Philibert Orry

Philibert Orry, comte de Vignory (1689–1747), was a French administrator and the longest-serving finance minister of his century. Born in Troyes, the son of the economist Jean Orry, he was a cavalry captain in the War of the Spanish Succession before serving as an intendant.

Appointed controller-general in 1730, he restored the dixième tax, fostered textiles and porcelain manufacture, and balanced the budget in 1739–1740. From 1736 he also ran the king's buildings, founded the Paris Salon, and built France's road network through the corvée.

In 1738 he instructed intendants to require inhabitants to work two weeks a year on roads. Madame de Pompadour's hostility forced his resignation in 1745.