Bernardin De Saint-PierreFrench writer and botanist Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre lived from 19 January 1737 in Le Havre to 21 January 1814 in Éragny, Val-d'Oise. He is best known for the children's book Paul et Virginie, which was first published in 1788 but is no completely forgotten. He was elected to the Institut de France in 1795, appointed director of the Botanical Gardens in 1797, and admitted to the Académie française in 1803. Saint-Pierre, who was greatly influenced by philosophers from the Enlightenment era like Voltaire and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, was an ardent supporter and practitioner of vegetarianism. He went to Mauritius in 1768, where he worked as an engineer and researched flora. Barye was undoubtedly familiar with Bernardin de Saint-Oeuvres Pierre's complètes, which were published in Paris in 1834. The author was one of Mme de Stal's "masters of authentic poetry" and the former head of the zoo at the Jardin des Plantes. Next to Charles Darwin, Alexander von Humboldt was the nineteenth-century's most well-known naturalist. Read More Read Less