Extraordinary and rare photograph of Charles BAUDELAIRE taken by NADAR in 1862.
This photograph was taken during the summer of 1862 in Nadar's legendary studio at 35 Boulevard des Capucines in Paris.
10.000€
This photograph was taken during the summer of 1862 in Nadar's legendary studio at 35 Boulevard des Capucines in Paris.
10.000€
Charles Baudelaire (1821.1867)
Photograph in carte-de-visite (CDV) format by Nadar.
Size: 6.40 x 10.40 cm.
Vintage albumen print. Summer 1862.
"The vile society rushed forward, like a single Narcissus, to contemplate its trivial image on the metal."
An extraordinary and rare photograph of the poet standing with his hands in his pockets.
This photograph was taken during the summer of 1862 in Nadar's legendary studio at 35 Boulevard des Capucines in Paris.
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"Seeing that ever-singular face, flaring out from the collar of the invariably turned-up overcoat, a vigorously lobed nose between two unforgettable eyes: two drops of coffee – tight, bitter, spiteful lips, prematurely silvered hair, sometimes too short, sometimes too long, a clean-shaven face, clerically shaven – the passerby, seized, as if worried, thought: 'That one is not like everyone else.'"
Félix Nadar, Charles Baudelaire intime : le poète vierge.
Although initially resistant to the invention of photography ("From that moment on, filthy society rushed, like a single Narcissus, to contemplate its trivial image on metal. A madness, an extraordinary fanaticism seized all these new worshippers of the sun." – Salon of 1859.) Baudelaire, aware of the importance of the process, allowed himself to be "captured" by the lens on several occasions. It was his friend Nadar who first photographed him, in 1855.
We only know of fifteen different photographic portraits of the poet, taken between 1855 and 1866 over the course of seven separate sessions: three at Nadar's, three at Etienne Carjat's and one at Charles Neyt's, in Brussels.
Baudelaire and Nadar met in 1843 and their friendship lasted until the poet's death in 1867. The photographer produced a total of seven portraits of his friend between 1855 and 1862. The two men, full of admiration for each other, paid each other moving tributes in their respective works: Baudelaire dedicated a poem from Les Fleurs du Mal, "Le rêve d'un curieux," to the portraitist, who in turn dedicated a work entitled Charles Baudelaire intime : le poète vierge (1911).
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Bibliography:
Charles Baudelaire Intimate : The Virgin Poet. Félix Nadar. 1911.
Nadar. Photographs. Hubschmid publisher.
Baudelaire album. Pléiade edition.
Nadar. André Barret.