Robert de Montesquiou

Few people will know the name of Robert de Montesquiou (1855- 1921). Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) said of himself that he put only his talent into his work, but his genius into his life. Montesquiou more than Wilde, embodied this maxim. He was the model of the literary epoch making A Rebours (Against Nature) by J.K. Huysmans where he is the hero Des Esseintes and of Wilde's A Picture of Dorian Gray  where he inspired the characters of both Dorian Gray and his mentor Lord Henry Wotton. More significantly he was the model for the Baron de Charlus in A La Recherche du Temps Perdue (In Search of Lost Time otherwise Remembrance of Things Past) by Marcel Proust. This monumental work is introduced in a highly readable book Marcel Proust by Derwent May, former Times columnist, novelist and poet.