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Oscar Wilde died in Paris at 1.50pm on the 30th of November 1900.
He was 46 years old.
His health had started deteriorating in the summer of 1899 and worsened quickly the next year, leading to him being confined to bed from September until his passing. His friends Robbie Ross, Reggie Turner, and Maurice Gilbert were present.
Dupoirier, the owner of the low-class Hotel D'Alsace where he resided, laid him out and dressed him in a simple white night shirt. Father Cuthbert Dunne, who had performed a conditional baptism for him, granted him forgiveness for his sins, and anointed him before his death, had placed a rosary in his hand, and covered the white shroud with palm branches. At the request of Robbie Ross, Maurice Gilbert captured the final photograph of Oscar Wilde.
The First Burial
Wilde was initially interred on the 3rd of December 1900 in the seventh row of the seventeeth section at the Cimetière Parisien de Bagneux, located in the South West of Paris, a short walk from the Châtillon–Montrouge station. The original tombstone bore an inscription in latin from the Book of Job:
Translated it read: They dared not add anything to my words, and my speech dropped upon them
The Second Burial
in 1909 Robbie Ross purchased the plot in Division 89 of Père Lachaise Cemetery and the remains of Wilde were moved there. The monument was paid for by Helen Carew, a friend of Wilde and mother of Sir Coleridge Kennard a writer and member of the famous Bloomsbury Set.
Carew had been an admirer and friend to Wilde and had in her possession several signed books from him, one "The Happy Prince" was inscribed "to the happy princess, from the unhappy prince, with the devotion of the author, Oscar Wilde. She introduced Wilde's son Vyvyan to his father's literary legacy in the years after his death, and arranged for him to meet Robbie Ross who was also Wilde's literary executor.
The money for the monument was provided on condtion that it was crafted by the young sculptor Jacob Epstein. It is thought that Carew had been impressed with his controversial frieze of 18 semi-naked men that adorned the building of the British Medical Association (now the Embassy of Zimbabwe) along the Strand in London, which was considered pornographic by some at the time.
It is a remarkable tomb and quite unlike any other in Père Lachaise. The monument was completed in 1912 by Epstein who said at various times that it was influenced by ancient Assyrian tomb sculptures that he had observed in the British Museum or by Wilde's poem "The Sphynx".
Etched out of a 20 tonne block of Hopton Wood limestone purchased from a quarry in Derbyshire is a massive winged creature, half man or angel and half beast or demon - depending on your viewpoint.
The plinth was made by Charles Holden and Joseph Cribb carved the insciption on the rear of the monument that includes an excerpt from Wilde's "The Ballad of Reading Gaol". It reads thus:
And alien tears will fill for him
Pity's long-broken urn,
For his mourners will be outcast men,
And outcasts always mourn.
The transportation to France was just the start of a series of setbacks and scandals for this particular piece of cemetery art. French Customs imposed import duties amounting to 120 pounds which had to be settled after a failed petition to have the sculpture exempted from the taxes signed by friends that included HG Wells and George Bernard Shaw.
Sparking Controversy
Due to its explicit depiction of the creature's genitals, the French Authorities banned the public exhibition of the sculpture, especially since it was situated in a graveyard. The monument was concealed with a tarpaulin, and a gendarme was assigned to protect it, prohibiting Epstein from making final adjustments on site. Furthermore, the controversial genitals were later covered up with plaster. The monument would remain covered until the middle of 1914.
Following extensive discussions and debates, the French Authorities finally agreed to unveil the statue, with the condition that a bronze butterfly, arranged by Robbie Ross, would cover its genitalia. Epstein was not amused.
In August of 1914, the Occultist Alaister Crowley entered Père Lachaise cemetery and took the bronze decoration, which he later wore around his neck when meeting Epstein. He informed Epstein that the statue was now exhibited as he had intended. Additionally, it is rumored that Crowley wore it as a codpiece at the Cafe Royal!
As World War One was drawing near, the French Authorities took no additional action regarding the notorious monument, leaving it mostly untouched until 1961. At that time, the testicles were reportedly removed by two British women who were upset that Oscar Wilde's tomb had become a site of homage for homosexuals.
There was also a rumour that the testicles had been used as a paperweight by a cemetery clerk but I personally think this an urban myth.
In 2000, multimedia artist Leon Johnson placed a silver prosthesis in the crotch of the sculpture.
The Glass Barrier
Throughout the years, Wilde's grave has attracted numerous visitors who, for various personal reasons, would leave lipstick marks on the stone. While some consider this behavior as vandalism, others view it as a form of devotion. The lipstick, which contains animal fat, had a detrimental impact on the limestone. Consequently, in 2011, efforts began to install a glass barrier to protect the monument from further damage caused by the lipstick kisses. It is regrettable as this detracts from the beauty of Epstein's creation.
Visiting the tomb of Oscar Wilde is essential for anyone exploring Père Lachaise Cemetery.
I am sure people visit for various reasons. Some may have read his works, seen his plays. Some may admire the many quoted quips and remarks he made. Some because he was homosexual and, because of the period in which he lived, greatly suffered for this.
Maybe people visit to admire the Epstein sculplture, I know I did, with a little touch of the reasons I have cited above.
Perhaps folks visit his grave simply because he is famous for being infamous.
Ultimately, I believe that a suitable homage and acknowledgment of the love that people have for Oscar Wilde has been encapsulated by the British actor and writer, Stephen Fry, who is renowned for portraying Oscar in the movie Wilde.
"Here's this man who believed when he died that his name would be toxic for generations to come. For hundreds of years his work wouldn't be read. He would stand for nothing but perversion. Utter disgust of a society that couldn't bear people like him.....His tomb in Père Lachaise Cemetery, in Paris. It had to be restored because the polished stone of its surface had corroded through kissing. Thousand and thousands. .... Wouldn't it be allowed once to just wake him up for five minutes just to tell him that, then he can go back to sleep again"
Robbie Ross died in October 1918. In 1950, marking the 50th anniversary of Wilde's death, an urn containing Robbie's ashes was interred in Wilde's tomb.
References:
Martin Burns, The Scandal of the Tomb of Oscar Wilde
Peter Stanford, How To Read A Graveyard
Richard Ellmann, Oscar Wilde
James Robinson, Oscar Wilde's Friend and Benefactor, Helen Carew
Wikipedia
My own photographs of his tomb
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