SOULT (Nicolas Jean de Dieu, 1769-1851, Napoleon I’s Marshal, Duke of Dalmatia)

Letter in French (with translation), signed ‘M[aréch]al Duc de Dalmatie’ as Minister of War to M. Bequet, Civil Commissary at Cherchel, Algeria, concerning a collection at Cherchel “of objects of art and archaeology worthy, in your opinion, of a place in the Louvre Museum, where, in accordance with the King’s wishes, the monuments collected in Algeria by Captain Delamare, and the mosaic of Koudiat-ati, have just been assembled”, telling him that he “has just given orders for a detailed catalogue... together with drawings of the principal items... this information... will be forwarded to the Algerian Academic Commission, in the light of whose proposals I will make my decision”, 2 sides 4to., with conjugate blank, Soult-berg, near St. Amans-la-bastide (Tarn), 17th August

Soult was commander-in-chief of the camp of Boulogne in 1803, preparing for the invasion of England, and one of the first Marshals of France in 1804. He is best known for the campaigns in the Peninsula against Wellington. On the first abdication of Napoleon, 11th April 1814, he declared himself a Royalist, and was Minister of War from December 1814 to March 1815. He subsequently declared for Napoleon again, being chief-of-staff at Waterloo, and, after a brief exile, for each change of government till his death during the Second Republic. He was twice Minister of War for Louis Philippe, 1830-1834 and again 1840-1845 in Guizot’s minstry.
The French occupied Cherchel, ancient Caesarea, in 1840, with its wealth of objects dating back to Phoenician and Egyptian times. Portable objects were removed to museums, including some of the finest statues found in Africa. However in the early days of the occupation, dressed stone, such as the theatre and hippodrome, was ruthlessly quarried for barracks and a new church. The Mosque of the Hundred Columns survived as a military hospital. Soult was no stranger to objets d’art, having ‘acquired’ old masters during his time in Spain, which fetched nearly 1½ million francs after his death.

Item Date:  1845

Stock No:  9951      £425

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