Antoine Crozat

Who was Antoine Crozat?

Antoine Crozat, marquis du Châtel, French founder of an immense fortune, was the first private proprietary owner of French Louisiana from 1712 to 1717.

Born in Toulouse, France the sons of peasants, he and his brother, Pierre, rose from obscurity to become two of the wealthiest merchants of France. By lending money to the government Antoine was ennobled as the marquis du Châtel, a noble title that he transmitted to his elder son Louis-François. He became a financial counsellor to Louis XIV. He invested in the Guinea Company and the Asiento Company, two lucrative overseas franchises. The king eventually offered him a 15‑year trade monopoly in Louisiana.

He married Marguerite Legendre. They had four children:

Marie Anne married the comte d'Évreux, Louis Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne, son of Godefroy Maurice de La Tour d'Auvergne and Marie Anne Mancini.

Louis François, marquis du Châtel

Joseph Antoine, marquis de Thugny

Louis Antoine, baron de Thiers, whose gallery of paintings inherited from his uncle Pierre Crozat, was purchased after his death for the collection of Catherine II of Russia, through Denis Diderot; the Crozat paintings now hang in the Hermitage Museum,.