Jean-Pierre de Bougainville

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Jean-Pierre de Bougainville (born December 1, 1722 in Paris , † June 22, 1763 in Loches ) was a French ancient historian, permanent secretary of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres and a member of the Académie française .

life and work

Jean-Pierre de Bougainville was the older brother of circumnavigator Louis Antoine de Bougainville . He attended the Collège de Beauvais and completed his training in 1739 with a thesis. His historical research on the history of ancient Greece, which he did as a student of Nicolas Fréret and Charles d'Orléans de Rothelin , earned him a place in the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres as early as 1745 and succeeded him after Fréret's death in 1749 Academy Secretary. The Anti-Lucretius of Cardinal Melchior de Polignac , which Bougainville's teacher Rothelin had prepared for printing in Latin, Bougainville translated into French and provided the text with a preface of 85 pages. He published a manuscript by Fréret on the chronology of world history (also with a long foreword). He was royal censor, responsible for the antiquities in the Louvre and eventually also became secretary to the Duke of Orléans . In 1754, with the support of Madame de Pompadour, he was elected to the Académie française (seat no. 17).

Bougainville suffered from asthma all his life. He died of it at the age of 40.

Fonts

  • (Translator) Melchior de Polignac : L'Anti-Lucrèce, poème sur la religion naturelle . 2 vols. Paris 1749, 1754, 1760, 1765, 1780.
  • Parallèle de l'expédition d'Alexandre dans les Indes avec la conquête des mêmes contrées par Tahmas-Kouli-Khan . 1752.
  • (Ed.) Nicolas Fréret: Défense de la chronologie fondée sur les monuments de l'histoire ancienne, contre le système chronologique de M. Newton , par M. Fréret, secrétaire perpétuel de l'Académie royale des belles-lettres, publiée depuis la mort de l'auteur, pour servir de suite aux Mémoires de cette Académie. Paris 1758. (Editor's preface, 55 pages)

literature

  • Eloge de M. de Bougainville . In: Histoire de l'Académie royale des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres . Vol. 31. 1768, pp. 368-381 ( digitized version ).

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Bougainville, Jean-Pierre de
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French ancient historian, permanent secretary of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres and member of the Académie française
DATE OF BIRTH December 1, 1722
PLACE OF BIRTH Paris
DATE OF DEATH June 22, 1763
Place of death Paris