Émile Gebhart (19 July 1839, Nancy,

Meurthe-et-Moselle Meurthe-et-Moselle () is a '' département'' in the Grand Est region of France, named after the rivers Meurthe and Moselle. Its prefecture and largest city is Nancy and it borders the departments of Meuse to the west, Vosges to the south, ...

– 22 April 1908,

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

) was a French academic and writer, He was elected to the

Académie Française An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

(fauteuil 34) in 1905. He was attacked by Radicals for his religious and patriotic ideals.

Life

He was the grand-nephew of General Drouot. Having finished his studies in the ''lycée'' of Nancy, he was admitted to the École Française of

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

, where he researched future works. When he returned to France he was sent to the ''lycée'' of

Nice Nice ( ; ) is a city in and the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative city limits, with a population of nearly one millionUniversity of Nancy. A chair of Southern European literature was instituted specially for him at the Sorbonne, in 1880. For the twenty-six years during which he retained that position, he was a most popular professor, his lectures being attended by enthusiastic audiences both of students and of men and women of the world. In 1895 he was elected to the Academy of Moral and Political Sciences. Every summer, for twenty-five years, he spent three months in Italy, visiting Rome, Milan, Florence, Venice, seeking books in libraries, staying in monasteries and talking with the monks, and gathering popular legends.

Works

His favourite subjects were Greek antiquity and the Italian Renaissance. His style is clear, if slightly sarcastic at times. His works include: *"Praxitele" (1864), *"La Renaissance et la Réforme" (1877), *"Les Origines de la Renaissance en Italie" (1879), *"L' Italie mystique" (1890), translated as "Mystics and Heretics in Italy" (1922), *"Le son des Cloches, contes et légendes" (1898), *"Moines et Papes" (1896), *"Autour d' une tiare" (1894), *"Cloches de Noël et de Pâques" (1900), *"Conteurs florentins au moyen-âge" (1901), *"Jules II" (1904), * "Florence" (1906), *"Souvenirs d'un vieil Athénien" (1911).

References

External links

* *
Académie française page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gebhart, Emile 1839 births 1908 deaths 19th-century French historians 19th-century French writers Members of the Académie Française Members of the Académie des sciences morales et politiques Academic staff of Nancy-Université French male non-fiction writers Members of the Ligue de la patrie française