Stamp - Nicolas Jacques-Conté (1755-1805)

The stamp features various elements representative of Nicolas Jacques Conté's career: the Oudjat eye, a reminder of the Egyptian campaign in which he participated / an observation balloon / a gear, echoing his role as an engineer / the pencil. The stamp and sheet were created by an artist working in wood pencil for the wink. Nicolas Jacques Conté was born on August 4, 1755 in Saint-Cénery-près-Sées (Aunou-sur-Orne). From his native thatched cottage to the Egyptian expedition, his career was that of a self-taught technical genius, an experimenter and inventor who knew how to adapt to needs and resources. Revealed by his paintings at the Hôtel-Dieu in Sées, he was sent by the diocese to study painting in Paris. A portraitist, geometer and inventor of a rotary pump, he returned to Paris to study science, where his pump was used for demonstrations by the physicist and aeronaut Charles. During the Revolution, Conté developed military aerostation. Based on a laboratory experiment by Lavoisier, he produced hydrogen in hundreds of cubic meters for the observation balloons built at the École nationale aérostatique he directed in Meudon. His eye patch is a reminder of the danger of his research. He also took part in the creation of the Conservatoire des arts et métiers and, in a wartime economy, invented the artificial lead pencil. The family business he founded to exploit the patent (1795) was to illustrate his name and dominate the market for almost two centuries. With Bonaparte in Egypt, he painted and studied the country's arts and crafts, and the Ateliers Mécaniques he directed supplied weapons, machines and instruments to the army and scientists. On his return, he edited the Description de l'Égypte and invented a machine to engrave it more cheaply. Founder of the Société d'encouragement pour l'industrie nationale and of the écoles d'arts et métiers, he continued his research into color and enamel. With the exception of the pencil, his inventions were freely disseminated, and his mercury-free barometer even accompanied the development of meteorology long after his death on December 6, 1805 in Paris.

Timbre-poste (taille-douce) : Création Clovis Rétif et gravure Louis Genty, d'après photos Portrait de Nicolas Jacques Conté, gravure (inv. 20458) (c) Musée des arts et métiers, Paris / photo Studio Cnam et ballon d'observation © SSPL/UIG / Bridgeman Images. Contours de feuilles : Création Clovis Rétif.