Before revision: History The phrase "l'art pour l'art" ('art for art's sake') had been floating around the intellectual circles of Paris since the beginning of the 19th century, but it was Théophile Gautier (1811–1872), who first fully articulated its metaphysical meaning (as we now understand it) in the prefaces of his 1932 poetry volume Albertus, and 1835 novel, Mademoiselle de Maupin.
After revision: History The phrase "l'art pour l'art" ('art for art's sake') had been floating around the intellectual circles of Paris since the beginning of the 19th century, but it was Théophile Gautier (1811–1872), who first fully articulated its metaphysical meaning (as we now understand it) in the prefaces of his 1832 poetry volume Albertus, and 1835 novel, Mademoiselle de Maupin.