Biographical Overview & Key Facts

Subject:

André Chénier

Role / Field:

Emotive French poet, precursor to Romanticism, tragically linked to the French Revolution.

Born:

1762-10-30

Died:

1794-07-25

Century / Era:

1762s Historical Era

Database Source:

2Day Chrono-Wiki & Wikipedia CC BY-SA 4.0

Origins & Early Life

André Marie Chénier (French pronunciation: [ɑ̃dʁe maʁi ʃenje]; 30 October 1762 – 25 July 1794) was a French poet associated with the events of the French Revolution, during which he was sentenced to death. His sensual, emotive poetry marks him as one of the precursors of the Romantic movement. His career was brought to an abrupt end when he was guillotined for supposed "crimes against the state". Chénier's life has been the subject of Umberto Giordano's opera Andrea Chénier and other works of art.

Pivotal Works & Achievements

Chénier was born in the Galata district of Constantinople. His family home, destroyed in a fire, was located on the site of the present Saint Pierre Han, in today's Karaköy neighborhood of Istanbul. His father, Louis Chénier, a native of Languedoc, after twenty years in the Levant as a cloth-merchant, was appointed to a position equivalent to that of French consul at Constantinople. His mother, Élisabeth Santi-Lomaca, whose half-sister was grandmother of Adolphe Thiers, was a Greek-speaking resident of Constantinople. On her father's side, she came from a Latin Catholic family of Chios, and on her mother's side, she may have been a descendant of Janus of Lusignan.

Enduring Legacy & Impact

When André was...

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Frequently Asked Questions about André Chénier