Marc-René de Voyer de Paulmy d'Argenson (1722–1787)

Marc Antoine René de Voyer, Marquis de Paulmy and 3rd Marquis d'Argenson (1757) (22 November 1722, Valenciennes – 13 August 1787), was a French ambassador to Switzerland, Poland, Venice and to the Holy See; and later Minister of War. He was also a noted bibliophile and collector of art.

Marc Antoine René de Voyer was the only son of René-Louis de Voyer de Paulmy, marquis d' Argenson. He should not be confused with his grandfather, Marc-René, or his great-grandfather, also Marc-René, or in particular with his cousin Marc-René de Voyer d'Argenson (1721–1782).

In 1750 he was appointed to head the stables of King Louis XV and appointed governor of the Château de Vincennes in 1754. He served as French ambassador to Switzerland, Poland, Venice and to the Holy See. He followed his uncle, Marc-Pierre as war minister when the latter was forced from office by the influence of Madame de Pompadour in 1758.

He was a noted bibliophile and collector of art, whose private hope, reported in his memoirs was to be appointed director of the Bâtiments du Roi, a post that devolved upon Mme de Pompadour's highly competent brother. He built a château at Asnières in 1750, with expenses that scandalized his virtuous uncle, to set the tone for the Court and display his collection of works by Northern Renaissance masters. In the decade 1748-58 he appears repeatedly in the daybook of the marchand-mercier Lazare Duvaux, often purchasing Chinese celadon porcelains set in rococo French gilt-bronze mounts, and even bringing to Duvaux fine examples from his own collection to be mounted according to his taste. He was compelled by financial troubles to sell the house in 1769.

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