Ballanche, Pierre Simon

PHILOSOPHER, POET (FRANCE)
BORN 4 Aug 1776, Lyon - DIED 9 Jun 1847, Paris
GRAVE LOCATION Paris: Cimetière de Montmartre, 20 Avenue Rachel (division 30, ligne 02)

Pierre Simon Ballanche was born in Lyon and there he witnessed the revolt of the royalists against the revolutionary convention, which ended with execution of 700 people. The horrors he saw impressed him deeply and he was a counterrevolutionary afterwards. An unhappy love affair added to his tragic view of life.

He worked as a printer in the shop he inherited from his father until 1814. In 1802 his "Du sentiment considéré dans son rapport avec la littérature" was published. In 1812 he met Juliette Récamier and after he moved to Paris he frequented her salon. In 1814 he published his poem "Antigone" and this made him well known.

In 1827 he published "Prolégomènes", the first volume of an epic philosophical work, but he never finished the second and third volumes. In 1842 he was elected into the Académie Française. He died in 1847 in Paris. He was buried in the same grave at the Montmartre cemetery as his friend Juliette Récamier.

Related persons
• was a friend of Récamier, Juliette

Images

The grave of Juliette Récamier at Montmartre Cimetière, Paris.
Picture by Androom (18 May 2005)

 

Sources
Winkler Prins Encyclopedie (editie 1909), 1909
Pierre-Simon Ballanche - Wikipedia


Ballantyne, Robert Michael

Published: 29 Jun 2018
Last update: 11 Mar 2022