Théophile Gautier

Theophile Gautier (1811-1872) was a French poet, novelist, dramatist, and influential art and literary critic of the Romantic era. He wrote for major Parisian journals including La Presse and Le Moniteur universel, directed the Revue de Paris from 1851 to 1856, and later edited L'Artiste, where he championed the doctrine of "art for art's sake." His novel Mademoiselle de Maupin (1835) and the poetry collection Emaux et Camees (1852) are considered his major achievements, alongside the fantastical tale La Morte Amoureuse and the scenario for the ballet Giselle. Gautier was esteemed by contemporaries including Balzac, Flaubert, and Baudelaire, who dedicated his own collected poems to him, and his work influenced the later Parnassian and Symbolist movements.