Marie Jeanne Amélie de Vigny (1757-1837), mother of Alfred de VIGNY

Alfred de Vigny (1797-1863), nephew of Louis de Baraudin (1760-1795) tells us about his uncle in his “Journal of a Poet” of which here is an extract:

“My mother's father (M. de Baraudin), old and venerable squadron leader at the time of this great navy of Louis XVI, which rivaled that of England and shared the Ocean with it, had been taken to the Loches prisons. His daughter and my father, who was crippled by his wounds, had followed him into captivity. He was a serious, learned and witty man. It is the tone of the court man, united with the energy of the seaman. This old captain of ten ships whom the fighting, under Mr. d'Orvilliers, had respected, was killed in one day in his prison by a letter from his son. This letter was dated from Quiberon. This brother of my mother, this uncle unknown to me, of whom I have a portrait painted by Girodet, was a naval lieutenant and wounded at the siege of Auray when he landed with M. de Sombreuil, asked his father for his blessing, having to be shot the next day. His farewell killed his father a day after the bullet had killed him. »

An inscription in ink, most probably in the hand of Alfred de Vigny, is visible on the back of the frame and allows us to read: "Louis de Baraudin was wounded in Auray and shot in 1795 on August 4 in Quiberon - Lieutenant of the royal navy in Hector's regiment, wounded in Auray in the leg, he was taken to the field where he was shot. "