Jacques Étienne Victor Arago (6 March 1790 – 27 November 1855) was a French writer, artist and explorer, author of a ''Voyage Round the World''.

Biography

Jacques was born in

Estagel Estagel (; ca, Estagell) is a commune in the Pyrénées-Orientales department in southern France. Geography Localisation Estagel is located in the canton of La Vallée de l'Agly and in the arrondissement of Perpignan. Population ...

Pyrénées-Orientales Pyrénées-Orientales (; ca, Pirineus Orientals ; oc, Pirenèus Orientals ; ), also known as Northern Catalonia, is a department of the region of Occitania, Southern France, adjacent to the northern Spanish frontier and the Mediterranean Sea ...

. He was the brother of

François Arago Dominique François Jean Arago ( ca, Domènec Francesc Joan Aragó), known simply as François Arago (; Catalan: ''Francesc Aragó'', ; 26 February 17862 October 1853), was a French mathematician, physicist, astronomer, freemason, supporter of t ...

(1786–1853), a scientist and politician, the most famous of the six Arago brothers. His parents were François Bonaventure Arago (1754–1814) and

Marie Arago Marie Arago, born Marie-Anne Roig (3 November 1755 – 5 September 1845) was a French woman, wife of François Bonaventure Arago and mother of François, Jean, Jacques, Victor, Joseph and Étienne Arago. She raised her eight children alone after th ...

(1755–1845). His four other brothers were Jean Arago (1788–1836), a general in the

Mexican Mexican may refer to: Mexico and its culture *Being related to, from, or connected to the country of Mexico, in North America ** People *** Mexicans, inhabitants of the country Mexico and their descendants *** Mexica, ancient indigenous people ...

army; Victor Arago (1792-1867), a military in France; Joseph Arago (1796-1860), also a military in France and Mexico,

Étienne Arago Étienne Vincent Arago (9 February 1802 – 7 March 1892) was a French writer and politician, and co-founder (with Maurice Alhoy) of the newspaper ''Le Figaro''. Early life Arago was born in Perpignan, the youngest of the four Arago brothers. ...

(1802–1892), a writer and politician. Jacques Arago joined

Louis de Freycinet Louis Claude de Saulces de Freycinet (7 August 1779 – 18 August 1841) was a French Navy officer. He circumnavigated the earth, and in 1811 published the first map to show a full outline of the coastline of Australia. Biography He was born at ...

as an artist when he left Toulon in 1817 in command of a scientific voyage around the world aboard the corvette ''Uranie''. The expedition returned in 1820 and Arago was the first to publish an account, the ''Promenade autour du monde'', in the form of letters to a friend named Battle, in 1822. An English translation followed in 1823. He continued to expand on his adventures in further editions and in the late 1830s published a much longer version under the title ''Souvenirs d'un Aveugle'' (Memoirs of a Blind Man). There are significant differences from the ''Promenade'' and the reliability is in doubt. Having been given a challenge many years later by a lady at a social dinner, he then published ''Voyage autour du monde, sans la lettre A'' (''Voyage around the world, without the letter A''), later known as ''Curieux voyage autour du monde'', in 1853, where he tells of his round trip

lipogram A lipogram (from grc, λειπογράμματος, ''leipográmmatos'', "leaving out a letter") is a kind of constrained writing or word game consisting of writing paragraphs or longer works in which a particular letter or group of letters is a ...

matically, that is, without once using the letter "A". The lady replied with a letter without the letter C. On the Freycinet expedition to Hawaii in 1819, Arago "showed Riouriou a

Camera obscura A camera obscura (; ) is a darkened room with a small hole or lens at one side through which an image is projected onto a wall or table opposite the hole. ''Camera obscura'' can also refer to analogous constructions such as a box or tent in w ...

," the first such ever seen in the Hawaiian islands. Although Arago lost his sight in 1837, he went on traveling and writing for the theater. He died in

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 state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

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 ...

. Over forty of his drawings were donated to the

Honolulu Museum of Art The Honolulu Museum of Art (formerly the Honolulu Academy of Arts) is an art museum in Honolulu, Hawaii. The museum is the largest of its kind in the state, and was founded in 1922 by Anna Rice Cooke. The museum has one of the largest single co ...

by Frances Damon Holt.

Works

* 1822 : ''Promenade autour du monde pendant les années 1817, 1818, 1819 et 1820, sur les corvettes du Roi ''L'Uranie'' et ''La Physicienne'', commandées par M. Freycinet''

Plays

* 1825 : ''Le Compagnon d'infortune ou les Prisonniers'', by Emmanuel Théaulon and Jacques Arago * 1832 : ''Le Duc de Reichstadt'', by

Louis Lurine Louis Lurine (1812 – 30 November 1860) was a 19th-century French homme de lettres, journalist, playwright, novelist and historian. Biography Born in Spain from French parents, he was raised in Paris and Bordeaux. He started writing at an ea ...

and Jacques Arago * 1834 : ''Les Papillotes'', by

Jacques-François Ancelot Jacques-Arsène-Polycarpe-François Ancelot (9 January 1794 – 7 September 1854) was a French dramatist and litterateur. Biography Born in Le Havre, Ancelot became a clerk in the admiralty, and retained his position until the Revolution of ...

and Jacques Arago * 1834 : ''Un noviciat diplomatique'' * 1836 : ''Le Cadet de Gascogne'', by

Léon Buquet Leon, Léon (French) or León (Spanish) may refer to: Places Europe * León, Spain, capital city of the Province of León * Province of León, Spain * Kingdom of León, an independent state in the Iberian Peninsula from 910 to 1230 and again f ...

and Jacques Arago * 1837 : ''Un mois à Naples'', by Duplessy and Jacques Arago * 1838 : ''Mademoiselle d’Alvigny, lieutenant de dragons'' * 1840 : ''Le Camélia'', by Édouard Gouin and Jacques Arago * 1840 : ''L’Éclat de rire'', by

Alexandre Martin Alexandre Martin (27 April 1815 – 28 May 1895), nicknamed Albert l'Ouvrier ("Albert the Worker"), was a French socialist statesman of the French Second Republic. He was the first member of the industrial working class to be in French gover ...

and Jacques Arago

Essays

* 1824 : ''Collection de proverbes et bons-mots'' * 1824 : ''Aux jeunes poètes de l'époque'' * 1827 : ''Le Fond du sac ou les Rognures de la censure'' * 1829 : ''Promenades historiques, philosophiques et pittoresques dans le département de la Gironde''

Gallery

File:'Ooro, One of the Principal Officers of Kamehameha II', pen and ink wash over graphite by Jacques Arago, 1819, Honolulu Academy of Arts.jpg, ''Ooro, One of the Principal Officers of

Kamehameha II Kamehameha II (November 1797 – July 14, 1824) was the second king of the Kingdom of Hawaii. His birth name was Liholiho and full name was Kalaninui kua Liholiho i ke kapu ʻIolani. It was lengthened to Kalani Kaleiʻaimoku o Kaiwikapu o Laʻa ...

'', pen and ink wash over graphite, 1819,

File:'Iles Sandwich - Manier dont les Naturels se Tatouent' (Tattooing, Sandwich Islands) by Jacques Arago.jpg, Tattooing, Sandwich Islands,

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Arago, Jacques 1790 births 1855 deaths People from Pyrénées-Orientales 19th-century French writers Writers from Occitania (administrative region) French bird artists French illustrators French male writers 19th-century French male writers