Early life Colbert's father and grandfather were merchants in his birthplace of
Reims, France. He claimed to have Scottish ancestry. A widespread (but unconfirmed) belief exists that he spent his early youth at a
Jesuit college, working for a Parisian banker; as well as working for the father of
Jean Chapelain. Before the age of 20, Colbert had a post in the war office, a position generally attributed to the marriage of an uncle to the sister of Secretary of War
Michel Le Tellier. Colbert spent some time as an inspector of troops, eventually becoming the personal secretary of Le Tellier. In 1647, through unknown means, Colbert acquired the confiscated goods of an uncle, Pussort. In 1648, he and his wife Marie Charron, received 40,000 crowns from an unknown source; and in 1649 Colbert became the councilor of state, i.e. a political minister. In 1657, he purchased the
Barony of
Seignelay.
Rise to power Colbert was recommended to King
Louis XIV by Mazarin. While
Cardinal Mazarin was in exile, Louis's trust in Colbert grew. In 1652, Colbert was asked to manage the affairs of the Cardinal while he was away. This new responsibility would detach Colbert from his other responsibility as
commissaire des guerres. Although Colbert was not a supporter of Mazarin in principle, he would defend the cardinal's interests with unflagging devotion. Colbert's earliest recorded attempt at tax reform came in the form of a
mémoire to Mazarin, showing that less than half of the taxes paid by the people reached the King. The paper also contained an attack on
Nicolas Fouquet. The
postmaster of Paris, a spy of Fouquet's, read the letter, leading to a dispute which Mazarin attempted to suppress. In 1661, Mazarin died and Colbert "made sure of the King's favor" by revealing the location of some of Mazarin's hidden wealth. In January 1664 Colbert became the
Superintendent of buildings; in 1665 he became
Controller-General of Finances; in 1669, he became
Secretary of State of the Navy; he also gained appointments as minister of
commerce, of the
colonies, and of the
palace. In short, Colbert acquired power in every department except that of war. When he had severely punished guilty officials, he turned his attention to the government's fraudulent creditors. Here he had a simple way of operating. He repudiated some of the public loans and reduced the interest rate on others. The amount of the reduction was initially his own decision but ultimately that of a council he established to examine all claims against the state. Much more serious difficulties met his attempts to introduce equality in taxation among the various classes. Cutting back the number of the privileged proved impossible, but Colbert firmly resisted false claims for exemption and lightened direct taxation by increasing indirect taxes, from which the privileged could not escape. At the same time, he undertook improvements to the way taxes were collected. Colbert's relentless hard work and thrift made him an esteemed minister. He achieved a reputation for improving the state of French
manufacturing and bringing the
economy back from the brink of
bankruptcy. Nevertheless, despite his best efforts, France grew increasingly
impoverished because of the King's excessive spending on wars.
Economic theory Having introduced a measure of order and economy into the workings of the government, Colbert called for the enrichment of the country by means of commerce. Through Colbert's
dirigiste policies, France fostered manufacturing enterprises in a wide variety of fields. The authorities established new industries, protected inventors, invited in workmen from foreign countries, and prohibited French workmen from emigrating. Colbert founded a number of institutions: • in 1663 the
Academy of Inscriptions and Medals • in 1666 the
Academy of Sciences • in 1667 the
Paris Observatory, which he employed
Claude Perrault to build and brought
Giovanni Domenico Cassini (1625–1712) from Italy to superintend • in 1669 the
Académie d'Opéra, later renamed the Académie Royale de Musique • in 1671 the
Academy of Architecture • Academies at
Arles,
Soissons,
Nîmes and many other towns He reorganised the
Academy of Painting and Sculpture which Mazarin had established. Wishing to increase the prestige of the image of France and the French royal family, Colbert played an active role in bringing the great Italian architect-sculptor,
Gian Lorenzo Bernini, to Paris (June–October 1665), in order to design the new
East Facade of the Louvre. This was a striking coup and caused a sensation because Bernini, the most famous artist in all of Europe, had never before (or after) consented to travel any significant distance to meet a patron, however highly ranked, but had to agree in this case for reasons of diplomacy between France and the
Holy See. While in France, Bernini also sculpted a marble portrait bust of Louis XIV (Versailles palace). However the relations between the two strong-willed men, Colbert and Bernini, proved melodramatically stormy. Bernini's Louvre design was ultimately rejected. In 1666 Colbert established an
Académie dedicated to the development of science and advising the government in this field. For the
French Academy of Sciences he chose scientists, mathematicians, as well as physicists which at the time included anatomists, botanists, and zoologists. The first session was held on 22 December 1666 in Paris. Colbert himself became a member of the
Académie Française. He proposed one very characteristic rule with the intention of expediting the great
Dictionary, in which he had a great interest: no one could count as present at any meeting unless he arrived before the hour of commencement and remained till the hour for leaving. In 1673 Colbert presided over the first exhibition of the works of living painters and he enriched the
Louvre with hundreds of pictures and statues. He gave many pensions to men of letters, among whom we find
Molière,
Corneille,
Racine,
Boileau,
P D Huet (1630–1721) and
Antoine Varillas (1626–1696); and even foreigners, as
Huygens,
Carlo Roberto Dati the
Dellacruscan. Evidence exists to show that by this munificence he hoped to draw out praises of his sovereign and himself. But this motive certainly does not account for all the splendid, if in some cases specious, services that he rendered to literature, science and art.
Death and
Jean-Baptiste Tuby, 1685, in
Église Saint-Eustache, Paris Colbert worked incessantly hard until his final hours. Work was his religion; he once pondered whether it was better to rise early and work or retire very late and work. He concluded that rising early and retiring late would be the ideal combination. Towards the end of his life he suffered from stomach aches, which caused him much distress. He was reduced to eating moist
bread dipped in chicken
broth for his meals. By 64 he was bedridden and died seven days after his birthday. The surgeons who examined him found that he had been suffering from
kidney stones. A huge stone was found in his
urinary tract, which would explain his pain. ==Legacy==