The Impossible Enchantment and Other Tales of Faerie by Comte de Caylus

A member of the Academy of Painting in 1731, and of the Academy of Inscriptions in 1742, he wrote no fewer than fifty reports on various topics of erudition. folio), which was published in 1783-87, long after Caylus' death. He also worked, with Mariette, Barthélemy and Rive, at the collection of ancient paintings known as 'Peintures antiques trouvees a Rome' (three vols. After his return to Paris, he wrote his most important book, 'Recueil d'antiquités égyptiennes, étrusques, grecques, romaines et gauloises' (Paris, 1752-67, seven vols., the last two volumes published after his death). He went even so far, during his excursion to the ruins of Ephesus and Colophon, as to take as guides and bodyguards a troop of much-dreaded highwaymen who infested the country. His desire to see everything himself and verify the information given by ancient historians was such that he sometimes risked his life. He first travelled for a few years in Italy, Greece, the East, England and Germany, visiting old ruins and gathering inscriptions and antiquities. After the peace of Rastadt (1714), he left the army and devoted himself entirely to the study of the arts and sciences.

When only seventeen years old he enlisted and took part in the campaigns of the French army in Spain and Germany. He was the eldest son of Lieutenant-General de Caylus and was educated with the greatest care by his mother, a woman of much ability and literary distinction, whose 'Souvenirs' are full of valuable information for the history of the time.

Anne Claude Philippe de Tubieres de Grimoard de Pestels de Levis, Comte de CaylusĪNNE-CLAUDE-PHILIPPE DE TUBIÈRES-GRIMOARD DE PESTELS DE LÉVIS, COMTE DE CAYLUSįrench archaeologist, b.

The Impossible Enchantment and Other Tales of Faerie by Comte de Caylus