Charles Pictet de Rochemont - Geneva, Switzerland
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N 46° 12.046 E 006° 08.778
32T E 279835 N 5120312
Charles Pictet de Rochemont (21 September 1755 – 28 December 1824) was a statesman and diplomat who prepared the declaration of Switzerland's permanent neutrality ratified by the great powers in 1815.
Waymark Code: WMP872
Location: Genève, Switzerland
Date Posted: 07/18/2015
Views: 17
Charles Pictet was born on 21 September 1755 at Cartigny near Geneva into an aristocratic but tolerant family. He is the son of a colonel, Charles Pictet (1713–1792) and of Marie, born Dunant. Since his young age, he wanted to dedicate himself to a military career. At the age of 20 he went to France and for twelve years pursued a career in the French Army. After his marriage in 1786 to Adélaïde Sara de Rochemont he modified his name to the more aristocratic "Pictet de Rochemont". Two years later he entered the governing council of Geneva and was made responsible for reorganizing the urban militia.
In 1792 the former city councils of Geneva were suspended and a provisional government took over, declaring all citizens equal. In 1794 Pictet was placed under house arrest for a year. His father-in-law, Jean-François de Rochemont, was less lucky; he was executed.
Two apparently contradictory objectives of the new government, much favoured by Pictet, were to restore Genevan independence but also to make Geneva part of the Swiss Confederation. To achieve this it was necessary to: (a) to make Genevan territory homogenous (it consisted of several fragmented communes); and (b) to connect it physically to the canton of Vaud and thus to Switzerland as a whole (Versoix was in France).
Pictet participated in the first deputation sent in 1814 to request that the Great Powers support Geneva’s position. He then represented Geneva and Switzerland in several rounds of meetings held in Paris (Treaty of Paris) and Vienna (Congress of Vienna) during 1814 and 1815. While the victors were mainly interested in sharing the spoils of war, Pictet de Rochement’s political talent and diplomatic skills were aimed precisely at recovering Geneva’s independence and joining it to the twenty-one cantons then forming the Swiss Confederation, Valais and Neuchâtel having just entered as full and equal cantons.
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Description of the statue
The bronze statue, life-size, on a sandstone base approximately 80 cm high, a figure holding a bunch of documents in his left hand, dressed in a business suit.