Project Gutenberg 2007-10-17 Public domain in the USA. 744 Balzac, Honoré de 1799 1850 Balzac, Honore de Saint-Aubin, Horace de De Balzac, Honoré Balzac, H. de (Honoré de) Chef d'oeuvre inconnu. English The Unknown Masterpiece 1845 Produced by David Widger "The Unknown Masterpiece" by Honoré de Balzac is a novella written during the early to mid-19th century. This narrative explores the complexities of artistic ambition and the pursuit of perfection. Set against the backdrop of 17th-century Paris, it delves into the world of painting, examining the relationship between art and life, and the obsession that artists can experience in their quest for unattainable beauty. The story follows a young aspiring painter, Nicolas Poussin, who visits the studio of the acclaimed artist Frenhofer. Frenhofer is depicted as a reclusive genius, fixated on creating a perfect masterpiece, a painting of a woman he believes embodies true beauty. Through conversations between Poussin, Frenhofer, and another painter, Porbus, the narrative reveals the profound struggles artists face in capturing the essence of life and emotion on canvas. Frenhofer ultimately becomes desperate after discovering that, despite his years of work, his creation exists only in his imagination rather than reality. The novella presents a poignant exploration of artistic aspiration, the ephemeral nature of beauty, and the conflict between the artist's vision and the reality of their craft. (This is an automatically generated summary.) en Biographical fiction France -- Fiction French fiction -- Translations into English Painters -- Fiction Poussin, Nicolas, 1594?-1665 -- Fiction PQ Text Browsing: Culture/Civilization/Society Browsing: Literature Browsing: Fiction 95575 95584 2024-09-10T06:18:41.208247 2023-09-10T09:40:01.192449 text/html text/html 94562 2021-02-24T22:20:13 text/html; charset=utf-8 33983 2021-02-24T22:20:15 text/html; charset=utf-8 application/zip 88379 2024-09-10T06:18:44.849230 application/epub+zip 88879 2024-09-10T06:18:42.575242 application/epub+zip 88879 2024-09-10T06:18:41.775244 application/epub+zip 188934 2024-09-10T06:18:46.602230 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 179457 2024-09-10T06:18:44.321233 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 182217 2022-09-11T03:46:35.515676 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 79792 2024-09-10T06:18:40.878241 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 79683 2016-11-24T04:28:36 text/plain; charset=utf-8 31620 2016-11-24T04:31:14 text/plain; charset=utf-8 application/zip 79650 2007-10-17T13:18:40 text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 31585 2007-10-17T13:18:40 text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 application/zip 79641 2007-10-17T13:18:40 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 31563 2007-10-17T13:18:40 text/plain; charset=us-ascii application/zip 22997 2024-09-10T06:18:46.742218 application/rdf+xml 14483 2024-09-10T06:18:42.121243 image/jpeg 3876 2024-09-10T06:18:41.946238 image/jpeg 90794 2024-09-10T06:18:41.217249 application/octet-stream application/zip Archives containing the RDF files for *all* our books can be downloaded at https://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Gutenberg:Feeds#The_Complete_Project_Gutenberg_Catalog en.wikipedia fr.wikipedia