Pierre-Louis Ginguené
Pierre-Louis Ginguené (25 April 1748 – 16 November 1816) was a French author.
Also recorded as Pierre-Louis Ginguene
Pierre-Louis Ginguené

Joseph Chinard · This file comes from Gallica Digital Library and is available under the digital ID bpt6k442192g/f2 · Public domain
- Born
- 1748. · Rennes.
- Died
- 1816. · former 11th arrondissement of Paris.
- Nationality
- France.
- Occupation
- politician, journalist, diplomat, poet, historian, playwright, literary critic and literary scholar.
- Education
- Émile Zola school in Rennes.
- Known for
- La Décade philosophique.
- Languages
- French.
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
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Documentary summary
Pierre-Louis Ginguené (25 April 1748 – 16 November 1816) was a French author.
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Note VALÉORINE
Pierre-Louis Ginguené (1748–1816) was a French diplomat, historian and journalist, among other activities. Born in Rennes, the diplomat died in former 11th arrondissement of Paris.
Pierre-Louis Ginguené studied at Émile Zola school in Rennes. The diplomat was a member of Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, Academy of Sciences of Turin and Accademia della Crusca, among others and held the positions of Ambassador of France and member of the Tribunat. Pierre-Louis Ginguené worked in Paris.
Works include La Décade philosophique. Languages used include French.
Composed from admitted, traceable facts · 28 September 2026
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Authority files
wikidata · Q1379808 · wikipedia · Pierre-Louis Ginguené
In this article
Biography
Biography
Pierre-Louis Ginguené studied at Émile Zola school in Rennes. The recorded working language is French. Places of work recorded in the authority are Paris. Positions recorded include member of the Tribunat and Ambassador of France. Works named in the authority record are La Décade philosophique.
He was born at Rennes, in Brittany, and educated at a Jesuit college there. He came to Paris in 1772, and wrote criticisms for the Mercure de France. He also composed a comic opera, Pomponin (1777). The Satire des satires (1778) and the Confession de Zulmé (1779) followed. The Confession was claimed by several different authors and was very successful. Ginguené's defence of Niccola Piccinni against the partisans of Gluck made him more widely known. He hailed the first symptoms of the French Revolution, and joined Giuseppe Cerutti, the author of the Mémoire pour le peuple français (1788), and others in producing the Feuille villageoise, a weekly paper addressed to the villages of France. He also celebrated in an indifferent ode the opening of the states-general. In his Lettres sur les confessions de J.-J. Rousseau (1791), he defended the life and principles of his author. He was imprisoned during the Reign of Terror and escaped with life only by the downfall of Maximilien Robespierre. After his release he assisted, as director-general of the "commission exécutive de l'instruction publique", in reorganizing the system of public instruction, and he was an original member of the Institute of France. In 1797, the Directory appointed him minister plenipotentiary to the king of Sardinia. After seven months, Ginguené retired to his country house of St Prix, in the valley of Montmorency. He was appointed a member of the tribunate, but Napoleon, finding that he was not sufficiently tractable, had him expelled at the first "purge", and Ginguené returned to his literary pursuits.
Career
Career
He was one of the commission appointed to continue the Histoire littéraire de la France, and he contributed to the volumes of this series which appeared in 1814, 1817 and 1820. Ginguené's most important work is the Histoire littéraire d'Italie (14 vols., 1811–1835). He was putting the finishing touches to the eighth and ninth volumes when he died. The last five volumes were written by Francesco Salfi and revised by Pierre Daunou. In the composition of his history of Italian literature he was guided for the most part by the great work of Girolamo Tiraboschi, but he avoids the prejudices and party views of his model. Ginguené edited the Décade philosophique, politique et littéraire until it was suppressed by Napoleon in 1807. He contributed largely to the Biographie universelle, the Mercure de France and the Encyclopidie méthodique; and he edited the works of Nicolas Chamfort and of Lebrun. Among his minor productions are an opera, Pomponin on le tuteur mystifié (1777); La Satire des satires (1778); De l'autorité de Rabelais dans la revolution présente (1791); De M. Neckar (1795); Fables nouvelles (1810); Fables inédites (1814).
Works
Works
Pomponin, ou le tuteur mystifié, opéra bouffon en 2 actes, représenté au château de Fontainebleau en 1777 La Satire des satires, 1778 Épître au poète Le Brun pour l’engager à publier le recueil de ses poésies, avril 1785 Éloge de Louis XII, Père du peuple, discours qui a concouru pour le prix de l’Académie française in 1788 Ode sur les États généraux, 1789 De l’Autorité de Rabelais dans la révolution présente et dans la constitution civile du clergé, ou institutions royales, politiques et ecclésiastiques, tirées de "Gargantua" et de "Pantagruel", 1791 Lettres sur les Confessions de J.-J. Rousseau, 1791 Tableaux de la Révolution française, ou Collection de quarante-huit gravures, représentant les événements principaux qui ont eu lieu en France depuis la transformation des États généraux en Assemblée nationale, le 20 juin 1789, en collaboration avec l’abbé Claude Fauchet, Chamfort et Pagès, 1791–1804 De M. Necker, et de son livre intitulé: "De la révolution française", 1796 Notice sur la vie et les ouvrages de Nicolas Piccinni, 1800 Coup d’œil rapide sur le ″Génie du christianisme″, ou Quelques pages sur les cinq volumes in-8° publiés sous ce titre par François-Auguste Chateaubriand, 1802 Lettres de P.-L. Ginguené,... à un académicien de l’Académie impériale de Turin [l’abbé Valperga de Caluso] sur un passage de la vie de Vittorio Alfieri, 1809 Fables nouvelles, 1810 Histoire littéraire d’Italie, 1811 Notice sur la vie et les ouvrages de M.-J. de Chénier, 1811 Les Noces de Thétis et de Pélée, poème de Catulle, traduit en vers français, 1812

Portrait of Pierre-Louis Ginguené (1748–1815), French scholar, literary historian, music critic, and politician.
Auguste Adrien Jouanin / Henri-Pierre Danloux · This file comes from Gallica Digital Library and is available under the digital ID btv1b8420314p

Identificatie Titel(s): Portret van de schrijver Pierre-Louis GinguenéGinguené, Pierre-Louis (titel op object). Leden van het Institut Royal de France (serietitel). Iconographie de l'Institut royal de France (serietitel op object)
Rijksmuseum
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1748
Pierre-Louis Ginguené born at Rennes.
1816
Pierre-Louis Ginguené died at former 11th arrondissement of Paris.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Rennes.
Birth place
former 11th arrondissement of Paris.
Death place
Legacy
Ginguené is buried in the Père-Lachaise cemetery in Paris. The Rue Ginguené in Rennes is named after him.
Primary material
Documents and archives
scholarly publication
- « Solenni vindicie » : Pierre-Louis Ginguené historien de la littérature médiévale italienne, Ginguené (1748-1816), 1995
Scholarly · Crossref registry · 1995
- Premier inventaire de la correspondance privée de Pierre-Louis Ginguené, Ginguené (1748-1816), 1995
Scholarly · Crossref registry · 1995
reference work
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q1379808: Pierre-Louis Ginguené
Reputable secondary · Wikimedia Foundation
- “Pierre-Louis Ginguené”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
Bibliography printed in the source article · 8
- Paolo Grossi, Pierre-Louis Ginguené, historien de la littérature italienne, Bern, Lang, 2006 ( )
- Édouard Guitton, Ginguené : idéologue et médiateur, Rennes, Presses universitaires de Rennes, 1995 ( )
- Paul Hazard, Journal de Ginguené, 1807–1808, avec une étude, Paris, Hachette, 1910
- Cristina Trinchero, Pierre-Louis Ginguené (1748–1816) e l’identità nazionale italiana nel contesto culturale europeo, Roma, Bulzoni, 2004 ( )
- Sergio Zoppi, P.-L. Ginguené journaliste et critique littéraire, Torino, G. Giappichelli, 1968
- "Eloge de Ginguené" by Dacier, in the Mémoires de l'institut, tom. vii.;
- "Discours" by M. Daunou, prefixed to the second ed. of the Hist. litt. d'Italie;
- Dominique Joseph Garat, Notice sur la vie et les ouvrages de PL Guingené, prefixed to a catalogue of his library (Paris, 18I7).
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
scholarly publication
« Solenni vindicie » : Pierre-Louis Ginguené historien de la littérature médiévale italienne, Ginguené (1748-1816), 1995Crossref registry
Verifiedscholarly publication
Premier inventaire de la correspondance privée de Pierre-Louis Ginguené, Ginguené (1748-1816), 1995Crossref registry
Verifiedreference work
Wikidata, structured authority record Q1379808: Pierre-Louis GinguenéWikimedia Foundation
Partially resolvedreference work
Partially resolved
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
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