Bernard du Bus de Gisignies
Bernard Aimé Léonard du Bus de Gisignies was a Dutch nobleman and later on a Belgian politician. He was a collector of arts, books, an ornithologist and paleontologist.
Biography
De Gisignies was born in Tournai the second son of Leonard [Pierre Joseph du Bus de Gisignies]. He studied law at the State University of Louvain, but soon became more interested in ornithology. In 1835 he presented a manuscript to the The Royal Academies for Science and [the Arts of Belgium|Royal Academy of Belgium] in which described the bird Leptorhynchus pectoralis. He became a member of parliament for Soignies in 1835 and senator for Diksmuide from 1867 to 1874.De Gisignies became the first director of the Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences">Belgium">Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences in 1846. On this occasion he donated 2474 birds from his own collection to the museum. In 1860, during the construction of new fortifications around Antwerp he became involved in paleontology. The fossils found were mainly of whales. He also obtained skeletons of a bowhead whale and a young blue whale, which are still on display in the museum. In 1860 the skeleton of a mammoth was found near Lier and brought to the museum. At that time the only other skeleton of a mammoth on display was in the museum of Saint Petersburg. He described several species of bird including Crithagra canicapilla, Peucedramus taeniatus, Discosura popelairii, and Spinus xanthogastrus.
In 1867 he became the director of the science section of the Royal Academy of Belgium. He was a collector of fine arts and book. He had 94 works by Flemish and Dutch artists from the 17th century. Many of these were acquired by the museum of fine arts of Belgium after his death.
He married Petronilla Truyts on 19 May 1845 at in Sint-Joost-ten-Node, together they had two children; Viscount Bernard Daniel and Viscount Chretien. The marriage was objected to by his father as Petronilla did not come from nobility and he refused to attend the wedding ceremony. De Gisignies died at Ems and was embalmed and buried at Oostmalle.