2-693-094 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

'Calonne', Charles Alexandre de Calonne, (c1820s). Calonne (1734-1802) was Controller-General of Finances under Louis XVI from 1783-1787. France's finances were in a disastrous state and Calonne attempted to bring in a series of taxes and other measures intended to replenish the royal treasury. He failed to have his proposals implemented due to opposition from the assembly of notables and was dismissed, reluctantly, by the king, who supported his proposals. The failure to implement Calonne's financial reforms is seen by some historians as having been an important catalyst in the downfall of the monarchy in the French Revolution. Etienne Charles de Lomenie de Brienne (1727-1794) succeeded Calonne as finance minister in 1787, but was no more able to get reforms accepted than his predecessor and was compelled to resign the following year. Although he swore the civic oath required by the revolutionary constitution after the French Revolution, his status under the Ancien Regime made him the subject of suspicion and he was arrested in 1793 and died in prison the following year.