Jean-Baptiste Louis Gros
Jean-Baptiste-Louis Gros (1793–1870), also known as Baron Gros, was a French diplomat and later senator, as well as a notable pioneer of photography.
Also recorded as Jean-Baptiste-Louis, Baron Gros · Baron Jean-Baptiste-Louis Gros · Jean Baptiste Louis Gros · Baron Jean Baptiste Gros
Jean-Baptiste Louis Gros

Jean Baptiste Adolphe Lafosse · Le Panthéon des Illustrations Françaises au XIX e Siècle, vol. 7. · Public domain
- Born
- 1793. · Ivry-sur-Seine.
- Died
- 1870. · Paris.
- Nationality
- France.
- Occupation
- photographer, diplomat, politician, painter, traveler and artist.
- Fields
- landscape.
- Honours
- Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour, Grand Cross of the Order of Isabella the Catholic and Commander of the Order of the Immaculate Conception of Vila Viçosa.
- Languages
- French.
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
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Documentary summary
Jean-Baptiste-Louis Gros (1793–1870), also known as Baron Gros, was a French diplomat and later senator, as well as a notable pioneer of photography.
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wikidata · Q1684668
In this article
Life and career
Life and career
The recorded working language is French. Subjects and genres recorded for the work are landscape. Alexander von Humboldt is recorded as an influence. Residence is recorded at Lisbon and Egypt. Positions recorded include Ambassador of France to the United Kingdom and Second Empire senator. Work by Jean-Baptiste Louis Gros is recorded in the collections of Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museo Soumaya and J. Paul Getty Museum. Distinctions recorded are Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour, Grand Cross of the Order of Isabella the Catholic and Commander of the Order of the Immaculate Conception of Vila Viçosa.
He entered the French diplomatic service in 1823 and was given the title of baron in 1829 during the Bourbon Restoration. He was dispatched to Bogotá (1838–1842) as chargé d'affaires during the Colombian Civil War, and later elsewhere in Latin America, before being recalled to Europe and then sent as Minister Plenipotentiary to Athens in 1850. He served as Ambassador to London (1852–1863), traveling extensively, including to China and Japan in 1857 and 1858. He was an ambassador during the Anglo-French expedition to China (1856-1860). On 9 October 1858, the Treaty of Amity and Commerce between France and Japan was concluded at Edo, to which he was a signatory; this treaty established diplomatic relations between the two imperial nations. In September 1858, he was named to the French Senate, where he served until his death in 1870. He produced many famous photographs — chief among them those of the Acropolis in Greece. While he is best known for his daguerreotypes, he painted a few Latin American landscape paintings which are quite striking for their realism. Baron Gros, a member of The Photographic Society, also photographed The Great Exhibition of 1851 in London.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1793
Jean-Baptiste Louis Gros born at Ivry-sur-Seine.
1870
Jean-Baptiste Louis Gros died at Paris.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
- Lisbon, Egypt and Mexico.
Named but not plotted · 2
Ivry-sur-Seine.
Birth place
Paris.
Death place
Licensing
Text attribution
Part of the biographical narrative on this page reuses licensed material. Its origin, revision and licence are recorded here.
The biographical narrative on this page is based on the Wikipedia article Jean-Baptiste-Louis Gros, revision 1365249873 (EN edition), by its contributors. VALÉORINE has edited that text and built its own documentary record around it. The reused material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and this page's reuse of it is offered under the same licence. Everything else on this page — the chronology, the holdings, the evidence, the plates and the connections — is VALÉORINE's own record. Sources and licences.
Honours
Baron (1829) Knight, Order of Santiago (1839) Grand-croix, Légion d'honneur (1861)
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.www.senat.fr
- 2.Cousin de Montauban de Palikao. L'expédition de Chine de 1860. Plon. 90. 1932.
- 3.Dr Christian Polak: Soie et lumières: L'âge d'or des échanges franco-japonais (des origines aux années 1950). Tokyo: Chambre de Commerce et d'Industrie Française du Japon Hachette, (2001); 絹と光: 知られざる日仏交流100年の歴史 (江戶時代-1950年代) Kinu to hikariō: shirarezaru Nichi-Futsu kōryū 100-nen no rekishi (Edo jidai-1950-nendai). Tokyo: Ashetto Fujin Gahōsha (2002)
- 4.www.napoleon.org
- 5.www.bnf.fr
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
Institutional database
Wikidata, structured authority record Q1684668: Jean-Baptiste Louis GrosWikimedia Foundation
Institutional witness
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Paintings
18,705 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
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- Jean-Baptiste LavastreArtist
- Jean-Baptiste Le PaonArtist
- Jean-Baptiste Le PrinceArtist
- Jean-Baptiste Marie PierreArtist
- Jean-Baptiste MartinArtist
- Jean-Baptiste MauzaisseArtist
- Jean-Baptiste MongeArtist
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