Jean-Baptiste Gail by Julien-Léopold Boilly

Jean-Baptiste Gail (1755–1829) was a French

Hellenist Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Ancient Greek literature, Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient ...

scholar, member of the

Institut de France The (; ) is a French learned society, grouping five , including the Académie Française. It was established in 1795 at the direction of the National Convention. Located on the Quai de Conti in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, the institute m ...

(French Institute).

Early years

Gail was born in Paris on July 4, 1755. In 1791 he was appointed deputy, and in 1792 titular professor at the

Collège de France The Collège de France (), formerly known as the ''Collège Royal'' or as the ''Collège impérial'' founded in 1530 by François I, is a higher education and research establishment (''grand établissement'') in France. It is located in Paris ne ...

. During the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...

, he maintained his professional duties, taking no part in politics, although he managed to ingratiate himself with those in authority.

Career

In 1815 he was appointed by King

Louis XVIII of France Louis XVIII (Louis Stanislas Xavier; 17 November 1755 – 16 September 1824), known as the Desired (), was King of France from 1814 to 1824, except for a brief interruption during the Hundred Days in 1815. He spent twenty-three years in e ...

to the post of keeper of

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

manuscript A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand – or, once practical typewriters became available, typewritten – as opposed to mechanically printing, printed or repr ...

s in the royal

library A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vir ...

over the heads of the candidates proposed by the other conservators, an appointment which made him many enemies. Gail believed there was an organized conspiracy to belittle his learning and professional success, and there was a feud between him and his literary opponents, the most distinguished of whom was PL Courier.

Achievements

Without being a great Greek scholar, Gail was a hard worker, devoted to his favourite studies, and effectively rescued Greek from the neglect into which it had fallen during the revolutionary period. The list of Gail's published works filled 500 quarto pages of the introduction to his edition of

Xenophon Xenophon of Athens (; grc, wikt:Ξενοφῶν, Ξενοφῶν ; – probably 355 or 354 BC) was a Greek military leader, philosopher, and historian, born in Athens. At the age of 30, Xenophon was elected commander of one of the biggest Anci ...

. The most notable of these is his edition of

Theocritus Theocritus (; grc-gre, Θεόκριτος, ''Theokritos''; born c. 300 BC, died after 260 BC) was a Greek poet from Sicily and the creator of Ancient Greek pastoral poetry. Life Little is known of Theocritus beyond what can be inferred from hi ...

(1828). He also wrote a number of elementary educational works, based on the principles of the school of

Port-Royal Port Royal is the former capital city of Jamaica. Port Royal or Port Royale may also refer to: Institutions * Port-Royal-des-Champs, an abbey near Paris, France, which spawned influential schools and writers of the 17th century ** Port-Royal A ...

. His communications to the

Académie des Inscriptions An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, ...

being coldly received and seldom accorded the honour of print, he inserted them in a vast compilation in 24 volumes, which he called ''Le Philologue'', containing a mass of ill-digested notes on Greek

grammar In linguistics, the grammar of a natural language is its set of structure, structural constraints on speakers' or writers' composition of clause (linguistics), clauses, phrases, and words. The term can also refer to the study of such constraint ...

geography Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and ...

archaeology Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...

, and various authors. A list of his works will be found in JM Quérard, ''La France littéraire'' (1829), including the contents of the volumes of ''Le Philologue''.

Personal life and death

Gail married singer and composer

Sophie Gail Edmee Sophie Gail née Garre (28 August 1775 – 24 July 1819) was a French singer and composer. Life Sophie Garre was born in Paris in the parish of Saint Sulpice, the daughter of Marie-Louise Adelaide Colloz and surgeon Claude-Francois Ga ...

and was the father of classicist

Jean François Gail Jean François Gail (1795–1845) was a French classicist, the only son of the prolific hellenist and editor Jean-Baptiste Gail (1755–1829), and his wife Sophie Gail (1775–1819), a singer and composer. The parents married with two decades diff ...

. Jean-Baptiste died in Paris on February 5, 1829.

Notes

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gail, Jean-Baptiste 1755 births 1829 deaths Collège de France faculty French archaeologists