Retrato de Robert de Montesquiou

Robert de Montesquiou was the most famous dandy in 1890s Paris, a poet who turned his own taste into a public performance. Writers borrowed him: he was the model for the hothouse aesthete in Huysmans' novel A rebours, and later for Proust's cruel Baron de Charlus. In 1897 Giovanni Boldini painted him at the height of that reputation, turning slightly, gloved, gazing down at the blue handle of his walking stick as if it were the only thing worth his attention. Boldini's brush is as restless as his sitter, the dark suit dissolving into quick diagonal strokes. Montesquiou loved it, and kept the portrait for the rest of his life.