VOLNEY DE CHASSEBOEUF (BOISGIRAIS), Constantin-François, comte de. Craon, Anjou 3.2.1757 — Paris 25.4.1820. French Asian Traveller, Historian, Philosopher and Politician. Son of Jacques-René Chasseboeuf (1727–1796), a lawyer, and Jeanne Gigault (1728–1759), of minor nobility. Studied classics in Paris and soon befriended with intellectuals. In 1782 left for Egypt, then travelled…
VIVIEN DE SAINT-MARTIN, Louis. Saint-Martin-de-Fontenay (Calvados) 22.5.1802 — Versailles 3.1.1897. French Scholar of Historical Geography. Born Louis Vivien, came to Paris in 1814. Worked as author and editor in Paris. Legion d’honneur 1867. He did not know Sanskrit and based his Vedic studies on Langlois’ insufficient translation. Publications: A number…
VINSON, Elie Honoré Julien. Paris? (thus French Wikipédia, English Wikip. claims Pondichéry and data.bnf.fr Bagnères-de-Luchon, Haute-Garonne) 21.1.1843 — Libourne (Gironde) 21.11.1926. French Indologist and Scholar of Religion. Professor in Paris. Probably born in France, but grew up in Karikal and Pondichéry, where his father was a civil servant, and thus…
VIENNOT, Odette. 23.1.1910 — 18.11.1992. French Indologist and Art Historian. Born in an artist family, studied ethnology, soon Indology at É.P.H.É. and Indian Art at Ecole du Louvre, under Ph. Stern. In 1951 chargée de mission in Musée Guimet, soon joined C.N.R.S. As an art historian she specialized in the…
VEYSSIÈRE DE LACROZE, Mathurin (M. V. de La Croze). Nantes 4.12.1661 — Berlin 21.5.1739. French Oriental Scholar and Polyhistor. Son of a rich merchant, he left school and went to the colony of Guadeloupe to learn trade. Back in Nantes (1677) and after the bankruptcy of his father studied medicine,…
VENDRYES, Joseph (Joseph Jean-Baptiste-Marie V.). Paris 13.1.1875 — Paris 30.1.1960. French IE, Celtic and General Linguist. Professor in Paris. Son of a civil servant, Albert Vendryes and Marguerite Lambert. School in Paris (Lycée Louis-le-Grand). Studies in Paris under Meillet et al. (Sanskrit under V. Henry and S. Lévi). Agrégé de…
ORIANNE, Georges-Barthélemy. London 9.3.1802 — Pondichéry 22.4.1854. French Colonial Servant and Indologist interested in Indian law. Son of Claude Charles O. and Mary Keech. Served in Chandernagore, from 1841 conseilleur à la Cour royale de Pondichéry, finally President of Cour d’appel there. Translated Indian legal works from English. Married 1838…
OLLIVIER-BEAUREGARD, Gratien-Michel. Cognac (Charente) 3.6.1817 — Paris 14.1.1901. French Anthropologist, Egyptologist and Oriental Scholar. Worked as lawyer in Paris. In the 1890s President of the French Anthropological Society. Publications: Kachemir et Tibet. Étude d’ethnographie ancienne et moderne. 144 p. P. 1883 (also as an article in Bulletins et Mémoires de la…
OBRY, Jean-Baptiste-François. Villers-Bretonneux (Somme) 17.9.1793 — 1871. French Literate interested in Indology and Religions. Son of wool merchant Firmin Obry and Marie Floride Debrie. Worked as attorney and judge in Amiens. “Juge honoraire, membre de l’académie d’Amiens”. He was much interested in Hebrew and in the 1830s he invented a…
NOUETTE, Charles Georges. Montlhéry near Paris 6.5.1869 — Paris 2.5.1910. French Traveller, the photographer of the Pelliot expedition in Central Asia in 1906-09. After the cossack destruction of the 1920s his and Stein’s photographs are the only remaining document of many Dunhuang murals. He was son of merchant Albert Charles…