Collection MSG 1274 - Marquis de la Jonquière Collection

Antoine-Louis Rouillé was born on June 7, 1689, in Paris and died in Neuilly in 1761. He was the son of Marie-Louis-Paulin Rouillé and Marie-Angélique d’Aquin. Rouillé was a French statesman and count of Jouy-en-Josas (Île-de-France), he served in multiple government posts before being appointed secretary of state for the navy in the 1740s and foreign secretary in 1754 under the rule of King Louis XV. In this role, Rouillé pursued a pacific policy to attempt to avoid the escalation of conflict with the British in North America. However, he was unable to prevent the outbreak of the Anglo-French conflict in 1756, during the Seven Years’ War. That same year, he was one of the French signatories to sign the first Treaty of Versailles, which joined France and Austria together in an alliance. For a brief period in 1753, he served as President of the French Academy of Sciences but remained an active member from 1751 to 1761. In June 1757, Rouillé was replaced as Foreign Secretary. He received two awards, the title of Officer of the Order of the Holy Spirit and Knight of the Order of Saint-Michel. Fort Rouillé on the southern shore of Lake Ontario (built in 1750 or 1751) was named in his honour.