Produced by David Widger





THE UNKNOWN MASTERPIECE

By Honoré De Balzac

TO A LORD

1845




I--GILLETTE

On a cold December morning in the year 1612, a young man, whose clothing
was somewhat of the thinnest, was walking to and fro before a gateway
in the Rue des Grands-Augustins in Paris. He went up and down the street
before this house with the irresolution of a gallant who dares not
venture into the presence of the mistress whom he loves for the first
time, easy of access though she may be; but after a sufficiently long
interval of hesitation, he at last crossed the threshold and inquired
of an old woman, who was sweeping out a large room on the ground floor,
whether Master Porbus was within. Receiving a reply in the affirmative,
the young man went slowly up the staircase, like a gentleman but newly
come to court, and doubtful as to his reception by the king. He came to
a stand once more on the landing at the head of the stairs, and again he
hesitated before raising his hand to the grotesque knocker on the door
of the studio, where doubtless the painter was at work--Master Porbus,
sometime painter in ordinary to Henri IV till Mary de Medici took
Rubens into favor.

The young man felt deeply stirred by an emotion that must thrill the
hearts of all great artists when, in the pride of their youth and their
first love of art, they come into the presence of a master or stand
before a masterpiece. For all human sentiments there is a time of early
blossoming, a day of generous enthusiasm that gradually fades until
nothing is left of happiness but a memory, and glory is known for
a delusion. Of all these delicate and short-lived emotions, none so
resemble love as the passion of a young artist for his art, as he is
about to enter on the blissful martyrdom of his career of glory and
disaster, of vague expectations and real disappointments.

Those who have missed this experience in the early days of light purses;
who have not, in the dawn of their genius, stood in the presence of
a master and felt the throbbing of their hearts, will always carry in
their inmost souls a chord that has never been touched, and in their
work an indefinable quality will be lacking, a something in the stroke
of the brush, a mysterious element that we call poetry. The swaggerers,
so puffed up by self-conceit that they are confident over-soon of their
success, can never be taken for men of talent save by fools. From this
point of view, if youthful modesty is the measure of youthful genius,
the stranger on the staircase might be allowed to have something in
him; for he seemed to possess the indescribable diffidence, the early
timidity that artists are bound to lose in the course of a great career,
even as pretty women lose it as they make progress in the arts of
coquetry. Self-distrust vanishes as triumph succeeds to triumph, and
modesty is, perhaps, distrust of itself.

The poor neophyte was so overcome by the consciousness of his own
presumption and insignificance, that it began to look as if he was
hardly likely to penetrate into the studio of the painter, to whom we
owe the wonderful portrait of Henri IV. But fate was propitious; an old
man came up the staircase. From the quaint costume of this newcomer, his
collar of magnificent lace, and a certain serene gravity in his bearing,
the first arrival thought that this personage must be either a patron or
a friend of the court painter. He stood aside therefore upon the landing
to allow the visitor to pass, scrutinizing him curiously the while.
Perhaps he might hope to find the good nature of an artist or to receive
the good offices of an amateur not unfriendly to the arts; but besides
an almost diabolical expression in the face that met his gaze, there was
that indescribable something which has an irresistible attraction for
artists.

Picture that face. A bald high forehead and rugged jutting brows above
a small flat nose turned up at the end, as in the portraits of Socrates
and Rabelais; deep lines about the mocking mouth; a short chin, carried
proudly, covered with a grizzled pointed beard; sea-green eyes that age
might seem to have dimmed were it not for the contrast between the iris
and the surrounding mother-of-pearl tints, so that it seemed as if under
the stress of anger or enthusiasm there would be a magnetic power to
quell or kindle in their glances. The face was withered beyond wont by
the fatigue of years, yet it seemed aged still more by the thoughts that
had worn away both soul and body. There were no lashes to the deep-set
eyes, and scarcely a trace of the arching lines of the eyebrows above
them. Set this head on a spare and feeble frame, place it in a frame of
lace wrought like an engraved silver fish-slice, imagine a heavy gold
chain over the old mans black doublet, and you will have some dim idea
of this strange personage, who seemed still more fantastic in the sombre
twilight of the staircase. One of Rembrandts portraits might have
stepped down from its frame to walk in an appropriate atmosphere of
gloom, such as the great painter loved. The older man gave the younger a
shrewd glance, and knocked thrice at the door. It was opened by a man of
forty or thereabout, who seemed to be an invalid.

Good day, Master.

Porbus bowed respectfully, and held the door open for the younger man to
enter, thinking that the latter accompanied his visitor; and when he
saw that the neophyte stood a while as if spellbound, feeling, as every
artist-nature must feel, the fascinating influence of the first sight
of a studio in which the material processes of art are revealed, Porbus
troubled himself no more about this second comer.

All the light in the studio came from a window in the roof, and was
concentrated upon an easel, where a canvas stood untouched as yet save
for three or four outlines in chalk. The daylight scarcely reached the
remoter angles and corners of the vast room; they were as dark as night,
but the silver ornamented breastplate of a Reiters corselet, that hung
upon the wall, attracted a stray gleam to its dim abiding-place among
the brown shadows; or a shaft of light shot across the carved and
glistening surface of an antique sideboard covered with curious
silver-plate, or struck out a line of glittering dots among the raised
threads of the golden warp of some old brocaded curtains, where the
lines of the stiff, heavy folds were broken, as the stuff had been flung
carelessly down to serve as a model.

Plaster _écorchés_ stood about the room; and here and there, on shelves
and tables, lay fragments of classical sculpture-torsos of antique
goddesses, worn smooth as though all the years of the centuries that had
passed over them had been lovers kisses. The walls were covered, from
floor to ceiling, with countless sketches in charcoal, red chalk, or
pen and ink. Amid the litter and confusion of color boxes, overturned
stools, flasks of oil, and essences, there was just room to move so as
to reach the illuminated circular space where the easel stood. The light
from the window in the roof fell full upon Por-buss pale face and on
the ivory-tinted forehead of his strange visitor. But in another moment
the younger man heeded nothing but a picture that had already become
famous even in those stormy days of political and religious revolution,
a picture that a few of the zealous worshipers, who have so often kept
the sacred fire of art alive in evil days, were wont to go on pilgrimage
to see. The beautiful panel represented a Saint Mary of Egypt about to
pay her passage across the seas. It was a masterpiece destined for Mary
de Medici, who sold it in later years of poverty.

I like your saint, the old man remarked, addressing Porbus. I would
give you ten golden crowns for her over and above the price the Queen is
paying; but as for putting a spoke in that wheel,--the devil take it!

It is good then?

Hey! hey! said the old man; good, say you?--Yes and no. Your good
woman is not badly done, but she is not alive. You artists fancy that
when a figure is correctly drawn, and everything in its place according
to the rules of anatomy, there is nothing more to be done. You make up
the flesh tints beforehand on your palettes according to your formulae,
and fill in the outlines with due care that one side of the face shall
be darker than the other; and because you look from time to time at a
naked woman who stands on the platform before you, you fondly imagine
that you have copied nature, think yourselves to be painters, believe
that you have wrested His secret from God. Pshaw! You may know your
syntax thoroughly and make no blunders in your grammar, but it takes
that and something more to make a great poet. Look at your saint,
Porbus! At a first glance she is admirable; look at her again, and you
see at once that she is glued to the background, and that you could not
walk round her. She is a silhouette that turns but one side of her face
to all beholders, a figure cut out of canvas, an image with no power
to move nor change her position. I feel as if there were no air between
that arm and the background, no space, no sense of distance in your
canvas. The perspective is perfectly correct, the strength of the
coloring is accurately diminished with the distance; but, in spite of
these praiseworthy efforts, I could never bring myself to believe that
the warm breath of life comes and goes in that beautiful body. It seems
to me that if I laid my hand on the firm, rounded throat, it would be
cold as marble to the touch. No, my friend, the blood does not flow
beneath that ivory skin, the tide of life does not flush those delicate
fibres, the purple veins that trace a network beneath the transparent
amber of her brow and breast. Here the pulse seems to beat, there it is
motionless, life and death are at strife in every detail; here you see
a woman, there a statue, there again a corpse. Your creation is
incomplete. You had only power to breathe a portion of your soul into
your beloved work. The fire of Prometheus died out again and again in
your hands; many a spot in your picture has not been touched by the
divine flame.

But how is it, dear master? Porbus asked respectfully, while the young
man with difficulty repressed his strong desire to beat the critic.

Ah! said the old man, it is this! You have halted between two
manners. You have hesitated between drawing and color, between the
dogged attention to detail, the stiff precision of the German masters
and the dazzling glow, the joyous exuberance of Italian painters. You
have set yourself to imitate Hans Holbein and Titian, Albrecht Durer
and Paul Veronese in a single picture. A magnificent ambition truly,
but what has come of it? Your work has neither the severe charm of a dry
execution nor the magical illusion of Italian _chiaroscuro_. Titians
rich golden coloring poured into Albrecht Dureras austere outlines has
shattered them, like molten bronze bursting through the mold that is not
strong enough to hold it. In other places the outlines have held firm,
imprisoning and obscuring the magnificent, glowing flood of Venetian
color. The drawing of the face is not perfect, the coloring is not
perfect; traces of that unlucky indecision are to be seen everywhere.
Unless you felt strong enough to fuse the two opposed manners in the
fire of your own genius, you should have cast in your lot boldly with
the one or the other, and so have obtained the unity which simulates one
of the conditions of life itself. Your work is only true in the centres;
your outlines are false, they project nothing, there is no hint of
anything behind them. There is truth here, said the old man, pointing
to the breast of the Saint, and again here, he went on, indicating the
rounded shoulder. But there, once more returning to the column of
the throat, everything is false. Let us go no further into detail, you
would be disheartened.

The old man sat down on a stool, and remained a while without speaking,
with his face buried in his hands.

Yet I studied that throat from the life, dear master, Porbus began;
it happens sometimes, for our misfortune, that real effects in nature
look improbable when transferred to canvas--

The aim of art is not to copy nature, but to express it. You are not a
servile copyist, but a poet! cried the old man sharply, cutting Porbus
short with an imperious gesture. Otherwise a sculptor might make a
plaster cast of a living woman and save himself all further trouble.
Well, try to make a cast of your mistresss hand, and set up the
thing before you. You will see a monstrosity, a dead mass, bearing no
resemblance to the living hand; you would be compelled to have recourse
to the chisel of a sculptor who, without making an exact copy, would
represent for you its movement and its life. We must detect the spirit,
the informing soul in the appearances of things and beings. Effects!
What are effects but the accidents of life, not life itself? A hand,
since I have taken that example, is not only a part of a body, it is the
expression and extension of a thought that must be grasped and rendered.
Neither painter nor poet nor sculptor may separate the effect from the
cause, which are inevitably contained the one in the other. There
begins the real struggle! Many a painter achieves success instinctively,
unconscious of the task that is set before art. You draw a woman, yet
you do not see her! Not so do you succeed in wresting Natures secrets
from her! You are reproducing mechanically the model that you copied in
your masters studio. You do not penetrate far enough into the inmost
secrets of the mystery of form; you do not seek with love enough and
perseverance enough after the form that baffles and eludes you. Beauty
is a thing severe and unapproachable, never to be won by a languid
lover. You must lie in wait for her coming and take her unawares, press
her hard and clasp her in a tight embrace, and force her to yield. Form
is a Proteus more intangible and more manifold than the Proteus of the
legend; compelled, only after long wrestling, to stand forth manifest in
his true aspect. Some of you are satisfied with the first shape, or
at most by the second or the third that appears. Not thus wrestle the
victors, the unvanquished painters who never suffer themselves to be
deluded by all those treacherous shadow-shapes; they persevere till
Nature at the last stands bare to their gaze, and her very soul is
revealed.

In this manner worked Rafael, said the old man, taking off his cap to
express his reverence for the King of Art. His transcendent greatness
came of the intimate sense that, in him, seems as if it would shatter
external form. Form in his figures (as with us) is a symbol, a means of
communicating sensations, ideas, the vast imaginings of a poet. Every
face is a whole world. The subject of the portrait appeared for him
bathed in the light of a divine vision; it was revealed by an inner
voice, the finger of God laid bare the sources of expression in the past
of a whole life.

You clothe your women in fair raiment of flesh, in gracious veiling
of hair; but where is the blood, the source of passion and of calm, the
cause of the particular effect? Why, this brown Egyptian of yours, my
good Porbus, is a colorless creature! These figures that you set before
us are painted bloodless fantoms; and you call that painting, you call
that art!

Because you have made something more like a woman than a house, you
think that you have set your fingers on the goal; you are quite proud
that you need not to write _currus venustus_ or _pulcher homo_ beside
your figures, as early painters were wont to do and you fancy that you
have done wonders. Ah! my good friend, there is still something more to
learn, and you will use up a great deal of chalk and cover many a canvas
before you will learn it. Yes, truly, a woman carries her head in just
such a way, so she holds her garments gathered into her hand; her eyes
grow dreamy and soft with that expression of meek sweetness, and even
so the quivering shadow of the lashes hovers upon her cheeks. It is all
there, and yet it is not there. What is lacking? A nothing, but that
nothing is everything.

There you have the semblance of life, but you do not express its
fulness and effluence, that indescribable something, perhaps the soul
itself, that envelopes the outlines of the body like a haze; that
flower of life, in short, that Titian and Rafael caught. Your utmost
achievement hitherto has only brought you to the starting-point. You
might now perhaps begin to do excellent work, but you grow weary all too
soon; and the crowd admires, and those who know smile.

Oh, Mabuse! oh, my master! cried the strange speaker, thou art a
thief! Thou hast carried away the secret of life with thee!

Nevertheless, he began again, this picture of yours is worth more
than all the paintings of that rascal Rubens, with his mountains of
Flemish flesh raddled with vermilion, his torrents of red hair, his riot
of color. You, at least have color there, and feeling and drawing--the
three essentials in art.

The young man roused himself from his deep musings.

Why, my good man, the Saint is sublime! he cried. There is a subtlety
of imagination about those two figures, the Saint Mary and the Shipman,
that can not be found among Italian masters; I do not know a single one
of them capable of imagining the Shipmans hesitation.

Did that little malapert come with you? asked Porbus of the older man.

Alas! master, pardon my boldness, cried the neophyte, and the color
mounted to his face. I am unknown--a dauber by instinct, and but lately
come to this city--the fountain-head of all learning.

Set to work, said Porbus, handing him a bit of red chalk and a sheet
of paper.

The new-comer quickly sketched the Saint Mary line for line.

Aha! exclaimed the old man. Your name? he added.

The young man wrote Nicolas Poussin below the sketch.

Not bad that for a beginning, said the strange speaker, who had
discoursed so wildly. I see that we can talk of art in your presence.
I do not blame you for admiring Porbuss saint. In the eyes of the world
she is a masterpiece, and those alone who have been initiated into the
inmost mysteries of art can discover her shortcomings. But it is worth
while to give you the lesson, for you are able to understand it, so I
will show you how little it needs to complete this picture. You must be
all eyes, all attention, for it may be that such a chance of learning
will never come in your way again--Porbus! your palette.

Porbus went in search of palette and brushes. The little old man turned
back his sleeves with impatient energy, seized the palette, covered with
many hues, that Porbus handed to him, and snatched rather than took a
handful of brushes of various sizes from the hands of his acquaintance.
His pointed beard suddenly bristled--a menacing movement that expressed
the prick of a lovers fancy. As he loaded his brush, he muttered
between his teeth, These paints are only fit to fling out of the
window, together with the fellow who ground them, their crudeness and
falseness are disgusting! How can one paint with this?

He dipped the tip of the brush with feverish eagerness in the different
pigments, making the circuit of the palette several times more quickly
than the organist of a cathedral sweeps the octaves on the keyboard of
his clavier for the O Filii at Easter.

Porbus and Poussin, on either side of the easel, stood stock-still,
watching with intense interest.

Look, young man, he began again, see how three or four strokes of
the brush and a thin glaze of blue let in the free air to play about the
head of the poor Saint, who must have felt stifled and oppressed by the
close atmosphere! See how the drapery begins to flutter; you feel that
it is lifted by the breeze! A moment ago it hung as heavily and stiffly
as if it were held out by pins. Do you see how the satin sheen that I
have just given to the breast rends the pliant, silken softness of a
young girls skin, and how the brown-red, blended with burnt ochre,
brings warmth into the cold gray of the deep shadow where the blood lay
congealed instead of coursing through the veins? Young man, young man,
no master could teach you how to do this that I am doing before your
eyes. Mabuse alone possessed the secret of giving life to his figures;
Mabuse had but one pupil--that was I. I have had none, and I am old. You
have sufficient intelligence to imagine the rest from the glimpses that
I am giving you.

While the old man was speaking, he gave a touch here and there;
sometimes two strokes of the brush, sometimes a single one; but every
stroke told so well, that the whole picture seemed transfigured--the
painting was flooded with light. He worked with such passionate fervor
that beads of sweat gathered upon his bare forehead; he worked so
quickly, in brief, impatient jerks, that it seemed to young Poussin as
if some familiar spirit inhabiting the body of this strange being took
a grotesque pleasure in making use of the mans hands against his own
will. The unearthly glitter of his eyes, the convulsive movements
that seemed like struggles, gave to this fancy a semblance of truth
which could not but stir a young imagination. The old man continued,
saying as he did so--

Paf! paf! that is how to lay it on, young man!--Little touches! come
and bring a glow into those icy cold tones for me! Just so! Pon! pon!
pon! and those parts of the picture that he had pointed out as cold and
lifeless flushed with warmer hues, a few bold strokes of color brought
all the tones of the picture into the required harmony with the glowing
tints of the Egyptian, and the differences in temperament vanished.

Look you, youngster, the last touches make the picture. Porbus has
given it a hundred strokes for every one of mine. No one thanks us for
what lies beneath. Bear that in mind.

At last the restless spirit stopped, and turning to Porbus and Poussin,
who were speechless with admiration, he spoke--

This is not as good as my Belle Noiseuse; still one might put ones
name to such a thing as this.--Yes, I would put my name to it,
 he added, rising to reach for a mirror, in which he looked at the
picture.--And now, he said, will you both come and breakfast with me?
I have a smoked ham and some very fair wine!... Eh! eh! the times may
be bad, but we can still have some talk about art! We can talk like
equals.... Here is a little fellow who has aptitude, he added, laying a
hand on Nicolas Poussins shoulder.

In this way the stranger became aware of the threadbare condition of the
Normans doublet. He drew a leather purse from his girdle, felt in it,
found two gold coins, and held them out.

I will buy your sketch, he said.

Take it, said Porbus, as he saw the other start and flush with
embarrassment, for Poussin had the pride of poverty. Pray, take it; he
has a couple of kings ransoms in his pouch!

The three came down together from the studio, and, talking of art by the
way, reached a picturesque wooden house hard by the Pont Saint-Michel.
Poussin wondered a moment at its ornament, at the knocker, at the frames
of the casements, at the scroll-work designs, and in the next he stood
in a vast low-ceiled room. A table, covered with tempting dishes, stood
near the blazing fire, and (luck unhoped for) he was in the company of
two great artists full of genial good humor.

Do not look too long at that canvas, young man, said Porbus, when he
saw that Poussin was standing, struck with wonder, before a painting.
You would fall a victim to despair.

It was the Adam painted by Mabuse to purchase his release from the
prison, where his creditors had so long kept him. And, as a matter of
fact, the figure stood out so boldly and convincingly, that Nicolas
Poussin began to understand the real meaning of the words poured out
by the old artist, who was himself looking at the picture with apparent
satisfaction, but without enthusiasm. I have done better than that! he
seemed to be saying to himself.

There is life in it, he said aloud; in that respect my poor
master here surpassed himself, but there is some lack of truth in the
background. The man lives indeed; he is rising, and will come toward us;
but the atmosphere, the sky, the air, the breath of the breeze--you look
and feel for them, but they are not there. And then the man himself is,
after all, only a man! Ah! but the one man in the world who came direct
from the hands of God must have had a something divine about him that
is wanting here. Mabuse himself would grind his teeth and say so when he
was not drunk.

Poussin looked from the speaker to Porbus, and from Porbus to the
speaker, with restless curiosity. He went up to the latter to ask for
the name of their host; but the painter laid a finger on his lips
with an air of mystery. The young mans interest was excited; he kept
silence, but hoped that sooner or later some word might be let fall that
would reveal the name of his entertainer. It was evident that he was a
man of talent and very wealthy, for Porbus listened to him respectfully,
and the vast room was crowded with marvels of art.

A magnificent portrait of a woman, hung against the dark oak panels of
the wall, next caught Poussins attention.

What a glorious Giorgione! he cried.

No, said his host, it is an early daub of mine--

Gramercy! I am in the abode of the god of painting, it seems! cried
Poussin ingenuously.

The old man smiled as if he had long grown familiar with such praise.

Master Frenhofer! said Porbus, do you think you could spare me a
little of your capital Rhine wine?

A couple of pipes! answered his host; one to discharge a debt, for
the pleasure of seeing your pretty sinner, the other as a present from a
friend.

Ah! if I had my health, returned Porbus, and if you would but let
me see your Belle Noiseuse, I would paint some great picture, with
breadth in it and depth; the figures should be life-size.

Let you see my work! cried the painter in agitation. No, no! it is
not perfect yet; something still remains for me to do. Yesterday, in the
dusk, he said, I thought I had reached the end. Her eyes seemed moist,
the flesh quivered, something stirred the tresses of her hair. She
breathed! But though I have succeeded in reproducing Natures roundness
and relief on the flat surface of the canvas, this morning, by daylight,
I found out my mistake. Ah! to achieve that glorious result I have
studied the works of the great masters of color, stripping off coat
after coat of color from Titians canvas, analyzing the pigments of the
king of light. Like that sovereign painter, I began the face in a slight
tone with a supple and fat paste--for shadow is but an accident; bear
that in mind, youngster!--Then I began afresh, and by half-tones and
thin glazes of color less and less transparent, I gradually deepened the
tints to the deepest black of the strongest shadows. An ordinary painter
makes his shadows something entirely different in nature from the high
lights; they are wood or brass, or what you will, anything but flesh
in shadow. You feel that even if those figures were to alter their
position, those shadow stains would never be cleansed away, those parts
of the picture would never glow with light.

I have escaped one mistake, into which the most famous painters have
sometimes fallen; in my canvas the whiteness shines through the densest
and most persistent shadow. I have not marked out the limits of my
figure in hard, dry outlines, and brought every least anatomical detail
into prominence (like a host of dunces, who fancy that they can draw
because they can trace a line elaborately smooth and clean), for the
human body is not contained within the limits of line. In this the
sculptor can approach the truth more nearly than we painters. Natures
way is a complicated succession of curve within curve. Strictly
speaking, there is no such thing as drawing.--Do not laugh, young man;
strange as that speech may seem to you, you will understand the truth in
it some day.--A line is a method of expressing the effect of light upon
an object; but there are no lines in Nature, everything is solid. We
draw by modeling, that is to say, that we disengage an object from
its setting; the distribution of the light alone gives to a body the
appearance by which we know it. So I have not defined the outlines; I
have suffused them with a haze of half-tints warm or golden, in such a
sort that you can not lay your finger on the exact spot where background
and contours meet. Seen from near, the picture looks a blur; it seems
to lack definition; but step back two paces, and the whole thing becomes
clear, distinct, and solid; the body stands out; the rounded form comes
into relief; you feel that the air plays round it. And yet--I am not
satisfied; I have misgivings. Perhaps one ought not to draw a single
line; perhaps it would be better to attack the face from the centre,
taking the highest prominences first, proceeding from them through the
whole range of shadows to the heaviest of all. Is not this the method
of the sun, the divine painter of the world? Oh, Nature, Nature! who
has surprised thee, fugitive? But, after all, too much knowledge, like
ignorance, brings you to a negation. I have doubts about my work.

There was a pause. Then the old man spoke again. I have been at work
upon it for ten years, young man; but what are ten short years in a
struggle with Nature? Do we know how long Sir Pygmalion wrought at the
one statue that came to life? The old man fell into deep musings, and
gazed before him with unseeing eyes, while he played unheedingly with
his knife.

Look, he is in conversation with his _domon!_ murmured Porbus.

At the word, Nicolas Poussin felt himself carried away by an
unaccountable accession of artists curiosity. For him the old man, at
once intent and inert, the seer with the unseeing eyes, became something
more than a man--a fantastic spirit living in a mysterious world, and
countless vague thoughts awoke within his soul. The effect of this
species of fascination upon his mind can no more be described in words
than the passionate longing awakened in an exiles heart by the song
that recalls his home. He thought of the scorn that the old man affected
to display for the noblest efforts of art, of his wealth, his manners,
of the deference paid to him by Porbus. The mysterious picture, the work
of patience on which he had wrought so long in secret, was doubtless
a work of genius, for the head of the Virgin which young Poussin had
admired so frankly was beautiful even beside Mabuses Adam--there
was no mistaking the imperial manner of one of the princes of art.
Everything combined to set the old man beyond the limits of human
nature.

Out of the wealth of fancies in Nicolas Poussins brain an idea grew,
and gathered shape and clearness. He saw in this supernatural being a
complete type of the artist nature, a nature mocking and kindly, barren
and prolific, an erratic spirit intrusted with great and manifold powers
which she too often abuses, leading sober reason, the Philistine, and
sometimes even the amateur forth into a stony wilderness where they see
nothing; but the white-winged maiden herself, wild as her fancies may
be, finds epics there and castles and works of art. For Poussin, the
enthusiast, the old man, was suddenly transfigured, and became Art
incarnate, Art with its mysteries, its vehement passion and its dreams.

Yes, my dear Porbus, Frenhofer continued, hitherto I have never
found a flawless model, a body with outlines of perfect beauty, the
carnations--Ah! where does she live? he cried, breaking in upon
himself, the undiscoverable Venus of the older time, for whom we have
sought so often, only to find the scattered gleams of her beauty here
and there? Oh! to behold once and for one moment, Nature grown perfect
and divine, the Ideal at last, I would give all that I possess.... Nay,
Beauty divine, I would go to seek thee in the dim land of the dead; like
Orpheus, I would go down into the Hades of Art to bring back the life of
art from among the shadows of death.

We can go now, said Porbus to Poussin. He neither hears nor sees us
any longer.

Let us go to his studio, said young Poussin, wondering greatly.

Oh! the old fox takes care that no one shall enter it. His treasures
are so carefully guarded that it is impossible for us to come at them.
I have not waited for your suggestion and your fancy to attempt to lay
hands on this mystery by force.

So there is a mystery? Yes, answered Porbus. Old Frenhofer is the
only pupil Mabuse would take. Frenhofer became the painters friend,
deliverer, and father; he sacrificed the greater part of his fortune to
enable Mabuse to indulge in riotous extravagance, and in return Mabuse
bequeathed to him the secret of relief, the power of giving to his
figures the wonderful life, the flower of Nature, the eternal despair of
art, the secret which Ma-buse knew so well that one day when he had sold
the flowered brocade suit in which he should have appeared at the Entry
of Charles V, he accompanied his master in a suit of paper painted to
resemble the brocade. The peculiar richness and splendor of the stuff
struck the Emperor; he complimented the old drunkards patron on the
artists appearance, and so the trick was brought to light. Frenhofer
is a passionate enthusiast, who sees above and beyond other painters. He
has meditated profoundly on color, and the absolute truth of line; but
by the way of much research he has come to doubt the very existence
of the objects of his search. He says, in moments of despondency, that
there is no such thing as drawing, and that by means of lines we can
only reproduce geometrical figures; but that is overshooting the mark,
for by outline and shadow you can reproduce form without any color at
all, which shows that our art, like Nature, is composed of an infinite
number of elements. Drawing gives you the skeleton, the anatomical
frame- work, and color puts the life into it; but life without the
skeleton is even more incomplete than a skeleton without life. But there
is something else truer still, and it is this--f or painters, practise
and observation are everything; and when theories and poetical ideas
begin to quarrel with the brushes, the end is doubt, as has happened
with our good friend, who is half crack-brained enthusiast, half
painter. A sublime painter! but unlucky for him, he was born to riches,
and so he has leisure to follow his fancies. Do not you follow his
example! Work! painters have no business to think, except brush in
hand.

We will find a way into his studio! cried Poussin confidently. He had
ceased to heed Porbuss remarks. The other smiled at the young painters
enthusiasm, asked him to come to see him again, and they parted. Nicolas
Poussin went slowly back to the Rue de la Harpe, and passed the
modest hostelry where he was lodging without noticing it. A feeling of
uneasiness prompted him to hurry up the crazy staircase till he reached
a room at the top, a quaint, airy recess under the steep, high-pitched
roof common among houses in old Paris. In the one dingy window of the
place sat a young girl, who sprang up at once when she heard some one at
the door; it was the prompting of love; she had recognized the painters
touch on the latch.

What is the matter with you? she asked.

The matter is... is... Oh! I have felt that I am a painter! Until
to-day I have had doubts, but now I believe in myself! There is the
making of a great man in me! Never mind, Gillette, we shall be rich and
happy! There is gold at the tips of those brushes--

He broke off suddenly. The joy faded from his powerful and earnest face
as he compared his vast hopes with his slender resources. The walls were
covered with sketches in chalk on sheets of common paper. There were
but four canvases in the room. Colors were very costly, and the young
painters palette was almost bare. Yet in the midst of his poverty he
possessed and was conscious of the possession of inexhaustible treasures
of the heart, of a devouring genius equal to all the tasks that lay
before him.

He had been brought to Paris by a nobleman among his friends, or
perchance by the consciousness of his powers; and in Paris he had found
a mistress, one of those noble and generous souls who choose to suffer
by a great mans side, who share his struggles and strive to understand
his fancies, accepting their lot of poverty and love as bravely and
dauntlessly as other women will set themselves to bear the burden of
riches and make a parade of their insensibility. The smile that stole
over Gillettes lips filled the garret with golden light, and rivaled
the brightness of the sun in heaven. The sun, moreover, does not always
shine in heaven, whereas Gillette was always in the garret, absorbed in
her passion, occupied by Poussins happiness and sorrow, consoling the
genius which found an outlet in love before art engrossed it.

Listen, Gillette. Come here.

The girl obeyed joyously, and sprang upon the painters knee. Hers was
perfect grace and beauty, and the loveliness of spring; she was adorned
with all luxuriant fairness of outward form, lighted up by the glow of a
fair soul within.

Oh! God, he cried; I shall never dare to tell her--

A secret? she cried; I must know it!

Poussin was absorbed in his dreams.

Do tell it me!

Gillette... poor beloved heart!...

Oh! do you want something of me?

Yes.

If you wish me to sit once more for you as I did the other day, she
continued with playful petulance, I will never consent to do such a
thing again, for your eyes say nothing all the while. You do not think
of me at all, and yet you look at me--

Would you rather have me draw another woman?

Perhaps--if she were very ugly, she said.

Well, said Poussin gravely, and if, for the sake of my fame to come,
if to make me a great painter, you must sit to some one else?

You may try me, she said; you know quite well that I would not.

Poussins head sank on her breast; he seemed to be overpowered by some
intolerable joy or sorrow.

Listen, she cried, plucking at the sleeve of Poussins threadbare
doublet, I told you, Nick, that I would lay down my life for you; but I
never promised you that I in my lifetime would lay down my love.

Your love? cried the young artist.

If I showed myself thus to another, you would love me no longer, and
I should feel myself unworthy of you. Obedience to your fancies was a
natural and simple thing, was it not? Even against my own will, I am
glad and even proud to do thy dear will. But for another, out upon it!

Forgive me, my Gillette, said the painter, falling upon his knees;
I would rather be beloved than famous. You are fairer than success and
honors. There, fling the pencils away, and burn these sketches! I have
made a mistake. I was meant to love and not to paint. Perish art and all
its secrets!

Gillette looked admiringly at him, in an ecstasy of happiness! She was
triumphant; she felt instinctively that art was laid aside for her sake,
and flung like a grain of incense at her feet.

Yet he is only an old man, Poussin continued; for him you would be a
woman, and nothing more. You--so perfect!

I must love you indeed! she cried, ready to sacrifice even loves
scruples to the lover who had given up so much for her sake; but I
should bring about my own ruin. Ah! to ruin myself, to lose everything
for you!... It is a very glorious thought! Ah! but you will forget me.
Oh I what evil thought is this that has come to you?

I love you, and yet I thought of it, he said, with something like
remorse, Am I so base a wretch?

Let us consult Père Hardouin, she said.

No, no! Let it be a secret between us.

Very well; I will do it. But you must not be there, she said. Stay at
the door with your dagger in your hand; and if I call, rush in and kill
the painter.

Poussin forgot everything but art. He held Gillette tightly in his arms.

He loves me no longer! thought Gillette when she was alone. She
repented of her resolution already.

But to these misgivings there soon succeeded a sharper pain, and she
strove to banish a hideous thought that arose in her own heart. It
seemed to her that her own love had grown less already, with a vague
suspicion that the painter had fallen somewhat in her eyes.




II--CATHERINE LESCAULT

Three months after Poussin and Porbus met, the latter went to see Master
Frenhofer. The old man had fallen a victim to one of those profound and
spontaneous fits of discouragement that are caused, according to medical
logicians, by indigestion, flatulence, fever, or enlargement of the
spleen; or, if you take the opinion of the Spiritualists, by the
imperfections of our mortal nature. The good man had simply overworked
himself in putting the finishing touches to his mysterious picture. He
was lounging in a huge carved oak chair, covered with black leather, and
did not change his listless attitude, but glanced at Porbus like a man
who has settled down into low spirits.

Well, master, said Porbus, was the ultramarine bad that you sent for
to Bruges? Is the new white difficult to grind? Is the oil poor, or are
the brushes recalcitrant?

Alas! cried the old man, for a moment I thought that my work was
finished, but I am sure that I am mistaken in certain details, and I can
not rest until I have cleared my doubts. I am thinking of traveling. I
am going to Turkey, to Greece, to Asia, in quest of a model, so as to
compare my picture with the different living forms of Nature. Perhaps,
 and a smile of contentment stole over his face, perhaps I have Nature
herself up there. At times I am half afraid that a breath may waken her,
and that she will escape me.

He rose to his feet as if to set out at once.

Aha! said Porbus, I have come just in time to save you the trouble
and expense of a journey.

What? asked Frenhofer in amazement.

Young Poussin is loved by a woman of incomparable and flawless beauty.
But, dear master, if he consents to lend her to you, at the least you
ought to let us see your work.

The old man stood motionless and completely dazed.

What! he cried piteously at last, show you my creation, my bride?
Rend the veil that has kept my happiness sacred? It would be an infamous
profanation. For ten years I have lived with her; she is mine, mine
alone; she loves me. Has she not smiled at me, at each stroke of the
brush upon the canvas? She has a soul--the soul that I have given her.
She would blush if any eyes but mine should rest on her. To exhibit her!
Where is the husband, the lover so vile as to bring the woman he loves
to dishonor? When you paint a picture for the court, you do not put your
whole soul into it; to courtiers you sell lay figures duly colored. My
painting is no painting, it is a sentiment, a passion. She was born in
my studio, there she must dwell in maiden solitude, and only when clad
can she issue thence. Poetry and women only lay the last veil aside
for their lovers Have we Rafaels model, Ariostos Angelica, Dantes
Beatrice? Nay, only their form and semblance. But this picture, locked
away above in my studio, is an exception in our art. It is not a canvas,
it is a woman--a woman with whom I talk. I share her thoughts, her
tears, her laughter. Would you have me fling aside these ten years of
happiness like a cloak? Would you have me cease at once to be father,
lover, and creator? She is not a creature, but a creation.

Bring your young painter here. I will give him my treasures; I will
give him pictures by Correggio and Michelangelo and Titian; I will kiss
his footprints in the dust; but make him my rival! Shame on me. Ah! ah!
I am a lover first, and then a painter. Yes, with my latest sigh I could
find strength to burn my Belle Noiseuse; but--compel her to endure the
gaze of a stranger, a young man and a painter!--Ah! no, no! I would
kill him on the morrow who should sully her with a glance! Nay, you, my
friend, I would kill you with my own hands in a moment if you did not
kneel in reverence before her! Now, will you have me submit my idol
to the careless eyes and senseless criticisms of fools? Ah! love is a
mystery; it can only live hidden in the depths of the heart. You say,
even to your friend, Behold her whom I love, and there is an end of
love.

The old man seemed to have grown young again; there was light and life
in his eyes, and a faint flush of red in his pale face. His hands shook.
Porbus was so amazed by the passionate vehemence of Frenhofers words
that he knew not what to reply to this utterance of an emotion as
strange as it was profound. Was Frenhofer sane or mad? Had he fallen a
victim to some freak of the artists fancy? or were these ideas of his
produced by the strange lightheadedness which comes over us during the
long travail of a work of art. Would it be possible to come to terms
with this singular passion?

Harassed by all these doubts, Porbus spoke--Is it not woman for woman?
 he said. Does not Poussin submit his mistress to your gaze?

What is she? retorted the other. A mistress who will be false to him
sooner or later. Mine will be faithful to me forever.

Well, well, said Porbus, let us say no more about it. But you may die
before you will find such a flawless beauty as hers, even in Asia, and
then your picture will be left unfinished.

Oh! it is finished, said Frenhof er. Standing before it you would
think that it was a living woman lying on the velvet couch beneath the
shadow of the curtains. Perfumes are burning on a golden tripod by her
side. You would be tempted to lay your hand upon the tassel of the cord
that holds back the curtains; it would seem to you that you saw her
breast rise and fall as she breathed; that you beheld the living
Catherine Lescault, the beautiful courtezan whom men called La Belle
Noiseuse. And yet--if I could but be sure--

Then go to Asia, returned Porbus, noticing a certain indecision in
Frenhofers face. And with that Porbus made a few steps toward the door.
By that time Gillette and Nicolas Poussin had reached Frenhofers
house. The girl drew away her arm from her lovers as she stood on the
threshold, and shrank back as if some presentiment flashed through her
mind.

Oh! what have I come to do here? she asked of her lover in low
vibrating tones, with her eyes fixed on his.

Gillette, I have left you to decide; I am ready to obey you in
everything. You are my conscience and my glory. Go home again; I shall
be happier, perhaps, if you do not--

Am I my own when you speak to me like that? No, no; I am a
child.--Come, she added, seemingly with a violent effort; if our love
dies, if I plant a long regret in my heart, your fame will be the reward
of my obedience to your wishes, will it not? Let us go in. I shall
still live on as a memory on your palette; that shall be life for me
afterward.

The door opened, and the two lovers encountered Porbus, who was
surprised by the beauty of Gillette, whose eyes were full of tears. He
hurried her, trembling from head to foot, into the presence of the old
painter.

Here! he cried, is she not worth all the masterpieces in the world!

Frenhofer trembled. There stood Gillette in the artless and childlike
attitude of some timid and innocent Georgian, carried off by brigands,
and confronted with a slave merchant. A shamefaced red flushed her face,
her eyes drooped, her hands hung by her side, her strength seemed to
have failed her, her tears protested against this outrage. Poussin
cursed himself in despair that he should have brought his fair treasure
from its hiding-place. The lover overcame the artist, and countless
doubts assailed Poussins heart when he saw youth dawn in the old mans
eyes, as, like a painter, he discerned every line of the form hidden
beneath the young girls vesture. Then the lovers savage jealousy
awoke.

Gillette! he cried, let us go.

The girl turned joyously at the cry and the tone in which it was
uttered, raised her eyes to his, looked at him, and fled to his arms.

Ah! then you love me, she cried; you love me! and she burst into
tears.

She had spirit enough to suffer in silence, but she had no strength to
hide her joy.

Oh! leave her with me for one moment, said the old painter, and you
shall compare her with my Catherine... yes--I consent.

Frenhofers words likewise came from him like a lovers cry. His vanity
seemed to be engaged for his semblance of womanhood; he anticipated the
triumph of the beauty of his own creation over the beauty of the living
girl.

Do not give him time to change his mind! cried Porbus, striking
Poussin on the shoulder. The flower of love soon fades, but the flower
of art is immortal.

Then am I only a woman now for him? said Gillette. She was watching
Poussin and Porbus closely.

She raised her head proudly; she glanced at Frenhofer, and her eyes
flashed; then as she saw how her lover had fallen again to gazing at the
portrait which he had taken at first for a Giorgione--

Ah! she cried; let us go up to the studio. He never gave me such a
look.

The sound of her voice recalled Poussin from his dreams.

Old man, he said, do you see this blade? I will plunge it into your
heart at the first cry from this young girl; I will set fire to your
house, and no one shall leave it alive. Do you understand?

Nicolas Poussin scowled; every word was a menace. Gillette took comfort
from the young painters bearing, and yet more from that gesture, and
almost forgave him for sacrificing her to his art and his glorious
future.

Porbus and Poussin stood at the door of the studio and looked at each
other in silence. At first the painter of the Saint Mary of Egypt
hazarded some exclamations: Ah! she has taken off her clothes; he told
her to come into the light--he is comparing the two! but the sight of
the deep distress in Poussins face suddenly silenced him; and though
old painters no longer feel these scruples, so petty in the presence of
art, he admired them because they were so natural and gracious in the
lover. The young man kept his hand on the hilt of his dagger, and his
ear was almost glued to the door. The two men standing in the shadow
might have been conspirators waiting for the hour when they might strike
down a tyrant.

Come in, come in, cried the old man. He was radiant with delight. My
work is perfect. I can show her now with pride. Never shall painter,
brushes, colors, light, and canvas produce a rival for Catherine
Lescault, the beautiful courtezan!

Porbus and Poussin, burning with eager curiosity, hurried into a vast
studio. Everything was in disorder and covered with dust, but they saw a
few pictures here and there upon the wall. They stopped first of all in
admiration before the life-size figure of a woman partially draped.

Oh! never mind that, said Frenhofer; that is a rough daub that I
made, a study, a pose, it is nothing. These are my failures, he went
on, indicating the enchanting compositions upon the walls of the studio.

This scorn for such works of art struck Porbus and Poussin dumb with
amazement. They looked round for the picture of which he had spoken, and
could not discover it.

Look here! said the old man. His hair was disordered, his face aglow
with a more than human exaltation, his eyes glittered, he breathed hard
like a young lover frenzied by love.

Aha! he cried, you did not expect to see such perfection! You are
looking for a picture, and you see a woman before you. There is such
depth in that canvas, the atmosphere is so true that you can not
distinguish it from the air that surrounds us. Where is art? Art has
vanished, it is invisible! It is the form of a living girl that you see
before you. Have I not caught the very hues of life, the spirit of the
living line that defines the figure? Is there not the effect produced
there like that which all natural objects present in the atmosphere
about them, or fishes in the water? Do you see how the figure stands out
against the background? Does it not seem to you that you pass your hand
along the back? But then for seven years I studied and watched how the
daylight blends with the objects on which it falls. And the hair, the
light pours over it like a flood, does it not?... Ah! she breathed, I am
sure that she breathed! Her breast--ah, see! Who would not fall on his
knees before her? Her pulses throb. She will rise to her feet. Wait!

Do you see anything? Poussin asked of Porbus.

No... do you?

I see nothing.

The two painters left the old man to his ecstasy, and tried to ascertain
whether the light that fell full upon the canvas had in some way
neutralized all the effect for them. They moved to the right and left
of the picture; they came in front, bending down and standing upright by
turns.

Yes, yes, it is really canvas, said Frenhofer, who mistook the nature
of this minute investigation.

Look! the canvas is on a stretcher, here is the easel; indeed, here are
my colors, my brushes, and he took up a brush and held it out to them,
all unsuspicious of their thought.

The old _lansquenet_ is laughing at us, said Poussin, coming once
more toward the supposed picture. I can see nothing there but confused
masses of color and a multitude of fantastical lines that go to make a
dead wall of paint.

We are mistaken, look! said Porbus.

In a corner of the canvas, as they came nearer, they distinguished a
bare foot emerging from the chaos of color, half-tints and vague shadows
that made up a dim, formless fog. Its living delicate beauty held them
spellbound. This fragment that had escaped an incomprehensible, slow,
and gradual destruction seemed to them like the Parian marble torso of
some Venus emerging from the ashes of a ruined town.

There is a woman beneath, exclaimed Porbus, calling Poussins
attention to the coats of paint with which the old artist had overlaid
and concealed his work in the quest of perfection.

Both artists turned involuntarily to Frenhofer. They began to have some
understanding, vague though it was, of the ecstasy in which he lived.

He believes it in all good faith, said Porbus.

Yes, my friend, said the old man, rousing himself from his dreams, it
needs faith, faith in art, and you must live for long with your work to
produce such a creation. What toil some of those shadows have cost me.
Look! there is a faint shadow there upon the cheek beneath the eyes--if
you saw that on a human face, it would seem to you that you could never
render it with paint. Do you think that that effect has not cost unheard
of toil?

But not only so, dear Porbus. Look closely at my work, and you will
understand more clearly what I was saying as to methods of modeling and
outline. Look at the high lights on the bosom, and see how by touch on
touch, thickly laid on, I have raised the surface so that it catches
the light itself and blends it with the lustrous whiteness of the high
lights, and how by an opposite process, by flattening the surface of
the paint, and leaving no trace of the passage of the brush, I have
succeeded in softening the contours of my figures and enveloping them
in half-tints until the very idea of drawing, of the means by which the
effect is produced, fades away, and the picture has the roundness
and relief of nature. Come closer. You will see the manner of working
better; at a little distance it can not be seen. There I Just there, it
is, I think, very plainly to be seen, and with the tip of his brush he
pointed out a patch of transparent color to the two painters.

Porbus, laying a hand on the old artists shoulder, turned to Poussin
with a Do you know that in him we see a very great painter?

He is even more of a poet than a painter, Poussin answered gravely.

There, Porbus continued, as he touched the canvas, Use the utmost
limit of our art on earth.

Beyond that point it loses itself in the skies, said Poussin.

What joys lie there on this piece of canvas! exclaimed Porbus.

The old man, deep in his own musings, smiled at the woman he alone
beheld, and did not hear.

But sooner or later he will find out that there is nothing there!
 cried Poussin.

Nothing on my canvas! said Frenhofer, looking in turn at either
painter and at his picture.

What have you done? muttered Porbus, turning to Poussin.

The old man clutched the young painters arm and said, Do you see
nothing? clodpatel Huguenot! varlet! cullion! What brought you here into
my studio?--My good Porbus, he went on, as he turned to the painter,
are you also making a fool of me? Answer! I am your friend. Tell me,
have I ruined my picture after all?

Porbus hesitated and said nothing, but there was such intolerable
anxiety in the old mans white face that he pointed to the easel.

Look! he said.

Frenhofer looked for a moment at his picture, and staggered back.

Nothing! nothing! After ten years of work... He sat down and wept.

So I am a dotard, a madman, I have neither talent nor power! I am only
a rich man, who works for his own pleasure, and makes no progress, I
have done nothing after all!

He looked through his tears at his picture. Suddenly he rose and stood
proudly before the two painters.

By the body and blood of Christ, he cried with flashing eyes, you are
jealous! You would have me think that my picture is a failure because
you want to steal her from me! Ah! I see her, I see her, he cried she
is marvelously beautiful...

At that moment Poussin heard the sound of weeping; Gillette was
crouching forgotten in a corner. All at once the painter once more
became the lover. What is it, my angel? he asked her.

Kill me! she sobbed. I must be a vile thing if I love you still, for
I despise you.... I admire you, and I hate you! I love you, and I feel
that I hate you even now!

While Gillettes words sounded in Poussins ears, Frenhof er drew a
green serge covering over his Catherine with the sober deliberation
of a jeweler who locks his drawers when he suspects his visitors to be
expert thieves. He gave the two painters a profoundly astute glance that
expressed to the full his suspicions, and his contempt for them, saw
them out of his studio with impetuous haste and in silence, until from
the threshold of his house he bade them Good-by, my young friends!

That farewell struck a chill of dread into the two painters. Porbus, in
anxiety, went again on the morrow to see Frenhofer, and learned that he
had died in the night after burning his canvases.

Paris, February, 1832.





End of Project Gutenbergs The Unknown Masterpiece, by Honoré De Balzac