Jacques Balmat it turns out, possesses an extraordinary mountaineering sense, an unerring instinct for the crevasses and seracs of the glaciers ..." After the successful ascent, Balmat collected the reward offered 25 years before by Horace-Bénédict de Saussure to the first man who could climb Mont Blanc. On 3 August 1787 he assisted de Saussure himself to reach the summit with a party of about 17 people. During the Napoleonic Wars, Savoy fell under French control, and Citizen Jacques Balmat became a member of the council of the commune. He led an unsuccessful attempt to introduce Merino sheep into the Chamonix valley.
Michel Martin Drolling Michel Martin Drolling Michel Martin Drolling (7 March 1786 – 9 January 1851) was a neoclassic French painter, painter of history and portraitist. He was born in Paris. There, he began painting under the supervision of his father, the painter Martin Drolling. After 1806, he studied with Jacques-Louis David. He won the Prix de Rome in 1810 for "The Wrath of Achilles". After having worked at the French Academy in Rome, he became known for the "Death of Abel", exhibited at the Salon of 1817. Consequently, he received many orders and produced, notably, "The Lord Descends to Earth to Establish