Jean-Baptiste-Louis Gros
Baron Gros in 1858
French senator
Baron Gros
In office
September 1858 – 1870
Personal details
Born8 February 1793
Ivry-sur-Seine
Died17 August 1870
Paris
NationalityFrench
Awards
Military service
Battles/warsSecond Opium War

Jean-Baptiste-Louis Gros (1793–1870), also known as Baron Gros, was a French diplomat and later senator, as well as a notable pioneer of photography.[1]

Life and career

He entered the French diplomatic service in 1823 and was given the title of baron in 1829 during the Bourbon Restoration. He was despatched to Bogotá (1838–1842) as chargé d'affaires during the Colombian Civil War, and later elsewhere in Latin America, before being recalled to Europe and then sent as Minister Plenipotentiary to Athens in 1850.

He served as Ambassador to London (1852–1863), travelling extensively, including to China and Japan in 1857 and 1858. He was minister-in-command of French troops during the Anglo-French expedition to China (1856-1860). On 9 October 1858, the Treaty of Amity and Commerce between France and Japan was concluded at Edo, to which he was a signatory; this treaty established diplomatic relations between the two imperial nations.[2]

In September 1858, he was named to the French Senate, where he served until his death in 1870.[3]

He produced many famous photographs — chief among them those of the Acropolis in Greece. While he is best known for his daguerrotypes, he painted a few Latin American landscape paintings which are quite striking for their realism. Baron Gros, a member of The Photographic Society, also photographed The Great Exhibition of 1851 in London.[4]

Honours

Baron (1829)
Knight, Order of Santiago (1839)
Grand-croix, Légion d'honneur (1861)

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ www.senat.fr
  2. ↑ Dr Christian Polak: Soie et lumières: L'âge d'or des échanges franco-japonais (des origines aux années 1950). Tokyo: Chambre de Commerce et d'Industrie Française du Japon Hachette, (2001); 絹と光: 知られざる日仏交流100年の歴史 (江戶時代-1950年代) Kinu to hikariō: shirarezaru Nichi-Futsu kōryū 100-nen no rekishi (Edo jidai-1950-nendai). Tokyo: Ashetto Fujin Gahōsha (2002)
  3. ↑ www.napoleon.org
  4. ↑ www.bnf.fr

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