Jean de La Fontaine
(1621-1695)

poet and fabulist

Died aged 73

Jean de La Fontaine (UK: /ˌlæ fɒnˈtɛn, -ˈteɪn/, US: /ˌlɑː fɒnˈteɪn, lə -, ˌlɑː foʊnˈtɛn/, French: [ʒɑ̃ d(ə) la fɔ̃tɛn]; 8 July 1621 – 13 April 1695) was a French fabulist and one of the most widely read French poets of the 17th century. He is known above all for his Fables, which provided a model for subsequent fabulists across Europe and numerous alternative versions in France, as well as in French regional languages. After a long period of royal suspicion, he was admitted to the French Academy and his reputation in France has never faded since. Evidence of this is found in the many pictures and statues of the writer, later depictions on medals, coins and postage stamps.

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Commemorated on 1 plaque

Café Procope. Ici Procopio dei Coltelli fonda en 1686 le plus ancien café du monde et le plus célèbre centre de la vie littéraire et philosophique au 18e et au 19e siècles. Il fut fréquenté par La Fontaine, Voltaire, les Encyclopédistes, Benjamin Franklin, Danton, Marat, Robespierre, Napoléon Bonaparte, Balzac, Victor Hugo, Gambetta, Verlaine et Anatole France.

English translation: Café Procope. Here Procopio dei Coltelli founded in 1686 the oldest café in the world and the most famous center of philosophical and literary life in the 18th and 19th centuries. It was visited by La Fontaine, Voltaire, Les Encyclopédistes, Benjamin Franklin, Danton, Marat, Robespierre, Napoléon Bonaparte, Balzac, Victor Hugo, Gambetta, Verlaine and Anatole France.

13 rue de l'Ancienne Comédie, Paris, France where they visited