Arsène Houssaye

Arsène Houssaye (28 March 181426 February 1896) was a French novelist, poet and man of letters. Biography

Houssaye was born in Bruyères (Aisne), near Laon; his original surname was Housset.

In 1832 he found his way to Paris, and in 1836 he published two novels, La Couronne de bleuets and La Pécheresse. He had many friends in Paris, among them Jules Janin and Théophile Gautier, and he wrote in collaboration with Jules Sandeau. He produced art criticism in L'Histoire de la peinture flamande et hollandaise (1846); semi-historical sketches in Mlle de la Vallière et Mme de Montespan (1860) and Galerie de portraits du XVIII siècle (1844); literary criticism in Le Roi Voltaire (1858) and his famous satirical Histoire du quarante et unième fauteuil de l'Académie française, dealing with notables who failed of election to the French Academy (1855); drama in his Comédiennes (1857); poetry in his Symphonie de vingt ans (1867), Cent et un sonnets (1873), etc.; and novels, Les Filles d'Eve (1852) and many others. Reflecting doubts about the attribution, a plaque above the tomb states that the remains are only "presumed" to be those of Leonardo. In 2016, it was announced that DNA tests were to be conducted to investigate the veracity of the attribution, with results expected in 2019.

His Confessions, souvenirs d'un demi-siècle appeared in 1885–91. See also J. Lemaître, Arsène Houssaye (1897), with a bibliography.

He died in Paris. His son Henry was a noted historian.