and Descartes, as well as other scholars. He became a member of
academies of savants at Rome, Urbino, and Florence, and it was
through the Roman Academie degli Humoristi that he met Mazarin.
It was, however, Cardinal Richelieu, the great patron of literature
and the arts, and in 1635 the founder of the French Academy, who,
impressed by Naude's scholarly achievements, invited him to return
to Paris and assemble a major library. 2 Although happy in Italy, Naude
returned to Paris on 10 March 1642. A few months after his arrival
Richelieu died, and his successor Cardinal Mazarin appointed Naude
as his librarian and designated one wing of the Palais Tubeuf to serve
as a library.