Paul Verlaine, a poet as revolutionary as the Impressionists were as painters, is shown in a vaguely Medieval costume, as a wandering minstrel, or troubadour, but the painting is in a style quite different from academic art—strong chiaroscuro, softly defined forms, the quick brush work of the Impressionists—plus a brooding romantic quality and a sensitive realism in the rendering of the poet's features.

Adapted from

Anne Bromberg, "Looking at Art: France in the 19th Century," DMA Bulletin Summer 1986, 11-13.

• Poetry Foundation
  Learn more about the life and work of Paul Verlaine.

• Project Gutenberg
  Read the poetry of Paul Verlaine.

• Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
  View a portrait of Paul Verlaine by Eugène Carrière.

• Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
  View a photograph of Paul Verlaine.