Background
Antoine-Louis was born in Lausanne from a French Huguenot family who emigrated to Switzerland in the mid 16th century to escape the wars of religion. He was the youngest son of Jacques-Henri de Polier and his wife Jeanne-Françoise Moreau.
- Photos
- Works
- Photos
- Works
Antoine Polier
Edit ProfileCareer
He later learned Hindi and Persian. Antoine Polier was an engineer from Lausanne who supported the military adventures of Robert Clive and later became a rich trader and loyal supporter of the British Raj administration in Calcutta. He devoted his free moments to collecting rare manuscripts in Sanskrit, Persian and Arabic.
Many were sent back to France to augment the growing collection in the Royal Library.
In India, he had two Indian wives, Jugnu and Zinat, one senior and one junior and three (or possibly, four) children who were all baptized in Calcutta. He acquired a large art collection and became rich working for the Indian royalty. and settled in France with an unfortunate timing as he arrived in time for the French revolution.
He was assassinated in Avignon on February 9, 1795 in the terror that followed the French revolution. His collection of miniatures are in Berlin.
-
Born
-
Died
February 7, 1795 (aged 54) -
Nationality
Switzerland