Charles Pierre Baudelaire was a French poet who also worked as an essayist, art critic and translator. His poems are described as exhibiting mastery of rhyme and rhythm, containing an exoticism inherited from Romantics, and are based on observations of real life.
Honoré de Balzac was a French novelist and playwright. The novel sequence La Comédie humaine, which presents a panorama of post-Napoleonic French life, is generally viewed as his magnum opus.
The hooker with a heart of gold is a stock character involving a courtesan or prostitute who possesses virtues such as integrity, generosity and kindness.
The Pont des Arts or Passerelle des Arts is a pedestrian bridge in Paris which crosses the River Seine. It links the Institut de France and the central square of the Palais du Louvre,.
La Comédie humaine is Honoré de Balzac's 1829–48 multi-volume collection of interlinked novels and stories depicting French society in the period of the Restoration (1815–30) and the July Monarchy (1830–48).
Illusions perdues — in English, Lost Illusions — is a serial novel written by the French writer Honoré de Balzac between 1837 and 1843. It consists of three parts, starting in provincial France, thereafter moving to Paris, and finally returning to the provinces. The book resembles another of Balzac's greatest novels, La Rabouilleuse, that is set in Paris and in the provinces. It forms part of the Scènes de la vie de province in La Comédie humaine.
Splendeurs et misères des courtisanes, translated variously as The Splendors and Miseries of Courtesans, A Harlot High and Low, or as Lost Souls, is an 1838-1847 novel by French novelist Honoré de Balzac, published in four initially separate parts:
Le Cousin Pons is one of the last of the 94 novels and short stories that make up Honoré de Balzac’s Comédie humaine. Begun in 1846 as a novella, it was envisaged as one part of a diptych, Les Parents pauvres, along with La Cousine Bette. The book was originally published as a serial in Le Constitutionnel, but during 1847 it grew into a full-length novel, with a male poor relation, Pons, as its subject,
Vautrin[vo.tʁɛ̃] is a character from the novels of French writer Honoré de Balzac in the La Comédie humaine series. His real name is Jacques Collin[ʒɑk kɔ.lɛ̃]. He appears in the novels Le Père Goriot under the name Vautrin, and in Illusions perdues and Splendeurs et misères des courtisanes, the sequel of Illusions perdues, under the name of Abbé Carlos Herrera. In prison, he got the nickname "Trompe-la-Mort", because he managed to avoid the death sentence repeatedly.
Étienne Carjat was a French journalist, caricaturist and photographer. He co-founded the magazine Le Diogène, and founded the review Le Boulevard. He is best known for his numerous portraits and caricatures of political, literary and artistic Parisian figures. His best-known work is the iconic portrait of Arthur Rimbaud which he took in October 1871. The location of much of his photography is untraceable after being sold to a Mr. Roth in 1923.
Gaston Bussière was a French Symbolist painter and illustrator.
Edmond Werdet was a French author and book publisher.
Une double famille is a lengthy short story by Honoré de Balzac. The story first appeared in 1830 under the title La femme vertueuse. It was subsequently published in 1832 by Mame et Delaunay as part of Balzac's Scènes de la vie privée. In 1835, it appeared, in an edition by Madame Béchet, in the collection Études de mœurs. The novel only acquired its present title in 1842, when the fifth edition appeared in Volume I of the Scenes from Private Life, which was also the first volume of Balzac's La Comédie humaine.
Michel Lévy (1821–1875) was the founder of the Michel Lévy Frères publishing house.
Le Voleur was an illustrated literary magazine published weekly in Paris from 1828 until 1907. It was established by Charles Lautour-Mézeray and Émile de Girardin. During its existence, it had a variety of subtitles including Journal littéraire de Paris and Gazette des journaux français et étrangers. In the last decades of its publication it went by the title Le Voleur illustré. The journal published literary criticism, satire, interviews, extracts from recently published or soon-to-be published fiction, and reprints of articles from other magazines and newspapers.
Charles Albert d'Arnoux, known as Bertall or Tortu-Goth was a French illustrator, engraver, caricaturist, and early photographer.
Maison Souquet is a 5-star hotel, part of Maisons Particulieres Collection, located at 10, rue de Bruxelles in Paris, on the outskirts of Montmartre. The hotel is inspired by the Parisian brothels from the Belle Époque period. Maison Souquet is decorated by the French designer Jacques Garcia.
Jacques-Germain Chaudes-Aigues was a French journalist and writer.
Au Rocher de Cancale is a restaurant located in the 2nd arrondissement of Paris, France. It was very popular in the 19th century thanks to its suppers offered after theatre and opera shows.
Plombières is a type of French ice cream made with almond extract, kirsch, and candied fruit.
