Poet, novelist and art critic, Gautier was one of the most prominent French Romantic writers of the nineteenth century. Famous for his scarlet waistcoat and his motto "art for art's sake", he was at the heart of the Parisian literary world for forty years. He is best remembered for his novel 'Mademoiselle de Maupin' (1835) and his poetry collection 'Emaux et Camees' (1852)