Portrait of Charles Baudelaire, after his own design of 1848

Art Historical Context

This etching, *Portrait of Charles Baudelaire after his own design of1848*, captures the brooding intensity of the famed French poet through the skilled hand of Félix Bracquem, a master printmaker linked to the Etching Revival and early Impressionist circles. Produced in 1869, two years after Baudelaire's death, it faithfully reproduces the writer's self-conceived image from over two decades earlier, blending autobiography with posthumous homage. The compact plate measures just 4½ × 3⅝ inches, yet its intricate lines convey Baudelaire's sharp features, tousled hair, and piercing gaze, evoking his role as a cultural provocateur. Baudelaire, author of the scandalous *Les Fleurs du Mal* (1857), championed modernity in art and poetry, influencing Symbolism and beyond. This portrait, possibly involving Alfred Salmon, reflects the 19th-century fascination with etching as a democratic medium—affordable reproductions that democratized access to literary icons. Bracquemond's technique, with its fine, etched lines on a copper plate inked and printed, highlights subtle textures and psychological depth, making it a poignant artifact of Parisian bohemia. Housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Drawings and Prints department, this work invites visitors to ponder Baudelaire's enduring legacy: a bridge between Romanticism and modernism, etched forever in ink.

About the Artist

Félix Bracquemond|Charles Baudelaire|Charles Baudelaire|Alfred Salmon · 1833–1914

French, Paris 1833–1914 Sèvres