Louis Gonse

His father, Jean Félix Emmanuel Gonse, was a civil servant who worked for the Post Office.

He obtained a law degree and audited classes at the École Nationale des Chartes, where he initially expressed an interest in Gothic art.

[1][2] He soon shifted his interests to Japanese art, enlisting Hayashi Tadamasa to help him with his research, and published his first article on the subject in Le Moniteur Universel, in 1873.

Also in 1891, he wrote a "Report for the creation of a Museum Fund" that was instrumental in establishing the Réunion des Musées Nationaux.

His brother, Charles-Arthur Gonse, an Adjutant to General Raoul Le Mouton de Boisdeffre, was involved in the Dreyfus Affair.