a sinister traitor of his country and a cynical pornographer. Ion Călugăru used Alexandru Bogdan-Pitești as the inspiration for "Alexandru Lăpușneanu", the boyar character in his novel Don Juan Cocoșatul ("Don Juan the Hunchback"). Literary historian George Călinescu notes that this fictional portrait shows: "The dignity in gossip, the boyar carriage, the refinement that the apparent vulgarity cannot bring to ruin, the blasé and cynical lechery [...]." In one episode in the book, Lăpușneanu simulates agony and receives a Catholic confession that (he insists) must be read in Latin instead of French; elsewhere, Lăpușneanu's eccentric and adulterous wife Fetița ("Little Girl") shows up on a battlefield, wearing nothing more than a swimsuit. Tudor Arghezi dedicated Bogdan-Pitești some of his first poetry writings. As art critics, Arghezi and Theodor Cornel published a comprehensive biographical study on their patron (part of their Figuri contimporane din România dictionary, 1909). However, according to Corina Teacă, the encomium-like and conveniently imprecise entry may have been sent in, or at least approved of, by Bogdan-Pitești. Arghezi also made his sponsor the hero of a small eponymous poem, wherein he is called Lombard bastard cu ochi de rouă ("bastard Lombard with the eyes of dew"). Collection and estate By the 1910s, Bogdan-Pitești's art interests gave birth to a collection of as few as 967 or as many as 1,500 individual works, most of them hosted by his estate in Colonești. They comprised objects created by prominent Romanian visual artists, including, alongside his early associates, Nina Arbore, Constantin Brâncuși, Oscar Han, Aurel Jiquidi, Maria Ciurdea Steurer, Constantin Medrea, Ary Murnu, Dimitrie Paciurea, Nicolae Petrescu-Găină, Alexandru Satmari, Francisc Șirato, Cecilia Cuțescu-Storck, Jean Alexandru Steriadi, Friedrich Storck, Ion Theodorescu-Sion, and Nicolae Tonitza. Of the total, around 900 works were of Romanian provenance. Among the foreign artists whose work was featured in the collection were Georges Rochegrosse and Frank Brangwyn. The section dedicated to newer works of art was designed and opened as the first the modern art museum in Romania. The Bogdan-Pitești trust included many samples of Luchian's art. Two of his famous paintings featured there were Lăutul ("Washing the Hair")—which Bogdan-Pitești is said to have likened to the luminous oil paintings of Paolo Veronese, and Safta Florăreasa ("Safta the Flower Girl")—originally part of the Luchian family collection. Also included was the 1907 oil portrait of Luchian's cousin, Alecu Literatu ("Alecu the Literary Man"). They were accompanied by the 1906