Bernardino Michele Maria Drovetti (1776-1852)

Italian diplomat and collector
Drovetti served in Napoleon's armies and became Vice-Consul, later Consul-General for France in Alexandria (1802-1814, 1821-1829). He became a great collector of antiquities, using many local agents and native diggers, especially at Thebes. His first collection was sold to the King of Sardinia in 1824 and is now in Turin. His second collection was acquired for the Louvre in 1827, and a third went to the Berlin Museum in 1836.