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Jean de La Fontaine
1621-1695
Historical Figure
His Fables made him the most widely read poet in the French language. Jean de La Fontaine, a man of letters of the Grand Siècle, published the three collections between 1668 and 1694 that overshadow the rest of his work.
In 1658, he entered the service of Nicolas Fouquet, for whom he composed Le Songe de Vaux, a tribute to the château of Vaux-le-Vicomte. His patron's downfall left him without support.
Taken in by Madame de La Sablière, he was admitted to the Académie française in 1684, after considerable resistance, and sat there until his death in 1695.
