-
Nom
-
Pigeon d'Onsangis, Jean
-
Date de naissance
-
1654
-
Date de mort
-
18 December 1739
-
Lieu de naissance
-
Danzy (Nivernois)
-
Couverture temporelle
-
Late17th/early 18th century
-
Biographie
-
The son of a coal and iron merchant, Pigeon was orphaned at a relatively early age and had little education beyond that supplied by a local clergyman in reading, writing, and the rudiments of arithmetic. Brought up by a wood-working friend of his father's, who introduced him to the skills of turning and cabinet-making, he displayed high curiosity for all that concened the technical arts, including painting which became his primary occupation, and learnt much by example. In 1674 he was drafted into the army against his will, but remained there twelve years during which time he not only displayed considerable courage in action, but also discovered the intoxication of reading and the fascination of astronomy and mechanics. Leaving the army in 1686 he established himself in Paris and married a widow with one son whose name is associated with his own, unjustly according to his eldest daughter, on the title page of his description of the clockwork sphere that he devised.
After working as a painter on the decoration of Versailles and the Château of Marly, Pigeon devoted himself to globe-making becoming the primary trade-supplier of globes to retailers/makers such as Nicolas Bion (qv). According to his daughter 'for over 30 years he was the only capable (workman) in France. He designed and made almost all the globes of his time'. After having made them under the names of various retailers, eventually he made globes for himself producing models of 7, 13.5 and 16cm. The 13.5cm model is dedicated to the Duc d'Orléans (1). At least one of Cattin's (qv) mechanical globes uses a 16cm globe by Pigeon. His chief claim to fame however was his production of Copernican demonstration models following his conversion to this system. This occurred during the time that he was developing a clockwork-driven planetary model which eventually issued in the machine that he completed in 1706, and which was presented by order to Louis XIV who subsequently purchased it having recognised in Pigeon the soldier who had distinguished himself during the combat with fire in one of the royal châteaux some years earlier. In the following years, Pigeon made four further clockwork spheres, one of which may have been sold to Peter the Great of Russia for 000 roubles 14 June 1717 (3). The fourth of them, the smallest and most accurate, was sold incomplete to Fortier, and the fifth, unsold at his death, was negotiated by his heirs to the Duc d'Orléans. Alongside these Pigeon also published a Copernican planisphere, dedicated to the Duc d'Orléans in 1713 (4), to whom he would also dedicate his second sphère mobile the following year. Enjoying a certain fashionability at the end of his life when he became a member of the Société des Arts, Pigeon suffered the misfortune of blindness caused by a cataract. That one of his spheres is mentioned in Diderot's novel Jacques le fataliste is a measure of the contemporary renown that he acquired (5).
-
Notes biographiques
-
1. Dekker 458.
2 Christies' 2. 7. 02 lot 184.
3 Kniajetskaiai & Chenakal 50.
4 Crouch N° 30; another example in the BNF.
5 This notice is largely based on the account of Pigeon given by his daughter Mme de Prémontval, Le Mécanist philosophe. Mémoire contenant plusieurs particularités de la vie et ouvrages du Sr. Jean Pigeon, Mathématicien, Membre de la Société des Arts, Auteur des premières sphères mouvantes, qui ayent été faites en France, selon l'hypothèse de Copernic, The Hague, 1750 (written, 1744). This work includes edited extracts from her father's papers on philosophical subjects.
-
Bibliographie
-
Sphère mouvante selon l'hypothèse de Copernic, inventé, dessiné, rendu mouvante et executée par J. Pigeon, 1711 (avec G. le Roy).
Proportions des diamètres et solidité des planètes comparées au soleil selon M. Huigins et les nouvelles observations. Presentées à son altesse royale Monseigneur le duc d'Orléans par son très humble et très obéissant serviteur J. Pigeon mathematicien, 1713 (broadsheet, eg. BnF Cartes & Plans).
Planisphères des planètes selon l'Hypothèse de Copernic avec leurs nœuds, leur distance et leur eccentricité. Presentées à son altesse royale Monseigneur le duc d'Orléans par son très humble et très obéissant serviteur J. Pigeon …, 1713.
Description d'une sphère mouvante par le moyen d'une pendule, d'un globe monté d'une façon particulière et d'un nouveau planisphère pour les distances et grosseurs des planètes, le tout selon l'hypothèse de Copernic, expliqué et démontré par J. Pigeon … ou par G. le Roy (J. Quillau), 1714.
L'usage du globe terrestre suspendu selon Copernic, inventé par J. Pigeon, Mlathematicien de la Société des Arts, Paris (G. F. Quillau), 1731.
-
Adresse ; enseigne ; période ; source
-
Au premier appartement du S.Filio Limonadier, Pl. Dauhphine Paris (Copernican planisphere).
-
Identifiant
-
168
-
ark:/18469/1qjqm