Pierre Beaumesnil

Pierre Beaumesnil was a French traveler, impresario, draftsman, and collector. Described by as a "antiquarian actor," he was known for his drawings and descriptive works depicting monuments and archaeological remains from the Limousin, Aquitaine, and other regions of France. His approach reflected a pre-Romantic sensibility rather than a strictly scientific one.
Beaumesnil's artistic depictions, some of which remain unique visual and textual records still examined in historiography and archaeology, have been noted for their limited reliability. These works are now dispersed, poorly catalogued, and largely unpublished. While portions were compiled into collections at the end of the eighteenth century and occasionally reproduced, a significant part of Beaumesnil's drawings and notes has been lost or is presumed missing from the collections and archives intended to preserve them.

Biography

According to Michaud, Pierre Beaumesnil was born into a modest family in central France, possibly in Paris around 1707 or 1718, though other sources propose dates such as 1715 or 1723. His birthplace may have been the parish of Saint-Jacques-la-Boucherie. Louis Guibert notes that Beaumesnil received strong artistic and drawing training but limited literary education, suggesting he did not come from a wealthy background. His work reflects an imperfect yet genuine knowledge of Latin epigraphy and ancient Greek, as well as an unusual interest in archaeology and history for his period, particularly if he was self-taught.
Around 1746, Beaumesnil joined a troupe of provincial actors. According to Allou, he explained to his acquaintances—Martial de Lépine, subdelegate of the intendant of Limoges and permanent secretary of the city's Agricultural Society; the abbé Joseph Nadaud; and Dom Col —that this decision reflected his interest in travel and archaeological exploration. Louis Guibert later suggested, with some irony, that Beaumesnil had instead followed his wife on tour and adopted the itinerant lifestyle characteristic of the protagonists in.
Beaumesnil traveled through several French provinces, including Limousin, Berri, Angoumois, and Agenais, where he produced pen drawings of monuments accompanied by personal notes. According to Guibert, he may also have traveled to Italy in his youth and possibly to Egypt.
From 1747 to 1775, his primary occupation was itinerant theater, after which he settled permanently in Limoges. Guibert suggests that he acted as the company's impresario. His wife, Aimée Gouslin, also recorded as Irenée Garlin in her death certificate, was an actress who often performed leading roles. Both reportedly received the highest share of the troupe's income in its later years.
Beaumesnil's drawing plates and texts were primarily created to fulfill commissions for "artist’s views" from antiquarians, who appreciated them for their depictions of monuments, even if they contained idealized elements. Retrospectively, François Michel noted in 1993 that "his idealized vision of the Tower of Vesunna seems less absurd than the reconstructions imagined by the abbé Audierne of the oppidum of La Curade." In recognition of his work, Marius-Jean-Baptiste-Nicolas Daine, the intendant of Limousin, secured for Beaumesnil the title of correspondent of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres in 1780, accompanied by a pension of 1,500 livres, including 500 livres allocated for travel expenses. Pérouse de Montclos notes that Beaumesnil submitted reports to the Academy from 1779 to 1784.
Pierre Beaumesnil died on March 27, 1787, in Limoges and was buried in the cemetery of the Black Penitents of Saint-Michel-de-Pistorie. Accounts of his age at death vary: the abbé Legros, who knew him, reported 64 years; Guibert, based on the death record, reported 69; Martin, also an acquaintance, reported 72; and other sources cited by Espérandieu, including Tripon, suggested 80, though this figure is uncertain.

Fragmentary knowledge of a dispersed or lost work

State and location of the archives and drawings

The known manuscripts, drawings, and archives of Pierre Beaumesnil—whose provenance is often uncertain—as well as copies made by Tersan, Allou, and Tripon, are primarily held at the Bibliothèque nationale de France in the Department of Manuscripts or the Prints Cabinet, and in various scholarly societies, libraries, and departmental archives in Poitiers, Limoges, Périgueux, Agen, Aix, Bordeaux, and at the Institut. In 1900, Louis Guibert compiled an inventory of the manuscripts and copies relating to Limoges that were known to exist; however, by that time, much of Beaumesnil's work and documentation were already untraceable or no longer accessible.
According to known authors and documents, Beaumesnil's sheets and collections mainly originate from several sources:

A donation, exchange, or sale—possibly following a commission—to an antiquarian, scholar, or one of his patrons, sometimes to a civil or religious institution, of an original or a duplicate made by Beaumesnil himself.
The collections sent to the Academy from 1779 to 1784, and those sent before he was appointed a correspondent.
The Beaumesnil estate.
Copies were made by scholars and engravers who consulted his works over the centuries.
The collection of the abbé de Tersan, of unknown—probably mixed—origin, was partially acquired by Alexandre Lenoir.
The collection of Taillefer, also of unknown provenance, was partially acquired by the abbé Audierne.

Beaumesnil's notebooks have at times been altered or disappeared from their repositories, and no comprehensive inventory of his works and archives has been conducted since 1900. The surviving materials are generally considered incomplete, and some notes or sections may have been removed. Likely, certain sheets or collections dispersed since the late eighteenth century are now held in private collections or in archival holdings that remain unlisted or unidentified.

The loss of the collections sent to the Academy

Despite some criticisms of Beaumesnil's work, the images and texts he compiled, prepared, and sent through the to the Institut de France constitute a notable collection, providing a distinctive record of eighteenth-century perceptions of heritage, much of which has been lost.
No comprehensive inventory exists of the materials he sent as the Academy's correspondent between 1779 and 1784, although it is known that additional notebooks were submitted in earlier years, possibly in response to specific commissions.

A large portion of Beaumesnil's collection

After 1787, the abbé Legros, historian of the diocese of Limoges, noted that the collections Beaumesnil sent to the Academy represented a significant portion of his broader compilation of copies of ancient works. Having consulted the materials at Beaumesnil's residence, Legros was likely well acquainted with their contents.
In 1789, the abbé Lespine reported that at least one of Beaumesnil's collections—possibly all—was held in the Academy's depository at the Louvre under the care of the permanent secretary, Dacier. Minister Henri Bertin was aware of these collections and had commissioned a project from Beaumesnil. Lespine also noted that he had traveled to Limoges before Beaumesnil's death to consult his sketches.
In 1812, Paul Esprit Marie Joseph Martin, later secretary of the Agricultural, Scientific and Artistic Society of the Department of Haute-Vienne, wrote that Beaumesnil had traveled extensively and drawn various monuments in France. He also copied drawings of ancient monuments preserved by the Feuillants community, many of which existed only as faint traces. Martin identified Beaumesnil, along with de Lépine and Legros, as a principal contributor to the collection of materials intended for the history of the Limousin. He further described Beaumesnil as a draftsman for the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, salaried on the recommendation of Intendant Marius-Jean-Baptiste-Nicolas Daine, after providing drawings and manuscripts to Minister Bertin.
By 1818, all the volumes delivered to the library of the Académie des belles-lettres by Beaumesnil were reportedly held in the boxes of the Mazarine Library, and none of the manuscripts were considered lost at that time. Millin, a member of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres since 1804, and Chaudruc, who later became a correspondent of the same academy in 1837, documented this status.
According to Guibert, in addition to the references noted by Millin, several communications of drawings and reports sent to the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres were mentioned by Legros, Duroux, Allou, and Juge de Saint-Martin. Chevallier also reported that the Institut held, for Limoges and the Limousin region, seven notebooks, in addition to collections relating to other regions and cities.

Symptomatic case of the remains of the Bishop's palace of Limoges

Around 1759, Beaumesnil visited Limoges and drew the remains uncovered during the demolition of the, which had begun in 1757. According to de Lépine, these remains included inscriptions of ancient origin for the region, Doric capitals and column bases, and fragments of cornices, including one decorated with a dolphin in bas-relief. Guibert also noted the presence of monuments featuring priapic emblems. Duroux stated that Beaumesnil sent copies of his drawings to the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres at that time. The remains were later either destroyed at the request of the Bishop of Limoges,, or incorporated into the foundations of the new palace.
Allou described Beaumesnil as "one of the most zealous correspondents" of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres. He noted that a particular work, which was never published, appears not to have reached its intended destination, and its fate is uncertain, although some sources indicate that Beaumesnil's manuscripts were deposited in the Mazarine Library.
Beaumesnil's drawings of the remains of the Bishop's Palace were later viewed with suspicion, with some critics questioning their authenticity and objecting to their erotic content, including the abbé Legros, who may not have visited the site. The disappearance of the inscriptions and sculptures contributed to ongoing debate and limited interest in Beaumesnil's work by Millin, despite Millin’s extensive consultation of the materials and his positions as conservator and professor of archaeology, later, and member of the National Institute from 1804. In contrast, the abbé Martial de Lépine, a witness to the remains and later Beaumesnil's legatee, and Minister Bertin, an antiquities connoisseur and possible recipient of Beaumesnil's initial dispatches after 1759, did not question the authenticity of the materials.

Rediscovered notebooks on the antiquities of Périgueux

In 1932,, with the assistance of François Renié, secretary of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, discovered the notebook produced during Beaumesnil's third trip to Périgueux in 1784, which had been sent shortly afterward. During the same research, Blanchet also examined notebooks from 1763 and 1772, preserved in the archives of the AIBL and received in 1780.
These two collections remain the only ones from Beaumesnil's work known to be held at the Institut. Additionally, a copy by the abbé Lespine, held in the Manuscripts Department of the Bibliothèque nationale de France, and a probable duplicate by Beaumesnil himself, preserved in Taillefer's collection at Périgueux, have been identified as corresponding to the 1763–1772 notebook on the antiquities of Périgueux.

Various losses of the Beaumesnil Estate

Guibert reported that the archives of the Beaumesnil estate, including papers, notes, sketches, drawings, and engravings not yet distributed by Beaumesnil, were successively inherited by Mme Beaumesnil, then by M. de Lépine in 1788, and subsequently by his son after 1805. The collection was dispersed around 1808–1809 following the latter's death.

After 1808 and the death of the Abbé de Lépine's son

At that time, following notification through the prefectural administration, the acquired Beaumesnil's notebook on the antiquities of Agen from the Lépine estate. It is possible that other institutions, including Millin, former director of the National Library and member of the Institut, and Alexandre Lenoir, administrator of the Musée des Monuments Français, were informed of the collection's availability, but there is no evidence that they took action. It is also unclear whether the abbé de Tersan or Lenoir added to their personal collections on this occasion, although by 1821 Lenoir had acquired some of Beaumesnil's notebooks, reportedly intending to publish their illustrations.
According to Leroux, after 1809, part of the Lépine estate was held at Limoges City Hall, possibly as a deposit awaiting buyers, and may have been consulted around 1838 by Prosper Mérimée or previously by Charles-Nicolas Allou before 1821. This portion of the estate subsequently appears to have been lost. Another part was purchased by M. Ruffin, a justice of the peace and member of the Agricultural, Scientific, and Artistic Society of the Department of Haute-Vienne, who retained it in 1837; excerpts from these documents were published by Tripon. The collection was later inherited by Ruffin's wife, who died around 1855.

Dispersal of the Ruffin Estate in 1855

Guibert indicates that part of the documents from the Ruffin estate were inherited or acquired by Paul Mariaux, a lawyer and grandson of Maurice Ardant, curator of monuments and archivist of Haute-Vienne; Léonce Pichonnier, a manufacturer from Limoges; and possibly by Mme Rupin. According to Leroux, the collector Ch. Nivet-Fontaubert, vice president of the, purchased documents from Pichonnier and Rupin and made them available to researchers, including Émile Espérandieu, in the late nineteenth century.
Some notebooks belonging to Paul Mariaux described by Louis Guibert may have been the property of Mme du Boucheron in 1957.

Disappearance of the Nivet-Fontaubert collection

The Nivet-Fontaubert collection appears to have been lost or dispersed since the early twentieth century, although in 1963 Geneviève François-Souchal expressed hope of recovering parts of it in Limoges. A volume on Les Environs de Limoges, noted by Louis Guibert in 1900 and from which excerpts were previously provided to Émile Espérandieu, may correspond to the copy from the Edmond Panet collection, a microfilmed version of which has been held by the since 1969.

Case of the notebook on the antiquities of Agen

In 2017, the Academy of Agen published a reproduction of the 47-page manuscript on the antiquities of the city of Agen, annotated in 1812 by Jean Florimond Boudon de Saint-Amans. The manuscript had been acquired by the Academy in 1808 from the estate of Lépine's son, through the intervention of its president, the prefect Christophe de Villeneuve, and was subsequently preserved in the Academy's archives before 1977.

Collection of the Abbé de Tersan and the Lenoir archive

Some documents collected by Alexandre Lenoir are believed to have originated from the collection of the abbé de Tersan, which was sold by. The previous ownership and acquisition circumstances are not documented. Guibert, however, questioned whether any part of this collection, particularly the materials related to the Limousin, came from the Beaumesnil estate. The complete set of Beaumesnil's original notebooks was acquired by Lenoir in 1821 from the bookseller Nepveu and has been held at the Bibliothèque nationale de France since 1938.
The tracings and notes by the abbé de Tersan, based on drawings by Beaumesnil and possibly intended for publication, were acquired by the Department of Manuscripts of the Bibliothèque nationale de France shortly after he died in 1819.

A Collection effort criticized from the early 19th century

The quality of Beaumesnil's drawings and descriptions of monuments was criticized quite early by several specialists, notably by Millin, Chaudruc, Saint-Amans, Allou, and Mérimée, who reproached him for relying more on imagination than reality and for copying works without citing them. Camille Jullian devoted a scathing chapter to him, summarizing: “He copied some inscriptions from the originals with considerable inaccuracy; he duplicated these inscriptions by inventing variants of his own and turning them into new texts ; he drew monuments that did not exist, applying to them inscriptions he copied from books ; finally, he created inscriptions from the titles, subtitles, or phrases of printed works." As for Émile Espérandieu, he described Beaumesnil as "the most shameless forger produced by the eighteenth century" and devoted a 48-page chapter to the 67 "false or suspect inscriptions," using Jullian's subtitle, "the work of Beaumesnil," in his book on the Inscriptions de la cité des Lemovices.
More recent assessments of Beaumesnil's work have been more nuanced. Gaston Dez noted that Beaumesnil's drawings and commentaries can be useful when critically examined. In 1998, Pierre Pinon observed that his drawings aimed for precision, though not always executed skillfully, and noted that Beaumesnil occasionally reconstructed missing parts, altered contexts, or introduced elements not present in the originals.
Beaumesnil's work combined descriptive documentation with personal interpretations of antiquity, sometimes incorporating imaginative or erotic elements, which made it difficult for nineteenth-century scholars to assess its documentary value. Contemporary evaluations often overlooked that in eighteenth-century Haute-Vienne, few laymen, such as de Lépine, the subdelegate of the intendant's office, engaged with historical remains. They also did not fully recognize Beaumesnil's role as a collector and promoter of emerging heritage knowledge, which contributed to the mixed reception of his legacy.
Certain adjectives used by nineteenth-century scholars to describe Beaumesnil reflected condescension, prudishness, limited knowledge, or bias. His profession as an actor, particularly as an itinerant performer, was often highlighted dismissively. These critical and sometimes anachronistic remarks may have influenced the custodians of Beaumesnil's work, including the Institut, and contributed to a lack of systematic preservation of his materials.

A nomadic artist in the provinces during the era of cabinets of curiosities

Due to the limited and largely unchanged documentation since 1900, the reasons and choices that led Pierre Beaumesnil to produce his extensive and original body of work can only be inferred from the internal logic of his images and texts. Similarly, the cultural and personal background of this traveling, versatile, and possibly self-taught artist in the mid-eighteenth century remains difficult to reconstruct. Remarks attributed to Beaumesnil to Martial de Lépine, concerning his motivation to engage with antiquity and scholarly pursuits, are noted in some accounts, although they may reflect Lépine's interpretation. It has also been suggested that Beaumesnil may have been associated with the theatrical community in Paris during this period.
Beaumesnil's modest living conditions suggest that some of his work was produced or adapted to generate income from a relatively affluent social environment, including local notables and clergymen who were assembling cabinets of curiosities or contributing to institutional documentation. Certain works, such as copies of engravings, maps, and plans, appear to have been created primarily for financial support and demonstrate both the range of his technical skills and the extent of his professional network.
The distinction between the parts of Beaumesnil's collection that were created for different purposes is not always clearly perceptible. Without knowledge of the potential patrons for whom he may have worked, it can cautiously be observed that some of his works display observations and collections of information that are relatively rigorous for the period. In other instances, however, they appear to be freely enriched reconstructions of what he may have seen, read, or heard, and some must be regarded as artistic projects or deliberately personal creations.

Known collections, manuscripts, and copies

In the Lenoir collection of the BnF's Print Room (originals by Beaumesnil from the collection of Abbé de Tersan)

Antiquités & monumens du Bourbonnais et de partie de la BourgogneAntiquités de la France inédites Antiquités des villes de Saintes, Périgueux, Bénac, Guéret, etc. suivant l'ordre de mes voyagesDessins de divers monumens antiques mobiles ; Antiquités et monumens anciens de l'Auvergne Antiquités et opuscules diversAntiquités d'Agen, Albi, Euze, Auch, Moissac, La Réole, Rodez, Uzès, Carcassonne, Perpignan, Lectoure, Tarbes, Bayonne, Béarn, Narbonne

* According to Louis Guibert and Arquié-Bruley 2002; documents concerning Agen and Albi are missing, i.e. up to page 37—perhaps the copy concerning Agen, in the Lot-et-Garonne Departmental Archives, reference number 35 J 30? — Espérandieu assumes that a collection on "Alby" was in the Bibliothèque Mazarine).
''Sculptures et Tombeaux du XIe au XVIe siècle. Voyages archéologiques exécutés vers 1780–1786, spécialement dans le Maine, le Poitou, la Touraine, Arles, Besançon et Moissac''

In the Manuscripts Department of the BnF (manuscripts and tracings by Abbé de Tersan; Périgord collection)

Collection known as "Pas Interfolié," 360 leaves, 375 × 280 mm.

The collections sent to the Academy between 1779 and 1784, and even in 1759See the authors who consulted these documents in :

“Almost all authors who dealt with Beaumesnil repeated, on the authority of Millin or in, we believe, that the Bibliothèque Mazarine and the Library of the Institute preserved a significant portion of the actor’s manuscripts. That the Archives of the Académie des Inscriptions possessed many drawings and reports or notes sent by him is not doubtful. Several of these communications are noted by Legros . Concerning notably the monuments with priapic emblems found in the excavations of the Évêché, Duroux and Tripon report that the actor, having obtained permission in 1759 to draw these objects, sent figures to the Academy, and that ‘only a few sketches of his work were saved from oblivion by Mr. Martin, secretary of the Royal Agricultural Society.’ In any case, we have been told twice, twelve or fifteen years apart, in the most categorical manner, that neither the Library of the Institute nor the Mazarine possess any of Beaumesnil’s papers. Mr. Le Blant received the same response." Antiquités de Périgueux recueillies en l’année 1763, augmentées de quelques autres à un second séjour que j’y fis en 1772, 20 p., folio..Supplément aux monuments de Périgueux, découverts vers la fin de 1783, etc., 8 p., 28 fig., folio, sent by Meulan d'Ablois in 1784.

Les cahiers Antiquités d'Alby et Antiquités de Limoges, at the Bibliothèque Mazarine according to Émile Espérandieu but not seen by the author—a set of notebooks that are currently untraceable.
"Dessins des objets exhumés lors des travaux de déblai effectués en 1757, 1758 et 1759 à l'Évêché de Limoges ," made in 1759 and sent to the Academy, according to Guibert, citing Duroux and Tripon as references—notebook currently untraceable; see copies of the said special series or optional deliveries by Jean-Baptiste Tripon in 1837, based on Beaumesnil's notes.Recherches générales sur les antiquités et monuments de la France, avec les diverses traditions, numerous notebooks in the collections of the Institut de France according to Raymond Chevallier — a set of notebooks that cannot be found in any case.

At the Poitiers Municipal Library (François Mitterrand Media Library)

Notes, croquis, essais, inscriptions... , 122 pl. Monuments du Poitou : plans, vues, détails, inscriptions , 3 vol., 378 pl. Antiquités de la ville de Poitiers, province de Poictou et Aquitaine, origine de ses peuples, probable et fabuleuse avec un extrait chronologique des souverains qui ont occupé le Poitou jusqu'à présentLes trois monuments dits les Trois-Piliers : dessins et texte, par Beauménil

Scattered copies, under various call numbers at the Poitiers Library:
* Raymond Bourdier, Vestiges du château de Poitiers, 1921
* Restes du château de Poitiers
* Bélisaire Ledain, Epitaphes de Civaux
* Bélisaire Ledain, Modillons de l'octogone de Montmorillon
* Camille-Léopold Lahaire, Ruines des Trois-Piliers, c. 1896
* Ruines des Arènes de Poitiers
* Alexandre Garnier, Dragon de Poitiers dit la "Grand' Goule", c. 1890
* Bélisaire Ledain, Les Trois Piliers
* Bélisaire Ledain, Tombeaux et épitaphes de Civaux
* Bélisaire Ledain, Chapiteaux de Saint-Hilaire le Grand
* Alain Maulny, Statue de Constantin avec épitaphe et armoiries, photographies, c. 1970

At the Lot-et-Garonne Departmental Archives

Antiquités de la ville d'Agen, 1767, 47 pages, published in 2017.

At the Dordogne Departmental Archives

Recueil de documents et d'extraits fait par l'abbé Lespine, comprenant notamment les notes de Beaumesnil sur les "Antiquités de Périgueux ", avec des dessins et des planches au lavis de Bardon, et des dessins en couleur de Wlgrin de Taillefer sur les principaux monuments de Vésone au I^er siècle et sur la "Restauration de la cathédrale de Périgueux et des quartiers qui l'avoisinent" , 59 leaves in 90 pages, 387 × 255 mm ; brief description of the Taillefer collection in Espérandieu 1893, pp. 110–112; comments on Beaumesnil's notebook in Lacombe 1985, pp. 255–257 and 263, and in François Michel 1993, pp. 20–23 ; the notebook was found at the end of the 18th century by Lespine in the former archives of Minister Bertin, then acquired along with other documents of the abbé and bound into the collection in the 1820s by de Taillefer; this notebook is a possible duplicate by Beaumesnil, or a copy of Notebook 1 of reference C 80 at the Archives of the Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres.

At the Haute-Vienne Departmental Archives

Album called the Atlas des antiquités de la Haute-Vienne, containing copies of Beaumesnil's drawings, made between 1821 and 1837 by Charles-Nicolas Allou, recomposed by Maurice Ardant after the album was donated by Allou's widow to the Société archéologique et historique du Limousin in 1857, 21 folio plates out of 26 are preserved.Antiquités limousines. Cahier de notes et croquis archéologiques attribués à Beaumesnil, loaned by Mr. Edmond Panet, 1969.Antiquités de la ville de Limoges, loaned by Mrs. du Boucheron, 1957.

Lost, scattered, or misplaced sets (in addition to that of the Institute)

The four notebooks on Limoges consulted in 1821 by Allou and partially reconstructed by Espérandieu.
The "very voluminous memoirs" noted by Prosper Mérimée in 1838, then kept at the Hôtel-de-Ville of Limoges. Probably the same set as that seen by Allou.
The Nivet-Fontaubert collection, consulted among others by Espérandieu and briefly described by Guibert, dispersed at the beginning of the 20th century and probably in private collections.
"Sheet of paper measuring 340 mm by 198, of sketches that the author of the Historique monumental had before his eyes, only those that make up plates I and II, plus part of plate III of Tripon’s special series, remain," at Nivel-Fontaubert in 1900.
"Mr. Mariaux possesses fairly voluminous memoirs of our artist on Greek and Roman archaeology, the arts, customs, institutions; chronological tables, research on the torture of the cross among various peoples, notes on Asia Minor, a copy of Discours de la religion des anciens Romains by the noble lord Guillaume du Choul, plus a number of loose sheets — all adorned with drawings, some very curious," at Paul Mariaux in 1900.
"Batch of notes and drawings from Beaumesnil’s papers. Gives some personal indications about our archaeologist, and notably mentions the journey to Egypt previously discussed," at Léonce Pichonnier in 1900.
Copies made before 1837 by Jean-Baptiste Tripon based on the Ruffin collection.Mémoire sur Chassenon, consulted by Jean-Hippolyte Michon before 1844 – without description or location.
Drawings and papers at Mr. de Lagoy and in Aix.

Regional studies

Indre-et-Loire, Vendée, Deux-Sèvres, Vienne, Charente-Maritime, Charente

Saône-et-Loire

Haute-Vienne

Gironde

Dordogne

* Contains a note from Abbé de Lespine about a manuscript, unseen by Espérandieu, on the antiquities of Périgueux: "Drawings and plans, on several sheets, of ancient monuments and inscriptions found in Périgueux, accompanied by observations and explanations, by M. de Beaumesnil, correspondent of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres . They are kept in the academy's repository at the Louvre, where Mr. Dacier, permanent secretary of the academy, showed them to me in 1789. Mr. de Bertin, minister and secretary of state, had a copy made . I had already seen the sketch at the author's home in Limoges in 178... "