Théophile Gautier

Born in Tarbes, France, on August 30, 1811, and raised mostly in Paris, Théophile Gautier first trained as a painter before turning to literature. He became part of the French Romantic circle around Victor Hugo, but he gradually developed a style of his own, one that valued artistic beauty, precision, and sensory richness above moral lessons or political messages.

Gautier was remarkably versatile. He wrote poems, novels, plays, journalism, travel writing, and art criticism, and he was also connected to the world of ballet and theater. Among his best-known works are Mademoiselle de Maupin, Captain Fracasse, and the fantastical tale La Morte amoureuse. His ideas about art for art's sake had a lasting influence on later writers and aesthetes.

He died on October 23, 1872, in Neuilly-sur-Seine. Today he is remembered not only for the elegance of his prose and verse, but also for helping shape the course of French literary taste in the 19th century.