Can anyone tell me anything about Fernand de Girardin?

Question

I want to know who actually Fernand de Girardin was,besides Feuchtwanger's novel's character.

Answer 1

You may be talking about someone completely different ...
but Fernand the Marquis de Girardin wrote a book about the French philospher, Jean-Jacques Rousseau. The book was entitled (in French, of course, because I do not think that an English language edition was ever published): "Iconographie de Jean-Jacques Rousseau; portraits, scènes, habitations, souvenirs." This book was essentially a tribute and memorial to Rousseau.

Fernand de Girardin was a friend of Rousseau. If you click on the first link-source below (mcah.columbia) and scroll down a liitle beyond halfway, look for illustrations from the above-mentioned book, under the title Gardens at Ermenonville. You should find 3 of them (you can click for enlargement of these thumbprints).

He also wrote a book on landscape gardening entitled "De la Composition des paysages, ou, des moyens d'embellir la nature autour des habitations, en y joignant l'agreable a l'utile", which was published in 1777. An English-version was published in 1783, under the title: "Essay on the means of improving and embellishing the country round our habitations".

The aristocratic de Girardin family were heavily involved in both art and literature. The other links I provide below will take you to sites dealing with some of those other family members.

Answer 2

He was a a marquis and a devoted supporter of Jean-Jacques Rousseau and the author of Iconography of the Works of Jean-Jacques Rousseau and many other publications. He lived from 1847 to 1924.