DU SOJIMERARD, ALEXANDRE, a French archaeologist, was born in 1779 at Bar-sur-Aube, department de l'Aube. At the age of fourteen he entered the republican army, and though in 1796 he with drew from it in order to pursue a civil career, he was recalled and compelled to serve till 1801, when he was allowed to retire on his father consenting to occupy his post. He received an appointment iu 1807 as member of the Cour des Comptes, an office he held till 1823, when he was raised to the post of raffireudaire, and made vice-president of the Electoral College of the Seine; • in 1831 he was created chief conseiller. At the fall of Bonaparte he made himself conspicuous by his Bourbonism, and a song very popular with the partizans of the restored house, ' Rendez-nous notre Pare do Gaud l' was commonly attributed to him. his zeal, manifested in various ways, was recognised by Louie XVIII., who in 1816 conferred on him the cross of the Legion of Honour.
From an early period M. Du Sommerard had devoted all his leisure to the study of mediaeval arts and antiquities, and as his means increased he applied himself with great zeal and industry to the collection of examples of the arts of that period. For this purpose he visited various parts of France, and employed persons to assist him In his inquiries and purchases. Ilia collection, which soon bee.amo very rich in manuscripts, miniatures, arms, carvings, furniture, &c., he depo sited in the ancient 116tel de Cluny, of which he purchased a lease for that especial purpose • and in 1831 he published ' Notices stir de Cluny of cur le Psilaia des Themes, avec des Notes sur Is Culture des Arts, prinelpalousent dans la quluziame et seizlacno eiaeles.' This work attracted general attention to the subject of the antiquities of France, and the government was lad to appoint a ' Commission doe Monument. Historiques,' and the 'Comite Historiques des Arts et
:h noticed under MORON, with a view t, the study and tes; of the existing antiquities of France. M. Du Sommerard publie edifitIlh his great work, partly the result of his early and various parts but owing ha chief value to the facilities afforded inquiries by the government commissions, ' Les This splendid work is In 5 vols. Path, `33l0• 8vo, with au Atlas in folio of above a hundred plates, and an Album Supphimentairo 'of more than five hundred plates, giving characteristic examples of the pictures, sculptures, monuments, stained glass, enamels, porcelain and earthenware, goldsmiths' work, illuminations and minia tures, arms, and furniture of the middle ages.
The prolonged and unceasing labours of M. Du Sommerard begau at length to tell severely on his constitution. A journey which ho made into Italy In 1842, for the purpose of adding to his collection, proved too much for his already-enfeeble1 strength, and shortly after his return to Paris he died, August 19, 1842.
After the death of M. Du Sominerard his flue collection was pur chased by the government, and converted into a public museum. It remains in the Hertel de Cluny, which became the property of the nation, and to which was adjoined the Pedals des Thermos. Of these buildings, and of the Musa° Cluny, M. Edmond Du Sommerard, one of the sons of the founder of the museum, was appointed director.
(Biographies des lloinmes da Jour; Nouv. Biog. G6nerale.)