| Absinthe Ephemera V - Verlaine by Dornac |
| Move cursor over the link bars to see contents. |
 | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  |
 | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  |
 |
 | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  |
 | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  |
 | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  |
 | |  | |  | |  | |  |
 | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  |
| This website and all its contents Copyright 2002- 2007 Oxygenee Ltd. No pictures or text may be reproduced or used in any form without written permission of the site owner. |
The portraits that the celebrated Parisian photographer Paul Marsan Dornac collected and published as Les
Contemporains Chez Eux show the notable figures of Paris in their private cabinets de travail surrounded by artworks,
books and tools of their trade. Uniquely, this 1896 photo of the great poet and habitual absintheur Paul Verlaine shows
this melancholic figure in the last year of his life with his ever-present glass of absinthe seated in a café. The location is
believed to be the Café François Ier, although it may also show the Café Procope, which to this day has similar leather
banquettes against the walls.
Contemporains Chez Eux show the notable figures of Paris in their private cabinets de travail surrounded by artworks,
books and tools of their trade. Uniquely, this 1896 photo of the great poet and habitual absintheur Paul Verlaine shows
this melancholic figure in the last year of his life with his ever-present glass of absinthe seated in a café. The location is
believed to be the Café François Ier, although it may also show the Café Procope, which to this day has similar leather
banquettes against the walls.
Although the original photograph was taken in 1896, this
albumen print (12,2 x 17 cm), flush-mounted to the original
studio board with the photographer's name and address
below the image on the mount, is dated 1902 in black ink on
the reverse.
Aside from his hat and cane, Verlaine has a water carafe, a
large glass of absinthe, an ink-well, a blotter and paper, and
a pyrogene on the marble tabletop in front of him.
Absinthiana collectors often refer to this type of large verre
oeuf as a "Verlaine glass" on account of its appearance in
this photograph.
Click on the images to enlarge.
albumen print (12,2 x 17 cm), flush-mounted to the original
studio board with the photographer's name and address
below the image on the mount, is dated 1902 in black ink on
the reverse.
Aside from his hat and cane, Verlaine has a water carafe, a
large glass of absinthe, an ink-well, a blotter and paper, and
a pyrogene on the marble tabletop in front of him.
Absinthiana collectors often refer to this type of large verre
oeuf as a "Verlaine glass" on account of its appearance in
this photograph.
Click on the images to enlarge.
A life-long alcoholic, Verlaine was a notorious absinthe drinker. His early family life was less than ordinary: his mother
kept the foetuses of her three earlier, miscarried pregnancies preserved in jars in the pantry. Verlaine attacked his
mother and then destroyed these one day during an "absinthe fit". He began drinking as a teenager, and was already an
alcoholic before he found absinthe. His disastrous on-again, off-again relationship with Rimbaud aggravated both his
alcoholism and his mental instability, and culminated in a 5 year prison sentence for attempted murder. In prison he
had sworn off absinthe, and for several years after his release drank only beer and worked steadily at his poetry. But
by the 1890's he was drinking heavily again, and had become a well-known and pathetic figure in the Latin Quarter,
sitting in a corner at the Cafe Francois Ier on the Boulevard Saint-Michel or at La Procope, nursing absinthe after
absinthe. The terrible tole the drink took on him is clearly visible in this photograph.
Verlaine's last years were spent in and out of hospitals and institutions, were he was treated for amongst other things
cirrhosis of the liver, pneumonia, rheumatism, gonorrhea and syphilis. During his last illness the hospital nurses would
overlook the small bottles of absinthe his friends tucked under his pillow; they knew he was too far gone now for such
small pleasures to make any difference. Verlaine died in 1896 a few months after he sat for this portrait, drinking to the
end, although he had bitterly repented of his absinthe addiction in his Confessions, published the previous year:
"...later on I shall have to relate many [...] absurdities which I owe to my abuse of this horrible drink: this drink, this
abuse itself, the source of folly and crime, of idiocy and shame, which governments should tax heavily if they do not
suppress it altogether: Absinthe!"
kept the foetuses of her three earlier, miscarried pregnancies preserved in jars in the pantry. Verlaine attacked his
mother and then destroyed these one day during an "absinthe fit". He began drinking as a teenager, and was already an
alcoholic before he found absinthe. His disastrous on-again, off-again relationship with Rimbaud aggravated both his
alcoholism and his mental instability, and culminated in a 5 year prison sentence for attempted murder. In prison he
had sworn off absinthe, and for several years after his release drank only beer and worked steadily at his poetry. But
by the 1890's he was drinking heavily again, and had become a well-known and pathetic figure in the Latin Quarter,
sitting in a corner at the Cafe Francois Ier on the Boulevard Saint-Michel or at La Procope, nursing absinthe after
absinthe. The terrible tole the drink took on him is clearly visible in this photograph.
Verlaine's last years were spent in and out of hospitals and institutions, were he was treated for amongst other things
cirrhosis of the liver, pneumonia, rheumatism, gonorrhea and syphilis. During his last illness the hospital nurses would
overlook the small bottles of absinthe his friends tucked under his pillow; they knew he was too far gone now for such
small pleasures to make any difference. Verlaine died in 1896 a few months after he sat for this portrait, drinking to the
end, although he had bitterly repented of his absinthe addiction in his Confessions, published the previous year:
"...later on I shall have to relate many [...] absurdities which I owe to my abuse of this horrible drink: this drink, this
abuse itself, the source of folly and crime, of idiocy and shame, which governments should tax heavily if they do not
suppress it altogether: Absinthe!"
A typical verre oeuf or "Verlaine" glass.
