Baudelaire, Charles

Charles-Pierre Baudelaire was born in Paris. His father, a government official during the reign of Napoleon, was interested in philosophy and art. In 1819, after the death of his first wife, he married a young woman who was to be Baudelaire’s mother. When his father died in 1827, the poet, author, art and literary critic to be was only six years old. His mother married an officer and future general, ambassador and senator named Jacques Aupick, perhaps the most notorious stepfather in the history of literature. To Baudelaire he was an unwelcome addition to the family.