Louis Marie Baptiste, baron ATTHALIN, born in Colmar (Haut-Rhin) on June 22, 1784 and died in the same city on September 3, 1856, is a French general and politician, who also distinguished himself as a painter, lithographer and watercolorist. Baron ATTHALIN became a student of the École Polytechnique on 1 November 1802. He acquired the officer candidate rank of second lieutenant (engineering) on 23 September 1804, appointed lieutenant 17 November 1806, and captain 16 September 1808. Campaigning with Napoleon's Grande Armée in 1806 and 1807, ATTHALIN distinguished himself in military actions at Gardadeu, Molérès-M-Rey, and Wals. ATTHALIN also campaigned at Texel in 1810, again with the Grande Armée in 1812-1814, and was present at the Blockade of Landau in 1815. During his time as a captain ATTHALIN came to the attention of Napoleon, who made him an aide de camp on 14 April 1811. ATTHALIN rose to battalion commander on 18 November 1813, and colonel on 15 March 1814. In this same year the Duke of Orléans, Louis-Philippe d'Orléans (the future king, Louis-Philippe I), named ATTHALIN as one of his own aide de camps. On 26 April 1815, during the Hundred Days of Napoleon, he was employed as the Commandant of Engineering at Landau. In 1817, he learned oil painting from Horace VERNET. Also a lithographer, he collaborates on several works such as "Voyages quintiques et romantiques dans I'Ancient France" by Isidore TAYLOR and Charles NODIER or "Antiquités de l'Alsace" by Golbéry and Schweighaeuser. On 12 August 1830, the now King Louis-Philippe I named ATTHALIN, now himself a general, as Maréchal de Camp. ATTHALIN, though, retained his role as aide de camp. The King sent ATTHALIN to Russia, to officially inform the Emperor Nicholas I of his new reign. Supported by the votes of the ministers of the King, ATTHALIN was elected to the fourth electoral college of Bas-Rhin (Strasbourg) on 23 January 1831. He remained as a member in what was referred to as the Chamber of Peers, until 11 October 1836. ATTHALIN continued to faithfully support the kingdom (known as the July Monarchy), and on 16 November 1840, he was promoted to lieutenant general. The subsequent fall and exile of the Orléans family, however, left him stripped of his titles. He retired on 14 August 1848 to Alsace and stayed away from politics for the remainder of his life, and devoted himself to watercolor. Without direct descendants, Baron ATTHALIN adopted in 1843 his nephew Louis LAURENT-ATTHALIN, whose vocation he encouraged as a watercolor artist.