- Antoine-Vincent Arnault
Antoine-Vincent Arnault (1 January 1766 – 16 September 1834), was a French
dramatist .Arnault was born in
Paris . His first play, "Marius à Minturne" (1791), immediately established his reputation. A year later he followed with a second republicantragedy , "Lucrèce". Arnault left France during theReign of Terror , but on his return, he was arrested by the revolutionary authorities. He was freed through the intervention ofFabre d'Églantine and others. He was commissioned byNapoleon Bonaparte in 1797 with the organization of theIonian Islands , and was nominated to the Institute and made secretary general of the university. Arnault was faithful to his patron through his misfortunes, and after theHundred Days remained in exile until 1819. Arnault died atGoderville .Other plays of Arnult's are: "Blanche et Moncassin, ou les Vénitiens" (1798); and "Germanicus" (1816), the performance of which was the occasion of a disturbance in the
parterre which threatened serious political complications. His tragedies are now less well known than his "Fables" (1813, 1815 and 1826), which are written in graceful verse. Arnault collaborated a "Vie politique et militaire de Napoléon 1er" (1822), and wrote some very interesting "Souvenirs d'un sexagénaire" (4 vols, 1833), which contain much out-of-the-way information about the history of the years previous to 1804. Arnault's "Œuvres complètes" (4 vols.) were published at the Hague and Paris in 1818-9, and again (8 vols.) at Paris in 1824.Arnault's eldest son, Emilien Lucien (1787-1863), wrote several tragedies, the leading rôles in which were interpreted by Talma. [ Sainte-Beuve, "Causeries du lundi", vol. 7.]
Notes
*1911 The article is available here: [http://encyclopedia.jrank.org/APO_ARN/ARNAULT_ANTOINE_VINCENT_1766_18.html]
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