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| Paul-Philippe de Launay | |
|---|---|
| Name | Paul-Philippe de Launay |
| Birth date | 1 January 1960 |
| Birth place | Paris, France |
| Occupation | Historian, archaeology curator, museum director |
| Known for | Work on Ancient Rome, Pompeii, House of Augustus |
Paul-Philippe de Launay is a French historian, curator, and writer known for his work on Ancient Rome, Pompeii, and Roman material culture. He has served in curatorial and research roles bridging French institutions such as the Musée du Louvre, international excavations at Pompeii, and academic collaborations with universities including the École normale supérieure and the Sorbonne. His work engages themes connected to Roman Republic, Augustus, Roman law, and Mediterranean archaeology.
Born in Paris, de Launay was educated in French secondary institutions before attending the Sorbonne and the École normale supérieure for undergraduate and graduate studies in classical studies and archaeology. He completed doctoral research drawing upon archives from the Musée du Louvre, comparative material from Pompeii, fieldwork methodologies used at Herculaneum, and historiographical traditions from scholars like Theodor Mommsen and Giovanni Battista de Rossi. His training included philological approaches associated with the Collège de France and archaeological techniques promoted by the École française de Rome.
De Launay has held curatorial and research posts at institutions including the Musée du Louvre, the Musée national d'Archéologie at Saint-Germain-en-Laye, and the Institut national d'histoire de l'art. He participated in excavations and conservation projects at Pompeii and collaborated with the Soprintendenza Archeologica di Pompei and teams from the British Museum, Vatican Museums, and the National Archaeological Museum, Naples. His interdisciplinary projects connected classical philology prominent in the Bodleian Libraries tradition with material culture studies associated with the Getty Research Institute and comparative frameworks used by scholars at Harvard University and the University of Oxford. He has acted as a liaison between museum exhibition planning at the Musée d'Orsay and academic conferences sponsored by the European Association of Archaeologists and the International Council of Museums.
De Launay authored monographs and exhibition catalogues that have been exhibited at the Musée du Louvre, Musée de l'Homme, and traveling shows organized with the Smithsonian Institution, Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Kunsthistorisches Museum. His scholarly articles appeared in journals and series connected to the Bulletin de correspondance hellénique, Journal of Roman Studies, and publications affiliated with the École française de Rome and Cambridge University Press. He contributed chapters to edited volumes alongside authors from the British School at Rome, Princeton University Press, and Oxford University Press. As a public intellectual he participated in broadcasts on France Culture, interviews in Le Monde, and documentary features produced by Arte and the BBC that addressed topics ranging from Roman art and archaeological conservation to provenance debates involving collections formerly connected to the Louvre Abu Dhabi project.
His work on Roman domestic spaces, including studies referencing the House of the Vettii and the House of Augustus, advanced discussions on materiality and social history in ways cited by scholars at the University of Cambridge, the École pratique des hautes études, and the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History. De Launay engaged in debates about repatriation and provenance with institutions such as the Getty Museum, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and national authorities in Italy and Greece, contributing to policy conversations linked to the UNESCO conventions and national restitution claims by the Italian Republic. Some of his positions generated controversy in media outlets including Libération and discussions in parliamentary committees in France and Italy, involving stakeholders from the Ministry of Culture (France) and the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities.
He received honors and fellowships from bodies such as the École française de Rome, the Institut universitaire de France, and grants from the French National Centre for Scientific Research and the European Research Council. His curatorial work was recognized by awards from the Association Internationale des Critiques d'Art and commendations related to exhibitions co-organized with the Council of Europe and UNESCO-affiliated cultural heritage programs.
Category:French historians Category:French archaeologists Category:People from Paris