Jean-Claude Pingeron and the false, deceitful and treacherous race of the Sarmatians. Polish misadventures of a French engineer

Abstract

This article reviews the Polish episode in the career of a French engineer Jean-Claude Pingeron (1730 or 1735–1795). Pingeron, born in Lyon and educated in one of the French schools of artillery, moved to Poland in 1762. First employed by Saxon diplomats in Warsaw, he subsequently went into the service of magnate families: the Sanguszkos and the Zamoyskis. In July 1763, he became the commander of the fortress in Zamość and began to work on a project of the town’s modernisation. Because of his conflict with the crew of the fortress, his ideas were never implemented and the Zamoyskis dismissed him. When back in France, Pingeron focused mainly on journalism and the popularisation of science and technology. This article discusses the decisive factors in his failure to make his career in Poland, and attempts to explain the role which factors like sociability, rivalry and social network played in that failure.

Keywords:

• Jean-Claude Pingeron
• Zamość
• Jerzy Klemens Zamoyski
• engineers’ mobility
• foreign engineers in Poland

Acknowledgements

My heartfelt thanks are also due to Charlotte Guichard, Ewa Manikowska and Marie Thébaud-Sorger for their support at various stages of this project.

Notes

1 Biographical notes repeat similar repertoire of facts from Pingeron’s life, and present him mostly as a litterateur. Information included in the notes is sometimes not accurate, e.g., contrary to common belief, Pingeron never went to the Levant; nor did he serve in Polish army. N-L-M. Desessarts, ed., Les siècles littéraires de la France, ou Nouveau dictionnaire, historique, critique, et bibliographique, de tous les écrivains français, morts et vivans, jusqu'à la fin du XVIIIe siècle (Paris: chez L’Auteur, An IX [1801]), vol. 5, pp. 184–185; A. V. Arnault et al., eds., Biographie nouvelle des contemporains ou Dictionnaire historique et raisonné de tous les hommes qui, depuis la Révolution française, ont acquis de la célébrité par leurs actions, leurs écrits, leurs erreurs ou leurs crimes, soit en France, soit dans les pays étrangers (Paris: Librairie historique, 1824), vol. 16, p. 333; F.-X. de Feller et al., eds., Biographie universelle, ou Dictionnaire historique des hommes qui se sont fait un nom par leur génie, leurs talents, leurs erreurs ou leurs crimes (Paris: Gautier 1834), vol. 10, p. 129; J.-M. Quérard, ed., La France littéraire, ou Dictionnaire bibliographique (Paris: Firmin Didot, 1835), vol. 7, p. 179; J. Sgard, ed., Dictionnaire des journalistes: 1600–1789 (Grenoble: Presses Universitaires de Grenoble, 1976), p. 644; A. Mercier, ‘Portefeuille industriel: Le cas Pingeron’, Musée des arts et métiers. La Revue, 7 (1994), 43–50. Already after my article was submitted to the ‘The International Journal’ Marie Thébaud-Sorger published two papers on Pingeron: ‘Jean-Claude Pingeron, polygraphe des arts et de l’invention au XVIIIe siècle’, Revue d'Histoire littéraire de la France, 3 (2021), 573–588; ‘Traduire pour exister et faire exister le progrès des arts. Mobilités sociales et intellectuelles d'un acteur (secondaire) dans la seconde moitié du XVIIIe siècle’, Les sciences et les techniques, laboratoire de l’Histoire. Mélanges en l’honneur de Patrice Bret, L. Hilaire-Pérez, C. Lanoë, ed., (Paris: Presses des Mines, 2022), pp. 85–109.

2 If Pingeron does appear, he is often mentioned as a translator of Francesco Milizia’s Le Vite de’ più celebri architetti.

3 On the mobility of engineers, see H. Verin, La Gloire des ingénieurs. L’intelligence technique du XVIe au XVIIIe siècle (Paris: Albin Michel, 1993); S. Blond et al., eds., Mobilités d’ingénieurs en Europe, XVe-XVIIIe siècle (Rennes: PMU 2017).

4 Bibliothèque de l’Institut de France, Paris, Fonds Hennin, Ms. 1272–1274 (hereafter as FH). On Hennin, see, M. L. Berkvam and P. L. Smith, eds., Correspondence and Collected Papers of Pierre Michel Hennin: November 1745 to 19 April 1757 (Oxford: The Voltaire Foundation, 1982); On Hennin’s stay in Poland, E. Rostworowski, ‘Francja, Polska i podlaski Wersal’, in Polska czasów saskich, ed. by M. Wrzosek, (Białystok: Dział Wydawnictw Filii UW w Białymstoku, 1986); R. Wołoszański, ‘Sprawy polskie w pismach i działalności P. M. Hennina’, Przegląd Historyczny, 52 (1961), 213–231.

5 FH, Ms 1273, f. 106, letter from Pingeron to Hennin, written from Paris, 2.09.1780.

6 The Italian period of Chamber’s career is, as John Harris put it, ‘shrouded in mystery’ and the reconstruction of the circle of his friends is highly hypothetical. See J. Harris, Sir William Chambers. Knight of the Polar Star (London: A. Zwemmer Ltd, 1970), pp. 19–24; J. Barrier, ‘Chambers in France and Italy’, in Sir William Chambers. Architect to Georges III, ed. by J. Harris and M. Snodin (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1997), pp. 19–34.

7 FH, Ms 1272, f. 51, letter from Pingeron to Hennin, written from Marseille, 9.08.1766.

8 FH, Ms 1272, f. 11, letter from Pingeron to Hennin, written from Zamość, 5.08.1763.

9 On Barbara Sanguszko, see A. Jakuboszczak, Sarmacka dama. Barbara Sanguszkowa (1718–1791) i jej salon towarzyski (Poznań: Wydawnictwo: Poznańskie), 2008.

10 Even though Pingeron presented his Letter on the art of swimming as written for the education of young Prince Sanguszko, it is not clear if he really taught him. In November 1762, Prince Sanguszko went on his Grand Tour and stayed abroad until October 1763. J.-C. Pingeron, ‘Lettre sur l’art de Nager’, Journal de l’agriculture, du commerce et des finances, July 1768, 182; A. Jakuboszczak, ‘O zagranicznych podróżach Janusza Modesta Sanguszki’, in Polski Grand Tour na przełomie XVIII i XIX wieku, ed. by A. Roćko (Warszawa: Muzeum Pałacu Jana III w Wilanowie, 2014), pp. 68–69.

11 FH, Ms 1272, f. 8, letter from Pingeron to Hennin, written from Zamość, 26.07.1763.

12 Ibid.

13 Zamość was founded in 1580 on a trade route from the Black Sea and promptly attracted Armenians, Jews, Greeks, Germans, Italians and Scots. In 1594 an academy was established and Zamość became an important center of science and humanities. The town declined only in the 2nd half of the 17th century. Nowadays it is famous for well-preserved Renaissance architecture of the Old Town.

14 The map is now lost. FH, Ms 1272, f. 10, letter from Pingeron to Hennin, written in Zamość, 30.07.1763.

15 Probably the biography written by Reinhold Heidenstein (1553–1620), ‘De vita Ioannis in Zamość Zamoyski Regni Polonie cancellarii et exercituum summi ducis libri tres’, National Library, Warsaw, Rps BOZ 98.

16 J. Naronowicz-Naroński, Budownictwo wojenne, ed. by J. Nowakowa (Warszawa: MON, 1957).

17 FH, Ms 1272, f. 18, letter from Pingeron to Hennin, written in Zamość, 25.08.1763.

18 FH, Ms 1272, f. 14, letter from Pingeron to Hennin, written in Zamość, 11.08.1763.

19 Plan de la ville de Varsovie: dedié à S. M. Auguste III Roi de Pologne, Electeur de Saxe etc. etc., levé par ordre de S. E. M. le Comte Bielinski Grand Marechal de la Couronne, 1762, scale 1:6700. The manuscript version was destroyed during the Warsaw Uprising.

20 FH, Ms 1272, f. 14-16, letters from Pingeron to Hennin, written in Zamość, 11.08.1763 and 22.08 1763.

21 FH, Ms 1272, f. 10-11, letter from Pingeron to Hennin, written in Zamość, 30.07.1763.

22 FH, Ms 1272, f. 15, letter from Pingeron to Hennin, written in Zamość, 22.08.1763.

23 FH, Ms 1272, f. 14, letter from Pingeron to Hennin, written in Zamość, 11.08.1763.

24 Ibid.

25 Ibid.

26 Ibid.

27 Ibid.

28 FH, Ms 1272, f. 17, letter from Pingeron to Hennin, written in Zamość, 25.08.1763.

29 Similar esplanades were popular in France. One of the best examples of a public park connected to the town fortifications is the Place royale du Peyrou in Montpellier. Also some fortresses, for instance Château Trompette in Bordeaux, were partly planted with trees. If Pingeron studied in Strasbourg, he must have seen the transformation of Roosmarkt into Place Broglie (after 1740). In Poland, however, at that time this kind of urban plan was to be seen only in Gdańsk.

30 This affair is mentioned in four letters to Hennin, all sent from Zamość. FH, Ms 1272, f. 14, 11.08.1763; f. 15, 22.08.1763; f. 19, 30.08.1763; f. 21, 7.09.1763; f. 23, 19.09.1763.

31 FH, Ms 1272, f. 14, letter from Pingeron to Hennin, written in Zamość, 11.08.1763.

32 FH, Ms 1272, f. 15, letter from Pingeron to Hennin, written in Zamość, 22.08.1763.

33 On the profession of an engineer, see Verin, La Gloire des ingénieurs; H. Vérin and I. Gouzévitch, ‘The rise of the engineering profession in eighteenth century Europe: an introductory overview’, Engineering Studies, 3 (2011), 153–169.

34 On Bem and other architects active in Zamość in the 18th century, see J. Kowalczyk, ‘Architekci Zamoyskich W XVIII wieku’, Kwartalnik Architektury i Urbanistyki, 4 (1959), 211–234; idem, ‘Architektura Zamościa w okresie rokoka’, in Zamość miasto idealne, ed. by J. Kowalczyk (Lublin: Wydawnictwo Lubelskie, 1980), pp. 121–143.

35 Tomasz Antoni was highly interested in architecture and gardening; see J. Kowalczyk, ‘Traktat o ogrodach Tomasza Antoniego Zamoyskiego’, Biuletyn Historii Sztuki, 1–4 (2001), 175–192.

36 A porucznik was a commanding officer, the equivalent of a captain-lieutenant.

37 A. Szykuła-Żygawska, ‘Nowe materiały do biografii malarzy, sztycharzy, geometrów i architektów w Zamościu w XVIII wieku’, Archiwariusz Zamoyski, 2014, pp.146–147.

38 It was Carl Georg or Johann Georg Knacfus (both of whom specialised in gardens) rather than Marcin; see P. Wątroba, ‘Knacfus Marcin’ in Słownik architektów i budowniczych środowiska warszawskiego XV-XVIII wieku, ed. by P. Migasiewicz, H. Osiecka-Samsonowicz, J. Sito (Warszawa: Instytut Sztuki PAN, 2016), pp. 256–259.

39 Kowalczyk, ‘Architekci’, pp. 226–227.

40 One of those Frenchmen was probably Zamoyski’s preceptor, St Paul.

41 FH, Ms 1272, f. 32, letter from Pingeron to Hennin, written in Paris, 27.02.1764.

42 FH, Ms 1272, f. 35, letter from Pingeron to Hennin, written in Paris, 12.03.1764.

43 FH, Ms 1272, f. 34, letter from Pingeron to Hennin, written in Paris, 1.03.1764.

44 Polish nobles perceived themselves as descended from the ancient Sarmatians; consequently, both Polish and foreign writers used this name to denote the Polish nobility as a collective.

45 ‘Maudite Pologne’, ‘Voilà l’infamie polonaise tout pure’, ‘Je commence à exister depuis mon arrive en France, maudit soient les sourbes Polaques’, ‘On vit, on existe à Paris. Vive Paris, vive la France. Maudits soient les Sarmates faux, fourbes etc. etc. etc.’, ‘Odieu Ordinat’ (this was Zamoyski’s title as the owner of the fee tail), ‘Méfiez-vous de Polonais, ils détestent le Français’, ‘Perfides sarmates, je vous souhaite une hydre pour votre roi’, ‘Sarmates, race fausse, fourbe et perfide’; FH, Ms 1272, f. 34–47, letters from Pingeron to Hennin, written in Paris, 1.03.1764–3.02.1766.

46 However, he considered publishing a pamphlet directed at Zamoyski. FH, Ms 1272, f. 35, letter from Pingeron to Hennin, written in Paris, 12.03.1764.

47 Central Archives of Historical Records [AGAD], Warsaw, Zbiór Aleksandra Czołowskiego, Ms 372, f. 12; letter from Pingeron to Mniszech, written in Paris, 13.11.1765.

48 Pingeron dedicated two texts to her: ‘Lettre sur la maniere de faire le composto sorte de parquet en usage a Venise’ (Journal de l’agriculture, August 1768; for the manuscript, see Ossoliński National Institute, Wrocław, 2590/III) and the poem Les abeilles (Amsterdam: chez Gogue, 1770), his translation of Giovanni Rucellai’s Le api.

49 The Princes Czartoryski Library [BCz], 676, f. 1691, Pingeron to Moszyński, from Versailles, 29.05.1784.

50 Pingeron dedicated to him the book Vies des architectes anciens et modernes qui se sont rendus célèbres chez les différentes nations (Paris: chez Jombert, 1771).

51 A notable exemption is Jean Fabre, Stanislas-Auguste Poniatowski et l'Europe des Lumières. Etude de cosmopolitisme (Paris: Institut d'Études slaves, 1952), pp. 266–291.

52 On Pingeron’s writings, see the upcoming publication by M. Thébaud-Sorger, ‘Jean-Claude Pingeron, polygraphe des Arts et de l’invention Au XVIIIe Siècle’, Revue d’Histoire littéraire de la France, Persistance de l’Éphémère, ed. by J.-A. Perras [in print].

53 All those facts are reconstructed on the basis of Pingeron’s letters to Hennin. Pingeron was also a member of Musée de Paris (founded by Antoine Court de Gébelin) and for many years was active in the milieu of scientists, academics and publishers. On Musée de Paris, see M. R. Lynn, Popular Science and Public Opinion in Eighteenth-Century France (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2006), pp.80–83.

54 National Archives in Cracow, Wawel, Sanguszkos Archives, Barbara Sanguszko’s Correspondance, 15, f. 533, Jakubowski to Sanguszkowa, from Carlbadu, 11.04.1763.

55 BCz, 676, f. 1689, Moszyński to the king, 28.05.1784.

56 T. L. S. Sprigge, ed., Correspondence of Jeremy Bentham, Volume 1: 1752 to 1776 (London: UCL Press, 2017), p. 141; E. de Champs, Enlightenment and Utility. Bentham in France (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2015), p . 26.

57 FH, Ms 1273, f. 19, letter from Hennin to Pingeron, written in Paris, 27.10.1779.

58 Lettres de Monsieur l’Abbé Dominique Sestini écrites à ses amis en Toscane, pendant le cours de ses voyages en Italie, en Sicile et en Turquie, sur l’histoire naturelle, l’industrie & le commerce de ces différentes contrées, traduites de l’italien et enrichies de notes, par M. Pingeron (Paris, chez la veuve Duchesne & Fils, 1789), p. 433.

59 T. Mańkowski, ‘Architekt Pierre Ricaud de Tirregaille’, Rocznik Zakładu Narodowego im. Ossolińskich, 3 (1948), 391–433; P. Wątroba, ‘Ricaud de Tirregaille, Pierre’ in Słownik architektów…, p. 386; A. Oleńska, ‘Klemm, Jan Henryk’ in Słownik architektów…, p. 247. Pingeron’s misadventure bears a similarity to failures of many other Frenchmen, of various occupations. The most emblematic case is perhaps Pierre Dupont de Nemours. This famous writer and economist was appointed by the kind to organise educational system in Poland in 1774. Dupont planned to spend in Warsaw 12 years but left ‘the land of intrigue, jealousy, coteries, despots, slaves, haughty, unstable, weak and crazy people’ already after three months. Even if he was convinced that ‘nothing good can be done [in Poland]’, soon after his departure the reform was successfully implemented. J. Fabre, Stanislas-Auguste Poniatowski, p. 282.

60 When Ricaud left Poland, he decided to rebuild his career not as an architect, but as a homme de letters, just as Pingeron did a few years later.

61 Ossoliński National Institute, Wrocław, 2664/I.

62 Ossoliński National Institute, Wrocław, 2697/II.

63 O. Medvedkova, Jean-Baptiste Alexandre Le Blond, architecte 1679–1719. De Paris à Saint-Pétersbourg (Paris: Alain Baudry et Cie, 2007), pp. 168–169, 190.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Science Centre (Poland) under Grant 2017/25/N/HS2/00481 and first presented on the conference ‘Early Modern Art Towards Tradition and Modernity’ (Warsaw, 28–29 June 2018). My heartfelt thanks are also due to Charlotte Guichard, Ewa Manikowska and Marie Thébaud-Sorger for their support at various stages of this project.

Notes on contributors

Konrad Niemira

Konrad Niemira studied art history at the Warsaw University, Université Paul-Valéry in Montpellier and École Normale Supérieure in Paris. He is interested in the widely understood artistic and material culture of the 18th century with a particular focus on the mobility of artists and craftsmen. He published two books: ‘Honor without Exaggeration. Polish Shopping and the World of Parisian Things in the 18th century’ (awarded with The Bujak Prize by the Polish Society for Economic History) and ‘Scribbler. Three essays on Norblin’ (Literary Award of the Capital City of Warsaw, 2023). In cooperation with the Royal Łazienki Museum in Warsaw, he prepares edition of Marcello Bacciarelli’s correspondence with the last king of Poland, Stanisław August.