Robert de Montesquiou born 7 March 1855 (d. 1921)Marie Joseph Robert Anatole, Comte de Montesquiou-Fezensac was a French Symbolist poet, art collector and dandy. With many homosexual friends, he is reputed to have been the inspiration both for des Esseintes in J K Huysmans' À rebours and, most famously, for Baron de Charlus in Proust's À la recherche du temps perdu. He wrote the verses found in the optional choral parts of Gabriel Fauré's Pavane.
His portrait Arrangement in Black and Gold: Comte Robert de Montesquiou-Fezensac was painted by Whistler in 1891-1892. Antonio de La Gandara produced several portraits of the Comte.His background was truly aristocratic by birth and he placed a great value on his own intellectual and literary accomplishments. Despite producing a large amount of symbolist poetry, two novels, volumes of memoirs and much literary criticism, he is best remembered for how he lived rather than for what he wrote.
He befriended and supported many artists - who immortalised him in portraiture - poets, writers and musicians, placing himself at the centre of the Parisisan social, artistic and literary worlds. He was also a keen collector of Art Nouveau and was a dandy and aesthete, extravagant in dress, behaviour and lavish living, surrounding himself with bright and attractive young men.
Montesquiou died on the French Riviera in 1921Portraits of Robert de Montesquiou: James Whistler [top left]; Giovanni Boldini [above right]; Jacques-Emile Blanche [left]