Fernand Desnoyers

Born in Paris, Fernand Desnoyers was a 19th-century French writer and literary critic. Sources identify him as Fernand-Félix-Émile-Arthur Desnoyers, and while some catalogs list him as 1828–1869, other reference sources give his birth date as September 10, 1826; he died in Paris on November 5, 1869.

He moved through the lively literary and artistic circles of his time and was associated with the bohemian milieu around Henry Murger. His work ranged across poetry, journalism, criticism, and the theater, showing a writer equally at home with literature and the visual arts.

Desnoyers is often noted today for his connection to the Paris art world, including his writing on the 1863 Salon des Refusés. That link to artists and outsiders helps explain why his work still feels historically vivid: it preserves a close-up view of French cultural life in an era of experiment, argument, and restless creativity.