Almeida Garrett

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
lithograph of Garrett, by Pedro Augusto Guglielmi
BornJoão Baptista da Silva Leitão de Almeida Garrett
(1799-02-04)4 February 1799
Porto, Kingdom of Portugal
Died9 December 1854(1854-12-09) (aged 55)
Lisbon, Kingdom of Portugal
OccupationPoet, playwright, novelist, politician, journalist
NationalityPortuguese
Literary movementRomanticism
Notable worksViagens na Minha Terra, Camões, Frei Luís de Sousa
Signature
Minister and Secretary of State
of Foreign Affairs
In office
4 March 1852 – 17 August 1852
Prime MinisterThe Duke of Saldanha
Preceded byAntónio Jervis de Atouguia
Succeeded byAntónio Jervis de Atouguia
Chief Chronicler of the Kingdom of Portugal
In office
20 December 1838 – 16 July 1841
Prime MinisterThe Viscount of Sá da Bandeira
Preceded byJoão Bernardo da Rocha Loureiro
Succeeded byThe Viscount of Santarém
(as Guardian of the Royal Archives)
Inspector-General of the National Theatres and Shows
In office
22 November 1836 – 16 July 1841
Prime MinisterThe Viscount of Sá da Bandeira
Preceded byPosition established
Succeeded byJoaquim Larcher

João Baptista da Silva Leitão de Almeida Garrett, 1st Viscount of Almeida Garrett (Portuguese pronunciation: [alˈmɐjðɐ ɣɐˈʁɛtɨ]; 4 February 1799 – 9 December 1854) was a Portuguese poet, orator, playwright, novelist, journalist, politician, and a peer of the realm. A major promoter of theater in Portugal he is considered the greatest figure of Portuguese Romanticism and a true revolutionary and humanist. He proposed the construction of the D. Maria II National Theatre and the creation of the Conservatory of Dramatic Art.

Biography

Garrett was born in

Order of Christ, and his wife (they were married in 1796) Ana Augusta de Almeida Leitão (b. Porto
, c. 1770). At an early age, around 4 or 5 years old, Garrett changed his name to João Baptista da Silva Leitão, adding a name from his godfather and altering the order of his surnames.

In 1809, his family fled the

clergyman of Angra. In childhood, his mulatto Brazilian nanny
Rosa de Lima taught him some traditional stories that later influenced his work.

In 1818, he moved to Coimbra to study at the University law school. In 1818, he published O Retrato de Vénus [1], a work for which was soon to be prosecuted, as it was considered "materialist, atheist, and immoral"; it was during this period that he adopted and added his pen name de Almeida Garrett, who was seen as more aristocratic.

Although he did not take active part in the

Miguel of Portugal, he was again forced to settle in England, publishing Adozinda and performing his tragedy Catão at the Theatre Royal in Plymouth. [2]

Together with

Landing of Mindelo, carried out during the Liberal Wars. When a constitutional monarchy was established, he briefly served as its Consul General to Brussels; upon his return, he was acclaimed as one of the major orators
of Liberalism, and took initiative in the creation of a new Portuguese theatre (during the period, he wrote his historical plays Gil Vicente, D. Filipa de Vilhena, and O Alfageme de Santarém).

In 1843, Garrett published Romanceiro e Cancioneiro Geral, a collection of

The Hunchback of Notre Dame). O Arco de Santana signified a change in Garrett's style, leading to a more complex and subjective prose with which he experimented at length in Viagens na Minha Terra [3]
(Travels in My Homeland, 1846). His innovative manner was also felt in his poem collections Flores sem Fruto (Flowers without Fruit, 1844) and Folhas Caídas (Fallen Leaves) 1853).

Nobled by Dona

Minister of Foreign Affairs for only a few days in the same year (in the cabinet of the Duke of Saldanha
).

Almeida Garrett ended his relationship with Luísa Midosi and divorced in 1835 (who later remarried Alexandre Desiré Létrillard) to join 17-year-old Adelaide Deville Pastor in 1836 – she was to remain his partner until her early death in 1839, leaving a daughter named Maria Adelaide, whose early life tragedy and illegitimacy inspired her father to write the play Frei Luís de Sousa.

Later in his life he became the lover of Rosa de Montúfar y Infante, a

Spanish noblewoman daughter of the 3rd Marques de Selva Alegre, wife of Joaquim António Velez Barreiros, 1st Baron and 1st Viscount de Nossa Senhora da Luz and twice (277th and 286th) Commander of the Order of the Immaculate Conception of Vila Viçosa, and Minister and Governor of Cape Verde
, whom he celebrated at his last and probably best poetry book Folhas Caídas.

Garrett died of cancer in Lisbon at 6:30 in the afternoon of 9 December 1854. He was buried at the Cemetery of Prazeres and, on 3 May 1903, his remains were transferred to the national pantheon in the

Luís Vaz de Camões
.

Despite the wish that it went to his natural daughter, one of the reasons why he accepted it, his title passed on to the descendants of his brother Alexandre José da Silva de Almeida Garrett (7 August 1797 – 24 October 1847),

Royal Household, who was a partisan of King Miguel I of Portugal for all his life, and wife (m. 16 June 1822) Angélica Isabel Cardoso Guimarães (2 February 1803 –). He also had a sister Maria Amália de Almeida Garrett, who married in the Azores where they were then living with Francisco de Meneses de Lemos e Carvalho (Terceira, Angra do Heroísmo
, 20 September 1786 –) and had female issue.

Honour: Portugal issued a set of 4 postage stamps in honor of Joao Baptista da Silva Leitao de Almeida Garrett on 7 March 1957.

List of works

External links

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