Charles Baudelaire
ca. 1863
Medium
Woodburytype
Dimensions
Image: 9 1/8 × 7 1/8 in. (23.1 × 18.1 cm) Mount: 12 13/16 in. × 9 5/16 in. (32.5 × 23.7 cm)
Classification
Photographs|Prints
Department
Photographs
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
David Hunter McAlpin Fund, 1964
Accession Number
64.677.4
Tags
Art Historical Context
This striking Woodburytype portrait captures the brooding intensity of Charles Baudelaire, the iconic French poet best known for his provocative collection *Les Fleurs Mal* (1857). Produced around 1863 by photographer Étienne Carjat and published by the renowned print firm Goupil et, it exemplifies the era's fascination with literary celebrities. Carjat, a master of Parisian portraiture, often immortalized intellectuals and artists, making this image a window into Baudelaire's enigmatic persona just four years before his death in 1867. The Woodburytype process, invented in the 1860s, was a gr...
About the Artist
Goupil et Cie|Etienne Carjat (French|French) · 1850 |1828 –1884 |1906
French, active 1850–84|French, Fareins 1828–1906 Paris