Champfleury
Jules François Felix Fleury-Husson (17 September 1821, in Laon, Aisne – 6 December 1889, in Sèvres), who wrote under the name Champfleury, was a French art critic and novelist, a prominent supporter of the Realist movement in painting and fiction. In 1843 Fleury-Husson moved to Paris. He met Charles Baudelaire and the next year started writing art criticism under the pen-name "Champfleury" for the journal L'Artiste.
Also recorded as Jules Champfleury
Champfleury

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- Name
- Champfleury
- Birth Name
- Jules François Felix Fleury-Husson
- Born
- 17 September 1821
- Birthplace
- Laon, Picardy, France
- Died
- 6 December 1889
- Place of death
- Sèvres, France
- Occupation
- art critic, novelist
- Nationality
- France.
- Fields
- essay.
- Movements
- literary realism.
- Known for
- Le Réalisme.
- Honours
- Knight of the Legion of Honour.
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
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Documentary summary
Jules François Felix Fleury-Husson (17 September 1821, in Laon, Aisne – 6 December 1889, in Sèvres), who wrote under the name Champfleury, was a French art critic and novelist, a prominent supporter of the Realist movement in painting and fiction. In 1843 Fleury-Husson moved to Paris. He met Charles Baudelaire and the next year started writing art criticism under the pen-name "Champfleury" for the journal L'Artiste.
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Authority files
gnd · 118669060 · wikidata · Q744488
In this article
Biography
Biography
He was one of the first to promote the work of Gustave Courbet, in an article appearing in an issue of Le Pamphlet in 1848. In 1856, during a time when the Spanish school was still largely ignored, he advocated the work of El Greco. He wrote about the Le Nain brothers and Maurice Quentin de La Tour. He also had a brief affair in 1851 with Eveline Hańska, the widow of his friend Honoré de Balzac. He edited the periodical Le réalisme in 1856 and 1857. His novels, of which the best-known is Les bourgeois de Molinchart (1854), were among the earliest Realist works. In 1869 his book Les Chats, a series of essays about cats including portrayals of cats by prominent artists of the time, was published by Librairie de la Société Botanique de France, edited by J. From 1872 until his death in 1889 he was Chief of Collections at the Sèvres porcelain factory. The character of Marcel in Henri Murger's Scènes de la vie de bohème, and thus the corresponding character Marcello in Puccini's opera based on it, was partially based on Champfleury. A friend of Murger and they had roomed together for a time.
The recorded working language is French. Subjects and genres recorded for the work are essay. Places of work recorded in the authority are Paris. Positions recorded include curator. Works named in the authority record are Le Réalisme. Distinctions recorded are Knight of the Legion of Honour.

Title from catalogue raisonné.; Catalogue raisonné number: 35.; Date from item or from supporting materials.; A. Legros; Frank E. Bliss Collection of the works of Alphonse Legros, Gift of Albert H. Wiggin, 1943; Catalogue raisonné cited in this record: Bliss, Frank E., "A catalogue of the etchings, drypoints and lithographs, by Professor Alphonse Legros (1837-1911) in the collection of Frank E. Bl
Legros, Alphonse, 1837-1911 · This file was contributed to Wikimedia Commons by Boston Public Library as part of a cooperation project. The donation was facilitated by the Digital Public Library of America, via its partner Digita
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Champfleury • Birth Name — Jules François Felix Fleury-Husson • Born — 17 September 1821 • Birthplace — Laon, Picardy, France • Died — 6 December 1889 • Place of death — Sèvres, France • Occupation — art critic, novelist
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1821
Champfleury born at Laon.
1889
Champfleury died at Sèvres.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Laon.
Birth place
Sèvres.
Death place
Selected publications
• Troubat, Souvenirs sur Champfleury et le Réalisme (Paris, 1905) • Champfleury, The Faience Violin (New York, 1895)
Primary material
Documents and archives
authority file
- Gemeinsame Normdatei 118669060, Champfleury.
General reference · Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
reference work
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q744488: Champfleury
Reputable secondary · Wikimedia Foundation
Literature
Scholarly footprint
A count of publications is evidence of attention, not of standing, and is given here only as a measure.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Champfleury, Nouvelles réchérches sur la vie et l'oeuvre des frères Le Nain, 1862.
- 2.Robb, Graham. Balzac: A Biography. New York: W. W. Norton &x Company, 1994. . p. 414.
References
Citations
References
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authority file
Gemeinsame Normdatei 118669060, Champfleury.Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
Secondary witnessreference work
Wikidata, structured authority record Q744488: ChampfleuryWikimedia Foundation
Secondary witness
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 16 August 2026.
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