SOURCE: "Inspiration and Aspiration: Gautier's "La Diva'" and Musset's "Une Soirée perdue'," in Australian Journal of French Studies, Vol. XVI, No. 5, September-December, 1978, pp. 229-42.

In the following essay, Nurnberg contrasts poems by Gautier and Alfred de Musset with similar subject matter—the recounting of a bittersweet, chance encounter with idealized beauty—in order to highlight and define Gautier's visual aesthetic

In 1838, Théophile Gautier published a poem entitled "La Diva," in which he recounts a visit to the Théâtre-Italien. The opera is Rossini's Mosé, but Gautier is soon distracted from the stage by the sight of a beautiful woman, Julia Grisi, in a box. Henceforth oblivious of the musical performance, Gautier devotes himself to detailing the physical perfections of Julia, and ends his poem regretting having given up painting in favour of poetry: only painting, he says, can hope to capture the essence of physical beauty...