Denis-Pierre-Jean Papillon de la Ferté dating history

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Denis-Pierre-Jean Papillon de la Ferté
(Châlons-en-Champagne 17 February 1727 — Paris 7 July 1794) was a connoisseur of art and an administrator (an Intendant and from 1763 the sole Intendant) of the Menus-Plaisirs du Roi, the organization in the royal household (the Maison du Roi) that was responsible for the design and presentation of fêtes and ceremonies, weddings and funerals, at the court of France, beginning with his appointment in 1756. Even after the coming of the Revolution, he was retained until 1792, to oversee the more overtly Republican events of what had always been political as well as cultural statements ; in producing them, the conflicts among the dukes who were Gentilhommes de la Chambre, to whom Papillon de la Ferté reported and among whom he served as diplomat and peacemaker, also played a role. He was a victim of the Reign of Terror in 1794.