Afonso d'Escragnolle Taunay (1876 in

Florianópolis Florianópolis () is the capital and second largest city of the state of Santa Catarina, in the South region of Brazil. The city encompasses Santa Catarina Island and surrounding small islands, as well as part of the mainland. It has a populat ...

, Santa Catarina,

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

– 1958 in

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaWC a ...

) was a Brazilian writer, politician and noble.

Biography

Afonso was born in the ''Palácio Rosado'', the residence of Santa Catarina's governor. He was the only legitimate son of

Alfredo d'Escragnolle Taunay, Viscount of Taunay Alfredo Maria Adriano d'Escragnolle Taunay, Viscount of Taunay (February 22, 1843 – January 25, 1899), was a Brazilian writer, musician, professor, military engineer, historian, politician, sociologist and nobleman. He is famous for the region ...

, and Cristina Teixeira Leite (daughter of the Baron of

Vassouras Vassouras (, lit. 'Brooms') is a municipality located in the Brazilian state of Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous ...

). He was the grandson of Félix Taunay, baron of Taunay, and the great-grandson of the Count of Escragnolle, a French nobleman. He had one half-brother, João Pedro Nolasco, who was born in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

and married the basque woman Maria de Lima. He graduated in civil engineering at the ''Escola Politécnica do Rio de Janeiro'', around 1900. He taught at ''Escola Politécnica de São Paulo''. He was the director of ''Museu Paulista'' (now ''Museu Ipiranga'') from 1934 to 1937. He married Sara de Sousa Queirós, and had four sons: Ana Queirós Taunay, Paulo Taunay, Augusto de Escragnolle Taunay and Clarisse Taunay. He was a member of the

Brazilian Academy of Letters The Academia Brasileira de Letras (ABL) ( English: ''Brazilian Academy of Letters'') is a Brazilian literature, literary non-profit society established at the end of the 19th century. The first president, Machado de Assis, declared its found ...

. Taunay is commemorated in the scientific name of a species of Brazilian lizard, '' Colobodactylus taunayi''.Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . ("Taunay", p. 261).

Works

* Guia da Secção Histórica do Museu Paulista, 1937

References

Brazilian writers 1876 births 1958 deaths People from Florianópolis Members of the Brazilian Academy of Letters Brazilian nobility Brazilian people of French descent Museu do Ipiranga {{Brazil-noble-stub