There is No Such Thing as Bad Publicity. Jan Van Beers, or: The Chronique Scandaleuse of a Belgian Painter in Paris and London

In the course of the 1890s the Flemish painter Jan Van Beers became a key figure in party-going European high society. Van Beers' photographic paintings made him an immensely wealthy man, so that although the quality of his work declined in the 1890s, by the turn of the century he could call himself the owner not only of the extravagant ‘fairy palace' in Paris, but also of a country estate in Fay-aux-Loges, near Orléans. However, his money lasted longer than his reputation as an artist. The vogue for Van Beers' scandalising work went out of the window rather quickly, and the memory of the artist was subsequently lost in the mists of time—though some may agree that Van Beers' life was worth paying such a price.