Who was Jeanne Duval, and how did she inspire Charles Baudelaire’s poetry?

Jeanne Duval was a woman whom Charles Baudelaire met shortly after his return from a voyage to the South Seas in the early 1840s. She became his mistress and remained a central, dominating figure in his life for the next 20 years, eventually becoming his financial charge after the mid-1850s.1

Duval served as a profound muse for Baudelaire, inspiring his most sensual and anguished love poetry. Her presence, particularly her perfume and her magnificent, flowing black hair, fueled his exotic-erotic imagination. These inspirations directly resulted in the creation of poetic masterpieces such as "La Chevelure" ("The Head of Hair").1