Louis Hesselin


Louis Hesselin, Seigneur de Condé was a French aristocrat, government official, patron and collector. He held various positions in the royal household and became Intendant of the Menus Plaisirs around 1655.

Ancestry, name, and early career

Louis Hesselin was born in Paris in the early days of February 1602 to a family of magistrates, originally from the Marne, but living in Paris for several generations. His father was Pierre Cauchon, Seigneur de Condé, and an auditor of the Chambre des Comptes. His mother was Elisabeth Morin. His father, who died sometime between 1609 and 1614, was the son of Thierry Cauchon and his second wife, Madeleine Brulart, daughter of Noël Brulart, procureur général au parlement. The first wife of Thierry Cauchon was Madeleine Hesselin, daughter of Paris, maître des comptes. Elisabeth Morin was the daughter of Mathurin Morin, Seigneur de la Planchette en Brie, and Marie Hesselin, sister of Madeleine Hesselin. Their brother, Louis Hesselin, who never married, treated his grandnephew like a son and by his will and testament left him his entire fortune, provided he change his name to Louis Hesselin. The latter signed his name Louis Hesselin as early as 1623 and regularised the change by lettres patentes, registered with parlement on 19 December 1626. Not long after, Louis Hesselin obtained the office of maître de la chambre aux deniers . In 1634 and 1638 he is recorded as conseiller du roi en ses conseils and maître d'hôtel ordinaire du roi, as well as maître de la chambre aux deniers.

Trips to Italy

Louis Hesselin took at least two extended trips to Italy in the 1630s: one in 1632–1633 and another in 1637. While there he may have taken the opportunity to acquire a large number of books, paintings, and objets d'art, documented much later in an inventory made after his death.