Michel-Celse-Roger de Bussy-Rabutin
Encyclopedia
Life
The second son of count Roger de Bussy-Rabutin, he was bishop of Luçon from 1723 until his death. He attended the salon of Madame de TencinClaudine Guérin de Tencin
Claudine Alexandrine Guérin de Tencin was a French salonist and author. She was the mother of Jean le Rond d'Alembert, philosophe and contributor to the Encyclopédie.- Early life :...
and was elected to the Académie française
Académie française
L'Académie française , also called the French Academy, is the pre-eminent French learned body on matters pertaining to the French language. The Académie was officially established in 1635 by Cardinal Richelieu, the chief minister to King Louis XIII. Suppressed in 1793 during the French Revolution,...
on 21 February 1732, without having written a single work, and was received into the Académie by Fontenelle the following 6 March. In 1735 he commissioned a portrait of himself from Hyacinthe Rigaud
Hyacinthe Rigaud
Hyacinthe Rigaud was a French baroque painter of Catalan origin whose career was based in Paris.He is renowned for his portrait paintings of Louis XIV, the royalty and nobility of Europe, and members of their courts and considered one of the most notable French portraitists of the classical period...
without knowing how he would pay for it - the artist's account books state "Monsieur the bishop of Lucon, Bussy Rabutin. Remains half finished.".