Theophile Gautier

Theophile Gautier (18111872) was a French poet, novelist, and critic. A lover of Romanticism, Gautier was inspired by Victor Hugo to pursue a career as a writer rather than an artist with his earliest pieces of poetry being written and submtted for publication in 1826. He would go on to produce critically acclaimed travel literature including Voyage en Espagne (1843), Tresors d'Art de la Russie (1858), and Voyage en Russie (1867); several collections of poetry, plays, at least four novels including Mademoiselle de Maupin (1835) and The Romance of a Mummy (1858); with his most well-known works being The Dead Woman in Love (1836), Fortunio (1837), Captain Fracasse (1863), and One of Cleopatra's Nights and Other Fantastic Romances (1882). Lauded by both critics and his contemporaries (Balazc, Baudelaire, Proust, and Wilde, among others), Gautier was an immensely talented and prolific writer whose personal style cemented his legacy as one of the most interesting creatives of nineteenth-century France.