Quatremère de Quincy, Antoine

Quatremère de Quincy, Antoine (b Paris, 28 Oct. 1755; d Paris, 28 Dec. 1849).
French writer. He initially studied law, then trained as a sculptor, but he turned to writing and became one of the chief spokesmen of Neoclassicism. In his writings he vigorously promoted a severe, grand style, and he also expressed strong views on administrative and political matters. He argued, for example, that the Académie Royale (see academy) should concern itself solely with teaching and that its members should cease to have a monopoly on state commissions, and he opposed the removal of Italian art treasures to France in the wake of Napoleon's conquests. He was imprisoned during the French Revolution and lived in exile in Germany in 1797–1800. Later he returned to public life in France, but by this time his ideas were becoming regarded as outmoded. His many books include a biography of Canova (1823), whom he met in Rome as a young man and corresponded with thereafter.