Étienne Vigée

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Portrait of the Young Vigée (1773) painted by his sister
Vigées burial site on the Père Lachaise

Louis-Jean-Baptiste-Étienne Vigée , called Étienne Vigée , (born December 2, 1758 in Paris , † August 7, 1820 there ) was a French man of letters , poet , playwright and revolutionary .

biography

Vigée was the son of an insignificant painter. He and his sister Elisabeth were trained by their father, but unlike his sister, he pursued a different career. He then took a lot of time with his education and it was not until 1783, at the age of 25, that he published his first comedy in the style of Claude-Joseph Dorat . The play, Aveux difficiles (Difficult Confessions), immediately evoked an adversary, the Baron d'Estat, who accused Vigée of stealing the idea from him. This quarrel was carried out publicly in the Journal de Paris and amused the readers very much, who ultimately sided with Vigées. When Vigée became aware, the Comte de Vaudreuil took him under his wing and gave him a position as secretary in a noble house, which he would hold until the French Revolution in 1789. Shortly before the revolution he took over the muses almanac founded by Claude-Sixte Sautreau de Marsy , the Almanach des muses , which he was to continue until his death.

Through the revolution he lost his position and he sided with the revolutionaries. On this occasion he wrote another piece, the Ode à la liberté , which was to celebrate the overthrow of the king and the victory of the Republicans . Vigée took over the chairmanship of a section of the Jacobins until 1793 Robespierre took over the regime, of which he was staunch opponent, and he was therefore imprisoned. There he wrote Nouvelle Chartreuse (New Charterhouse ), which described the circumstances of his detention. It was not until the end of 1794 that he was released from prison on bail given by friends, writers and artists. As a former Jacobin, he went into hiding in October of the following year after the Directory came to power. But as early as 1796 Vigée was rehabilitated and he was appointed head of the bureau à la liquidation , the authority that handled the fortunes of the revolutionary refugees. He held this office until Napoleon Bonaparte's coup in 1799.

After the death of Jean-François de La Harpe , he took over the literature lectures at the Lycée , which gave him great pleasure. He taught students to read verses and declamations . In general, he had come to an end with the revolutionary years, in which he lost everything, and quoted, loosely based on Jean-François Ducis : Je suis riche du bien dont je sais me passer (I am rich in the good that I know as I am about it can do without). For this activity and his pieces he was widely recognized and he was made a Knight of the Legion of Honor . From then on he never forgot to put the title Chevallier in front of his name .

Vigée was a member of the Association philotechnique and applied several times unsuccessfully to the Académie française , whereupon he wrote a mocking poem. In response, Nicolas-Louis François de Neufchâteau also gave him a mocking poem that Vigée described as foolish and that all of Paris would take him at his word if he applied again.

Vigée had made many enemies in his life. In addition, the success of his younger years diminished and faded. He became increasingly depressed and annoyed, which led to the point that, full of sarcasm, he saw only envious people and enemies around him. Towards the end of his life, Vigée suffered from increasing health problems. He also wrote an epistle for his funeral mass and precise instructions for his funeral procession and burial, which he commissioned his friend Ange-Étienne-Xavier Poisson de La Chabeaussière .

Vigée's comedies were neither particularly funny nor particularly lifelike, but they impressed with their precise language and detailed descriptions of moments of happiness and love. His poems, which he wrote alongside the comedies, revealed high language skills.

Works (excerpt)

Comedies

  • Aveux difficiles , 1783
  • La Belle Mère , 1788
  • Dangerss d'un seconde mariage , 1788
  • L'Entrevue , 1789
  • La Matinée d'une jolie femme , 1792
  • Nouvelle Chartreuse , 1794
  • La Métromanie ,
  • La nouvelle abeille du Parnasse , 1808

Poems

  • Ma Jeunesse
  • Mes contentions
  • Mes visits
  • Mes Rencontres

literature

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Vigée, Etienne
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Vigée, Louis-Jean-Baptiste-Étienne (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French man of letters, playwright and revolutionary
DATE OF BIRTH December 2, 1758
PLACE OF BIRTH Paris
DATE OF DEATH August 7, 1820
Place of death Paris