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The Unknown Masterpiece

by Honoré de Balzac, Richard Howard (translator), Arthur C. Danto (contributor)

3.85 · rating details · 300 ratings · 33 reviews

Honoré De Balzac (1799-1850) is generally credited as the inventor of the modern realistic novel. In more than ninety novels, he set forth French society and life as he saw it. He created a cast of over two thousand individual and identifiable characters, some of whom reappear in different novels. He organized his works into his masterpiece, La Comedie Humaine,which was th...more

Paperback, 160 pages

Published January 26th 2011 by NYRB Classics (first published 1829)

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Feb 07, 2012

Ben Dutton rated it

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. And so I return to the Études Philosophiques from Honoré de Balzac monumental La Comédie Humaine. It has been almost a year since I last read any of his work – so my archive tells me – though it feels like only a few months have passed, such I guess is the power Balzac’s work has on my subconscious. I can picture details of La Recherche de l’Absolu and La Peau de Chagrin even now.

Le Chef-d’oeuvre Inconnu is a short story, published first in the newspaper L’Artiste with the title Maît...moreAnd so I return to the Études Philosophiques from Honoré de Balzac monumental La Comédie Humaine. It has been almost a year since I last read any of his work – so my archive tells me – though it feels like only a few months have passed, such I guess is the power Balzac’s work has on my subconscious. I can picture details of La Recherche de l’Absolu and La Peau de Chagrin even now.

Le Chef-d’oeuvre Inconnu is a short story, published first in the newspaper L’Artiste with the title Maître Frenhofer in August 1831. It appeared again later in the same year under the title Catherine Lescault, conte fantastique. It was published in Balzac’s Études Philosophiques in 1837 and was integrated into the La Comédie Humaine in 1846.

Le Chef-d’oeuvre Inconnu is one of Balzac’s more well-known stories – it has inspired both filmmakers, particularly Jacques Rivette, whose film La Belle Noiseuse (1991) is loosely based upon the story, and Pablo Picasso, who moved into the address this story takes place at, and in which he was inspired to paint Guernica.

It is an unusual story in that its protagonist is a real-life figure, the famous French painter Nicholas Poussin, a man whose work often stood in opposition to the popular cultural trends of the day: his work engaged with both the Renaissance and the classical world, and his motifs are often death and tragedy. Balzac’s choice of Poussin is entirely deliberate.

“”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 Diirer 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.””

The old man is the revered painter Frenhofer, whom is critiquing a work by Frans Porbus (a lightly veiled Frans Pourbus the Younger or a mis-typing of his name, I am uncertain), whose studio he has entered with the young Poussin. Frenhofer tells Porbus that his painting of Mary of Egypt is incomplete, and with just a few more strokes of the brush, Frenhofer seems to make Mary come to life. Frenhofer tells them that though he has mastered the technique of creating a living illusion in painting, he has yet to find a suitable model for his masterwork, La Belle Noiseuse (or The Beautiful Troublemaker). We learn Frenhofer has been reworking and refining his painting for ten years, and that every time he thinks he is done, he sees he is not. A model, a perfect woman, is all he needs.

Where this story travels next is at once surprising and shocking: Balzac weaves his theme of death and tragedy effortlessly (see, I said Poussin was a deliberate choice). Balzac’s language is modern (even in Ellen Marriage’s translation), and his story could have been written yesterday: its themes resonant even now. Much of Balzac’s epic cycle is sparsely commented upon online, with some works having escaped attention entirely, but this story is well known and there are many fine essays out there discussing its themes and deeper meanings. For me, this is one of the finest short stories, and seems, in its structure and pay off, to anticipate much more modern works. It comes highly recommended.(less)

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May 16, 2011

Carol rated it

I love Balzac and was ready to love this book---which is actually comprised of two short stores: the Unknown Masterpiece and the almost unreadable Gambara.
The UM is pretty good, but much below the level of the other books and short stories by Balzac I've read. It's interesting in it's discussion of art, reality, perception, etc. Gambara tried to by another story about creativity, aesthetics, etc., but about music and composition---also about madness. It reminded me of the obnoxious cha...more

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Jun 15, 2010

Tony rated it

Shelves: fiction-mainstream

Balzac, Honore de. THE UNKNOWN MASTERPIECE and GAMBARA. (this ed. 2001). ****. The first of these two novellas tells the story of three artists: Porbus, an up-and-coming artist in Paris, Poussin, a young artist on his way to an audience with Porbus, and Frenhofer, an older artist of some fame who is visiting Porbus at the same time. Both Porbus and Poussin are based on real artists of the early 17th century, though Balzac takes some artistic license with their real ages and personalities. ...moreBalzac, Honore de. THE UNKNOWN MASTERPIECE and GAMBARA. (this ed. 2001). ****. The first of these two novellas tells the story of three artists: Porbus, an up-and-coming artist in Paris, Poussin, a young artist on his way to an audience with Porbus, and Frenhofer, an older artist of some fame who is visiting Porbus at the same time. Both Porbus and Poussin are based on real artists of the early 17th century, though Balzac takes some artistic license with their real ages and personalities. Frenhofer is a totally made-up artist who is created to make the point of the story. Frenhofer is calling on Porbus’ studio to view some of his recent work. Poussin arrives at about the same time and is admitted as being thought to be with Frenhoger. they both view Porbus’ current paintings, and Frenhofer, who boasts of his training and success in the art world, manages to make some small changes to several of Probus’ canvases that provide dramatic improvements. Both Probus and Poussin marvel at the effects produced by the older master with only a few brush strokes. He tells them that he is still at work on what he believes to be his masterpiece. He’s been working on it for over nine years and thinks he is close to finishing it. The other two ask permission to see it, but are curtly refused. It is only later that Probus and Poussin manage to visit Frenhofer at his studio and get to view his masterpiece. While Frenhofer waxes poetic about the lines and the colors and feelings of his painting, both of the other artists look at it and can see only confusion and riot on the canvas. What the artist is seeing is in his mind, not on the canvas. What Balzac is foreseeing in this tale is the development of modern art, a concept not even thought of at his time. This work has served as an inspiration to many of today’s modern artists, including Picasso and Cezanne. GAMBARA is almost a companion piece about a musician. The story starts out with the young Count Andrea Marcosini being attracted to a young woman he passes in the streets. The woman is beautiful, but obviously possessed of lesser means. He finally finds out where she lives and learns that her name is Signora Marianne Gambara, married to Signor Gambarra, a composer and designer of instruments. The Gambaras live in poverty over a third-rate Italian restaurant in Paris, getting by on the Signora’s earnings as a seamstress for the whores of the neighborhood. When the Count finally gets to meet both of them over dinner, he soon learns that Signor Gambara composes music that nobody can understand, full of discordant notes and non-harmonic passages. His wife, who loves him dearly, is becoming more and more disappointed with him and their life style, and the Count sees a way to win the lady’s heart. It becomes complicated, however, when the Count learns that Gambara changes abruptly after a few drinks, and is able to compose and play music of sublime beauty. As long as he is drunk, he can be successful in the world of classical music. Again, the story points out the difference in apparent genius while sober and while under the influence, and how different they might be. Which is the true genius? Both of these short novels provide food for thought about artistic genius and its various manifestations. Recommended.(less)

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Jul 27, 2011

Etha Williams rated it

The two stories collected together here ("The Unknown Masterpiece" and "Gambara") share remarkably similar themes and even plot details, to the point that the pairing seems at times more redundant than complimentary. Both stories tell of an artist (a painter in the first story; a composer in the second) struggling with a work that he believes to be a masterpiece but that others hold in considerably lower regard. One can read this two ways: that the artist is a misunderstood g...moreThe two stories collected together here ("The Unknown Masterpiece" and "Gambara") share remarkably similar themes and even plot details, to the point that the pairing seems at times more redundant than complimentary. Both stories tell of an artist (a painter in the first story; a composer in the second) struggling with a work that he believes to be a masterpiece but that others hold in considerably lower regard. One can read this two ways: that the artist is a misunderstood genius, or that he's a self-deluded failure; while such artists as Cézanne and Picasso have favored the former reading, I find the latter far more persuasive.

Both stories give us the artist's claims about his genius against the rest of the characters' less-than-awestruck experience of his work, and while I'm more than willing to accept that the public is sometimes wrong about an artist, there seems precious little reason to do so here. In the "Unknown Masterpiece" we are given Poussin and Porbus's apprehension of the work against Frenhofer's own impression; Poussin being easily the most well-developed and sympathetic character in the story, it is hard not to side with him (and Frenhofer even wavers in his support of his own painting, weeping and declaring himself "an imbecile...a madman...just a rich man who makes no more than what he buys" before consoling himself with the justification that Poussin and Porbus are simply "envious thieves" and the painting is in fact "marvelously beautiful"). In "Gambara," the titular composer comes off as frankly buffoonish -- inventing outlandish instruments, speaking of far-fetched musical syntheses, and at one point using the qualities he had previously praised in Meyerbeer's Robert le Diable to condemn the same --, and while the Count assessing his work is far from disinterested (he wants to steal Gambara's lover, Marianna), his opinion at least sounds a bit more reasonable. Furthermore, just as Poussin briefly convinced Frenhofer that his masterpiece was no such thing, the Count at one point (when the composer is drunk - a case of the familiar "in vino veritas") even succeeds in persuading Gambara that his theory, and the music built thereon, lacks merit.

With this reading in mind, I would argue that the principal theme of both stories is the way obsession with theorizing can destroy a talented artist. In both stories, the artists' failure appears to be brought about not through a lack of talent but rather through the artists' preference for barren theorizing over creative intuition. In "The Unknown Masterpiece" Porbus states this directly: "A painter should philosophize only with a brush in his hand!" Frenhofer's spontaneous productions are described -- quite believably -- in terms of the wonderful ways they use light and color, whereas the "masterpiece" over which he labored and theorized so much appears to be a disaster, with only the foot of its putative subject visible, the rest occluded in a mess of paint. Likewise in "Gambara," when the composer plays his music with the aid of wine, he produces a melodious and inspired work that moves all the characters (this I found somewhat less believable, perhaps because Gambara seemed so ridiculous to begin with, or perhaps because despite his best efforts at including detail, Balzac's musical descriptions weren't quite as vivid as his pictoral ones); but when he plays the same music sober it is a discordant and almost unbearable cacophony; the Count thus persuades the composer that he is a far better poet than theorist.

The perils of over-theorizing has been a theme in aesthetic criticism since at least the eighteenth century (and likely before that), and I found its use here a bit cliché and difficult to believe. For one thing, while I can think of plenty of artists who attempt to justify talentless work with mountains of theory, and likewise artists who create extremely talented work without being fully aware of the theory involved, it is difficult for me to think of an artist whose native talent has been destroyed by theory. Even putting this objection aside, the theme wasn't treated in a particularly nuanced way: it was either total unconscious creative abandon, or else impotent reliance on far-fetched totalizing theories. That said, the theories did have their amusing moments -- in particular Gambara's theories of musical synthesis were good parodies of some of the over-the-top ideas that nineteenth century composers and music theorists often espoused. (Frenhofer's theories, by contrast, were somewhat less amusing but also more interesting.)

A secondary theme in both novel is the tragic downfall of a woman in love with a genius. Both Poussin and Gambara's lovers, Gillette and Marianna, express the wish only to live for their lover and to help foster his genius however necessary. In Gillette's case, this leads her to agree (after some protestations) to pose for Frenhofer's masterpiece; when she sees how horrid it is, she declares that she hates Poussin. In Marianna's case, it leads her to poverty and misery: she must sew clothes for prostitutes to earn their daily bread, and she is often left bereft of the one thing that matters to her -- Gambara's love -- when he is swept away by musical inspiration. (This ultimately leads her to run off with the count, only to return to Gambara some years later when the Count abandons her.)

Now, I'd be the last person to make normative claims against a novel for not having strong enough female characters -- I don't expect books to be wish-fulfillment fantasies about 19th century gender equality --, but Gillette and Marianna suffer not so much from their weakness as from their boringness. The reader gets little insight, directly or indirectly, into the psyche of either woman, and so their claims that they want only to serve the genius of Poussin or Gambara feels rather like "telling, not showing." Gillette is made slightly more interesting by her brief psychological struggle upon being asked to pose for Frenhofer; her twin worries -- first that Frenhofer no longer loves her, and then, worse still, that she in fact loves him who she had made the object of her life's purpose less for being "less worhty of love than before" -- are eminently believable and serve to make Gillette worthy of some sympathy. Marianna, on the other hand, replays the saint-whore transformation in a rather predictable way. In fact, this is a general trend in "The Unknown Masterpiece" vs "Gambara" -- the characters in the former are significantly more sympathetic and believable than in the latter.

Why still three stars? If I've been so critical of these stories it's because I had rather high expectations that were somewhat let down; but the stories do have plenty of good points. Even at their most questionable thematic points, they're unfailingly well-written, and the dialog in particular is very enjoyable and at many points had me laughing aloud. Moreover, they're not without interesting content. "The Unknown Masterpiece" touches on the painter's relationship with his art as a form of love affair: when Frenhofer initially rejects demands that he show Poussin and Porbus the titular masterpiece, he defends this decision on the basis that his masterpiece is like a lover to him, and that one doesn't let other men see one's lover unclothed. It provides, at least, an interesting way of examining the problematic relationship of the Romantic and modern artist with his audience (even if it's not entirely believable in the Renaissance setting of the story). Both stories are interesting in how Balzac seeks to depict non-verbal art through words; in my view he is somewhat more successful with painting (overall I would say "The Unknown Masterpiece" is the more successful story), but the musical writing isn't at all bad either and, I think, may be unprecedented in the level of detail it provides. (Gambara's description of Robert le Diable would, I suspect, be useful for music historians seeking to understand the boom in musical education and discourse during the Restoration and the period immediately following.) All in all, these stories -- if not masterpieces -- are enjoyable and worth taking the time to read. (less)

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Dec 14, 2009

Harry rated it

I wanted to read Balzac, and "The Unknown Masterpiece" has a special place of appreciation in art history. Cezanne loved it, Picasso loved it, every Frenchman with a brush and a beret seems to have been cast in its spell.

Balzac captures a lot of what painting is about. It's the story of an artist trying to create work that rivals the creation of life; he's trying to make a painting that has the power of a living thing. But even though this story, along with the one it's pa...more

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Jul 01, 2011

Taylor rated it

Shelves: fiction

Short story Balzac wrote in the 1830s about Frenhofer, a (fictional, 17th-century) artist so fanatically obsessed with capturing his model perfectly on the canvas that he winds up producing only an unintelligible chaos of paint — with just a foot barely visible in the corner of the picture. Picasso drew illustrations for the story in the 1920s, and Cézanne reportedly said, with tears in his eyes, “Frenhofer, c’est moi.” In his introduction, Arthur Danto argues, not implausibly, that Frenhofer’s ...more

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Dec 06, 2009

Lee rated it

The shortish title story started with a really entertaining/enlightening crit re: hypermimetic painting, then seemed unclearly smeared before ending interestingly re: the reception of abstract painting in the 17th century, not to mention re: any sort of under- or unrecognized creation. The longer novella that pads the book tells a similiar story, this time about an ecstatic composer, sort of like Cecil Taylor 125 years before ears would open to such music. My first Balzac. Definitely worthwhile ...more

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Feb 20, 2008

Jim rated it

Be sure to read the introduction before starting the book, as it's helpful in understanding the three main characters. The book is a must for anyone interested in portrait painting. There's an interesting section in which an old painter says tp a younger one, "You fill in your outline with flesh tones mixed in advance on your palette, carefully keeping one side darker than the other, and because you glance now and then at a naked woman standing on a table, you think you're copying nature ...more

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Sep 23, 2008

Ludo rated it

Shelves: de-verleiding-van-kunst

Op de achterflap van de Nederlandse vertaling, uitgegeven bij de Arbeiderspers, staat o.a. "Dit fameuze boek zouden onze schilders ten minste een keer per jaar moeten herlezen." (Paul Cezanne.)
Je kan het op een avondje uitlezen (amper 40 p) Dus waarom ook niet?
Ondanks dat het geschreven is in 1832, en zich afspeelt in 1612, blijft het hedendaagse kunstenaars (en critici) boeien.
Wat begint als een liefdesverhaal en eindigt als een esthetische beschouwing, is het verha...more

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Jan 29, 2011

Michael Armijo rated it

I'm not sure how I stumbled on this book. I think it was referenced in another book I was reading and I added it to my WISH LIST on Amazon.com. I finally ordered it and it arrived as a mere pamplet of only 40 pages or so. Of course Honore de Balzac is well-known as a literary genius and this book was known to inspire many gifted artists (Picasso, Cezanne, etc). I did take away some interesting insight as an artist myself. It's worth your reading time if you're creative in any way. This i...more

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Mar 26, 2009

Deborah added it

Shelves: adult-fiction

Picasso painted for twenty years at 7 rue des Grands Augustins in Paris - the very same address of the fictional artist, Frenhofer, in THE UNKNOWN MASTERPIECE. PIcasso revealed GUERNICA to the public 100 years after Balzac published his story. If that's not a recommendation to read it, then I don't know what is...

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Jul 19, 2011

Alice rated it

- The best piece of literature I've read so far in 2011!
- In 37 pages, Balzac so aptly describes the fundamental question of what constitutes as genuis?
- Who decides what is brilliant and what is a farce???
- "The Unknown Masterpiece" is a real thought-provoker!

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Jan 30, 2011

Mary Brown rated it

A study of the result of pursuing the "absolute"..... absolute perfection.At times too technical
when writing about th art forms of painting and music....but still delivered the powerful message"We are victims of own superiority"

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Oct 28, 2010

Sara Parker rated it

this book deepened my philosophy about art; the creation of it and the human response to it. it solidified my thoughts of painting as i see and painting as i feel. fabulous.

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Apr 22, 2009

Anne-laure rated it

With this very short story, Balzac invented abstract art way before Kandinsky did. Madness and art, 2 of my favorite subjects together in a single book.

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Nov 11, 2010

Kristin is currently reading it

OK, I am an honest to goodness Balzac freak, I've read them all, but not these two little tales...more when I finish.

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Dec 06, 2011

Maxfield rated it

Shelves: literature

Monsieur de Balzac really has an excellent grasp of the inner battles of artists in both fields covered here, painting and musical composition.

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Jan 12, 2011

Guy rated it

Almost a precognitive criticism of the coming modern area in visual art.

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Jun 12, 2011

Jacob added it

And after this, watch La Belle Noiseuse.

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Mar 16, 2008

Ryan Chapman rated it

Shelves: fiction

I've never read Balzac before--my interested was piqued by James Wood's adoration of the novelist. This book is actually composed of two longish stories, both concerning art and the ways it can break an artist. ...They're both so-so. I'd like to read a full Balzac novel to get a better sense of the writer. And also a full-lenth biography, as apparently the man lived an extraordinary life. (Favored apocrypha include his death from a caffeine overdose and his pronouncement of wanting to become the...more

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Nov 07, 2011

Cynthia rated it

A must read for every art historian

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Sep 05, 2011

Anne-marie Mcintyre rated it

Finished at 3 AM
see Stone Arabia

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Aug 03, 2010

Eli rated it

Balzac is such a bore.

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Jan 04, 2012

Dashdotdotdot rated it

Shelves: art-stories

"The unknown masterpiece" is a fantastic story that made me think about the whole "authenticity or illusion" dialogue. It seems to have influenced so many other atrtists as well.

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Apr 12, 2011

Soyloqueparezco rated it

Muy buen relato del hecho de pintar, muy actual.

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Aug 27, 2007

Aubrey rated it

These are two really great short stories. In the first, four characters are drawn together by their passion for art. One of them - the inspired genius (or the humiliated failure) is the center of the work and has served as inspiration for artists as varied as Cezanne, Henry James, and Picasso. It is a bit of a philisophical look on modern art. Gambara is simply tragic. How crazy must a artist be, anyway?

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May 29, 2007

Katelyn added it

An interesting story, but what Balzac really has going for him here is an 1830s art-historical take on figure painting that presupposes the move from the classicism of Titian (et. al.) to Manet in the 1860s, and perhaps even De Koonig in the 20th century. Not only does Balzac secure a position as an art critic through this tale, but sets the stage for later, longer works (specifically Zola) in the same vein.

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Dec 01, 2008

Matt rated it

Shelves: literature, short-stories, in-translation

Two short stories/novellas make up this book. The first, the title story is the shorter one, and I probably would have given the book three stars if it had ended there. The second Gambara made a big difference. The two stories combine into a much more interesting commentary on the nature of art, and being an artist. Gambara also struck me as a better, more developed, story.

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Jul 08, 2011

Rebecca rated it

Shelves: 2011

The four star rating is entirely for The Unknown Masterpiece, which was a wonderfully crafted short story and is rightfully considered a classic. However I found the second story, Gambara, to be fairly tedious reading and I must confess I did not finish it.

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Mar 22, 2008

Levi rated it

i've not read much of Balzac before, but i might again because this was a good tale well told. (doesn't Camus tell a story that's very similar?)

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About Honoré de Balzac

Honoré de Balzac was a nineteenth-century French novelist and playwright. His magnum opus was a sequence of almost 100 novels and plays collectively entitled La Comédie humaine, which presents a panorama of French life in the years after the fall of Napoléon Bonaparte in 1815.

Due to his keen observation of detail and unfiltered representation of society, Balzac is regarded as one of th...moreHonoré de Balzac was a nineteenth-century French novelist and playwright. His magnum opus was a sequence of almost 100 novels and plays collectively entitled La Comédie humaine, which presents a panorama of French life in the years after the fall of Napoléon Bonaparte in 1815.

Due to his keen observation of detail and unfiltered representation of society, Balzac is regarded as one of the founders of realism in European literature. He is renowned for his multi-faceted characters; even his lesser characters are complex, morally ambiguous and fully human. Inanimate objects are imbued with character as well; the city of Paris, a backdrop for much of his writing, takes on many human qualities. His writing influenced many famous authors, including the novelists Marcel Proust, Émile Zola, Charles Dickens, Gustave Flaubert, Henry James and Jack Kerouac, as well as important philosophers such as Friedrich Engels. Many of Balzac's works have been made into films, and they continue to inspire other writers.

An enthusiastic reader and independent thinker as a child, Balzac had trouble adapting himself to the teaching style of his grammar school. His willful nature caused trouble throughout his life, and frustrated his ambitions to succeed in the world of business. When he finished school, Balzac was apprenticed as a legal clerk, but he turned his back on law after wearying of its inhumanity and banal routine. Before and during his career as a writer, he attempted to be a publisher, printer, businessman, critic, and politician. He failed in all of these efforts. La Comédie Humaine reflects his real-life difficulties, and includes scenes from his own experience.

Balzac suffered from health problems throughout his life, possibly due to his intense writing schedule. His relationship with his family was often strained by financial and personal drama, and he lost more than one friend over critical reviews. In 1850, he married Ewelina Hańska, his longtime paramour; he died five months later.
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