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,

Pyrénées-Orientales Pyrénées-Orientales (; ; ; ), also known as Northern Catalonia, is a departments of France, department of the Regions of France, region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Southern France, adjacent to the northern Spain, Spanish ...

. He was the brother of

François Arago Dominique François Jean Arago (), known simply as François Arago (; Catalan: , ; 26 February 17862 October 1853), was a French mathematician, physicist, astronomer, freemason, supporter of the Carbonari revolutionaries and politician. Early l ...

(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 (1755–1845). His four other brothers were Jean Arago (1788–1836), a general in the Mexican army; Victor Arago (1792-1867), a military in France; Joseph Arago (1796-1860), also a military in France and Mexico, Étienne Arago (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 M ...

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 , ''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 avoided.McArthur, Tom (1992). ''The ...

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 the natural phenomenon in which the rays of light passing through a aperture, small hole into a dark space form an image where they strike a surface, resulting in an inverted (upside down) and reversed (left to right) ...

," 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, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

. 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, Hawaii. The museum is the largest of its kind in the state, and was founded in 1922 by Anna Rice Cooke. It 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 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 July Revolu ...

and Jacques Arago * 1834 : ''Un noviciat diplomatique'' * 1836 : ''Le Cadet de Gascogne'', by Léon Buquet 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 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 Hawaiian Kingdom, Kingdom of Hawaii from 1819 to 1824. His birth name was Liholiho and full name was Kalaninui kua Liholiho i ke kapu ʻIolani. It was lengthened to Kala ...

'', 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 19th-century French illustrators 19th-century French male writers