Voltaire

Voltaire was the pen name of François-Marie Arouet, a French Enlightenment writer and philosopher. His plays, histories, fiction and polemics used wit and satire to challenge religious intolerance and bring philosophical ideas to a wide readership.

The day shown

Ferney · 1774

A letter by Paul-Claude Moultou from December 1774 describes Voltaire’s usual late-life routine at Ferney. Visitors, a carriage outing and writing filled the afternoon. His health affected the evening; the account does not establish when he woke or what he did before noon.