works of art etc.) The writer visits Chambéry, Orange, Avignon, Nîmes, Montpellier, Agde, Marseille (for its soap factories), Toulon and Nice. On the way to Genoa he stops in Monaco. He then discovers the Italian cities of Parma, Modena and Rome (where he spends several weeks). His descriptions extend to numerous works of art. These include paintings of the Renaissance and antique sculpture. In both Agde and Rome he shows great interest in their cabinets of curiosities; especially some pieces of dried lava, about which he writes several pages. |
| Place of deposit | BGE |
| Classification | Ms. fr. 1613 A et B |
| Document | |
| Transcription | |
| Restrictions | |
| Edition(s) | |
| Secondary litterature |
Jean-Daniel Candaux, "Lalande et Dupaty en mains : Le voyage en Italie du Genevois Jacques Le Fort", dans Dupaty et l'Italie des voyageurs sensibles. Etudes réunies par Jan Herman, Kris Peeters et Paul Pelckmans, Amsterdam; New York, 2012. |
| Other sources | |
| Related documents | |
| Author | FF |
