3-096-704 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Lannes, duc de Montebello, 1850. A voir cet air mélancolique et lugubre, qui se douterait jamais que c'est un marchand de vin de Champagne! (When looking at this melancholic and gloomy face, who would have ever have suspected him to be a wine merchant from Champagne). Napoléon-Auguste Lannes de Montebello (1801-1874), nicknamed the Bottle Maréchal of Aï, founded the champagne house of De Montebello in 1834. He was then made Minister of the Navy in 1847. With his name already on champagne labels, the press took great delight in mocking his dual status.