Bernard Palissy, French Potter
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Bernard Palissy (1510-1589) was a French Huguenot (Protestant) potter, hydraulics engineer and craftsman. In his memoirs, he wrote that he was apprenticed to a glass painter and at the end of his apprenticeship he became a traveling workman. At some point, he was shown a white enameled cup (Chinese porcelain) and for nearly 16 years he labored to recreate the pottery. At times he and his family were reduced to poverty. When he did succeed in making the pottery it was inferior in artistic merit to the contemporary productions of Spain and Italy. In 1563, under royal protection, he was allowed to establish a fresh pottery works in Paris near the royal palace of the Louvre. Despite the protection of the nobles and the court, the fanatical outburst of 1588 led to his being thrown into the Bastille. Although Henry III offered him his freedom if he would recant, he refused to save his life on any such terms. Condemned to death when nearly 80 years old, he died in a Bastille dungeon in 1589.