AMPERE, JEAN JACQUES (1800-1864), French philologist and
man of letters, only son of Andre Marie Ampere, was born at
Lyons on the 12th of August 1800. He studied the folk-songs
and popular poetry of the Scandinavian countries in an extended
tour in northern Europe. Returning to France, he delivered
in 1830 a series of lectures on Scandinavian and early German
poetry at the Athenaeum in Marseilles. The first of these
was printed as De l'Histoire de la poesie (1830), and was
practically the first introduction of the French public to
the Scandinavian and German epics. In Paris he taught at
the Sorbonne, and became professor of the history of French
literature at the College de France. A journey in northern
Africa (1841) was followed by a tour in
Greece and Italy, in
company with Prosper Merimee and others. This bore fruit
in his Voyage dantesque (printed in his Grece,
Rome et
Dante, 1848), which did much to popularize the study of Dante in
France. In 1848 he became a member of the French Academy, and
in 1851 he visited America. From this time he was occupied
with his chief work, L'Histoire romaine a
Rome (4 vols.,
1861-1864), until his death at Pau on the 27th of March 1864.
The Correspondance et souvenirs (2 vols.) of A. M. and J. J.
Ampere (1805-1854) was published in 1875. Notices of J. J. Ampere
are to be found in Sainte-Beuve's Portraits litteraires, vol.
iv., and Nouveaux Lundis, vol. xiii.; and in P. Merimee's
Portraits historiques et litteraires (2nd ed., 1875).
Initial text from 1911 encyclopedia -- Please update as needed