Léocadie Salaün-Penquer

Léocadie Hersent-Penquer (1817-1889) was a French poet, writer and co-founder of the Musée des Beaux-Arts of Brest, France.

Hersent-Penquer, sometimes known as Léocadie Salaün-Penquer or Mme Auguste Salaün-Penquer, was born on 14 February 1817 into an established Breton family living at Château de Kerouartz near Lannilis in northwest France, where today a street is named after her. Her father was the doctor Jacques Hersent and her maternal grandfather was said to be General Marc-Antoine Coban (1763-1813), who died before she was born.

Early years In 1842, she married the second-lieutenant Victor Burle but seven years later, in 1849, she became a widow at the age of 32.

She married again on 15 September 1851, this time to the doctor Auguste Salaün-Penquer (1809-1882) and became known as Léocadie Hersent-Penquer. They settled in his hometown of Brest and had two children, Yves and Marie, but only their daughter lived to adulthood. She died in 1933.

According to Séché, her second novel, Poetic Revelations, was directly influenced by Victor Hugo. Although Séché found its tone to be more serious, he said it contained more emphasis on ideas, and less on feelings. When comparing it to her first book, he concluded: "the language is more flexible and more visual and the inspiration harmonious and brilliant."

Later years Tomb of Léocadie Hersent-Penquer and Auguste Salaün-Penquer designed by Bartholdi.

After her husband Auguste died of pneumonia in 1882, Her eulogy was given by the president of the Brest Academic Society, who lauded her many literary accomplishments and wide influence and caller her "a poet in the most noble sense of the word."

Selected works Hersent-Penquer's first poem, one about loneliness, was written at the age of 16. La payse. 1888 Mes nuits. 1891 (published posthumously)

Plays Marcelline. 1870 Syndoryx. Le barde de Penmarc'h. 1870 L'œillet rose. 1874