Georges Lafenestre (5 May 1837,

Orléans Orléans (;"Orleans"
(US) and Bourg-la-Reine Bourg-la-Reine () is a commune in the southern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris. History In 1792, during the French Revolution, Bourg-la-Reine (meaning "Town of the Queen") was renamed Bourg-l'Égalité (meani ...

) was a French poet, art critic and

art historian Art history is the study of aesthetic objects and visual expression in historical and stylistic context. Traditionally, the discipline of art history emphasized painting, drawing, sculpture, architecture, ceramics and decorative arts; yet today ...

Biography

His career was devoted to administering the fine arts, as a Conservator at the

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...

, and a member of the

Institut de France The (; ) is a French learned society, grouping five , including the Académie Française. It was established in 1795 at the direction of the National Convention. Located on the Quai de Conti in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, the institute m ...

, where he bequeathed a significant collection of photographs of Italian art to the Institut's museum. In 1866, he married Isabelle Bénédite, née Lisbonne (born 1840), the widow of businessman Samuel Bénédite (c.1826-1865); mother of

Georges Bénédite Georges may refer to: Places * Georges River, New South Wales, Australia * Georges Quay (Dublin) *Georges Township, Fayette County, Pennsylvania Other uses *Georges (name) * ''Georges'' (novel), a novel by Alexandre Dumas * "Georges" (song), a 19 ...

and

Léonce Bénédite Léonce Bénédite (14 January 1859 – 12 May 1925) was a French art historian and curator. He was a co-founder of the Société des Peintres Orientalistes Français (Society for French Orienalist Painters) and was instrumental in establishing ...

, who followed their step-father into the fields of art history and curation. Together, they had a son named Pierre, who apparently died as a child. He was a close friend of Jose-Maria de Heredia, who later became the librarian at the

Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal The Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal (''Library of the Arsenal'', founded 1757) in Paris has been part of the Bibliothèque nationale de France since 1934. History The collections of the library originated with the private library of Marc-René, 3rd ...

, and made the acquaintance of several other Parnassians through him. This, in turn, made the publisher

Alphonse Lemerre Alphonse Lemerre (Canisy, Normandy, France, 1838 – Paris, France, 1912) was a 19th-century French editor and publisher, known especially for having been the first to publish many of the Parnassian poets. Life Alphonse Lemerre was the eig ...

aware of his work, and he was invited to participate in creating the now famous anthology, ''

Le Parnasse contemporain Le Parnasse contemporain ("The Contemporary Parnassus", e.g., the contemporary poetry scene) is composed of three volumes of poetry collections, published in 1866, 1871 and 1876 by the editor Alphonse Lemerre, which included a hundred French poets ...

''. In 1892, he was elected a member of the

Académie des Beaux-Arts An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, ...

, where he took Seat #4 in the "Unattached" section. He held that position until his death, and was succeeded by the Vicomte de Castelnau.

Sources

Paul Verlaine Paul-Marie Verlaine (; ; 30 March 1844 – 8 January 1896) was a French poet associated with the Symbolist movement and the Decadent movement. He is considered one of the greatest representatives of the ''fin de siècle'' in international and ...

, "Georges Lafenestre", In: ''Les Hommes d'aujourd'hui'', #398,
Online
@ French Wikisource) * Géraldine Masson, "Georges Lafenestre, le Poète Conservateur", In: ''Revue d'Histoire littéraire de la France'', Vol.119, #3, 2019
Online
@

JSTOR JSTOR (; short for ''Journal Storage'') is a digital library founded in 1995 in New York City. Originally containing digitized back issues of academic journals, it now encompasses books and other primary sources as well as current issues of j ...

) * Jessica Desclaux, "Dans l’atelier des cours de Georges Lafenestre", In: ''Le Collège de France et le musée du Louvre''
Full text
@

OpenEdition OpenEdition may refer to: * OpenEdition MVS, the original name of UNIX System Services * OpenEdition Shell and Utilities Feature for VM/ESA VM (often: VM/CMS) is a family of IBM virtual machine operating systems used on IBM mainframes Syste ...

)

External links

''Le Livre d'or du Salon de peinture et de sculpture: catalogue descriptif''
by Lafenestre @ Google Books
Works by Lafenestre
@ the

Bibliothèque Nationale de France The Bibliothèque nationale de France (, 'National Library of France'; BnF) is the national library of France, located in Paris on two main sites known respectively as ''Richelieu'' and ''François-Mitterrand''. It is the national repository ...

Works by Lafenestre
@ Gallica {{DEFAULTSORT:Lafenestre, Georges 1837 births 1919 deaths French art critics French art historians French curators Members of the Académie des beaux-arts Writers from Orléans