BASTARD D'ESTANG, JEAN-FRANÇOIS-AUGUSTE. - French paleographer and archaeologist, b. at Nogaro on 11 Dec. 1792, d. at the castle of Bachac (near Bouglon, dept. of Lot-et-Garonne) on 16 Apr. 1883. A cavalry officer in Napoleon's service, he distinguished himself several times in combat, but his name is linked above all to his scientific activity, of which various archaeological studies are the record (noteworthy above all are his Etudes de symbolique chrétienne, Paris 1861), and three collections of a paleographic character, which unfortunately all remained unfinished: Librairie de Jean de France, premier duc de Berry (a large folio volume, suspended in 1835 after the 32nd plate); Costumes de la cour de Bourgogne sous le règne de Philippe III dit le Bon (interrupted after the 5th fascicle, of 25 plates in all, in 1844); Peintures et ornements des manuscrits, classés dans un ordre chronologique, pour servir à l'histoire des arts du dessin, depuis le IVe siècle de l'ère chrétienne jusqu'à la fin du XVIe siècle.
This last work, conceived according to a truly grandiose design, was begun in 1832 with the intention of gathering in facsimile a great number of miniatures from codices, important both for paleography and for the art of manuscript decoration. It was divided into three sections: the first paleographic, the second on French miniature painting, the third on foreign miniature painting. Two editions were begun, one intended for the French government (1835) and another for foreign states (1832): both had the first section in common (of the 120 plates planned, 75 were published), while the second and third had a different development. Of the edition for the French government there are several copies, some with 104, others with 112 plates of the second section: of that for abroad, 128 plates of the same section were published. Of the third, barely begun, there exists practically only a single copy at the national library of Paris, to which B.'s family ceded the copious material gathered by the scholar. The complicated publishing vicissitudes have deeply affected the fate of this work, to which the French government contributed the sum of over a million: extremely rare are the copies with a considerable number of plates; the copies to be found in our libraries normally comprise 16 fascicles, of 8 plates each, falling between the years 1832 and 1869 (v. the copy in the Biblioteca Nazionale Vittorio Emanuele of Rome).