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The Artist of the Beautiful
Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804 – 1864) was one of America’s most famous writers. Best known for the classic book The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne also wrote many other well known books and short stories including The House of the Seven Gables and Young Goodman Brown. Hawthorne’s writing centers around moral issues and the psychology of humans and is dark in nature. Much of this is due to Hawthorne’s shame of being related to one of the Salem Witch Trial judges. John Hathorne was Nathaniel’s great grandfather and the latter added the “w” to his name in order to hide that relation.
This version of The Artist of the Beautiful includes a table of contents is included.
34 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1844
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339 people want to read
About the author
Nathaniel Hawthorne
5,440 books3,569 followersNathaniel Hawthorne was a 19th century American novelist and short story writer. He is seen as a key figure in the development of American literature for his tales of the nation's colonial history.
Shortly after graduating from Bowdoin College, Hathorne changed his name to Hawthorne. Hawthorne anonymously published his first work, a novel titled Fanshawe, in 1828. In 1837, he published Twice-Told Tales and became engaged to painter and illustrator Sophia Peabody the next year. He worked at a Custom House and joined a Transcendentalist Utopian community, before marrying Peabody in 1842. The couple moved to The Old Manse in Concord, Massachusetts, later moving to Salem, the Berkshires, then to The Wayside in Concord. The Scarlet Letter was published in 1850, followed by a succession of other novels. A political appointment took Hawthorne and family to Europe before returning to The Wayside in 1860. Hawthorne died on May 19, 1864, leaving behind his wife and their three children.
Much of Hawthorne's writing centers around New England and many feature moral allegories with a Puritan inspiration. His work is considered part of the Romantic movement and includes novels, short stories, and a biography of his friend, the United States President Franklin Pierce.
Shortly after graduating from Bowdoin College, Hathorne changed his name to Hawthorne. Hawthorne anonymously published his first work, a novel titled Fanshawe, in 1828. In 1837, he published Twice-Told Tales and became engaged to painter and illustrator Sophia Peabody the next year. He worked at a Custom House and joined a Transcendentalist Utopian community, before marrying Peabody in 1842. The couple moved to The Old Manse in Concord, Massachusetts, later moving to Salem, the Berkshires, then to The Wayside in Concord. The Scarlet Letter was published in 1850, followed by a succession of other novels. A political appointment took Hawthorne and family to Europe before returning to The Wayside in 1860. Hawthorne died on May 19, 1864, leaving behind his wife and their three children.
Much of Hawthorne's writing centers around New England and many feature moral allegories with a Puritan inspiration. His work is considered part of the Romantic movement and includes novels, short stories, and a biography of his friend, the United States President Franklin Pierce.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 52 reviews
September 7, 2024
First published in the United States Magazine and Democratic Review, XIV (June, 1844), “The Artist of the Beautiful” is one of Hawthorne’s most successful tales, a quintessential distillation of his allegorical art.
It tells of the gifted but impractical young watchmaker Owen Warland, who “cared no more for the measurement of time than if it had been merged into eternity,” and who neglects his business in timepieces in order to perfect the construction of a what appears to be a mere toy, “a mechanical something, as delicate and minute as the system of a butterfly's anatomy.” He is secretly in love with Annie, daughter of his former master Peter Hoveden, but although the old watchmaker admires Owen’s talent, he much prefers the practical blacksmith Robert Danforth as a prospective son-in-law.
The story consists of an account of Owen’s labor over—and the eventual fate of—his delicate creation, and of Owen’s fate as well, but at its heart is the exploration of Owen’s true passion: the creation of “the Beautiful Idea,” like the “butterfly that symbolized it” or—as Annie puts it--”the notion of putting spirit into machinery.”
Alas, that the artist, whether in poetry or whatever other material, may not content himself with the inward enjoyment of the Beautiful, but must chase the flitting mystery beyond the verge of his ethereal domain, and crush its frail being in seizing it with a material grasp!I will not deprive you of learning the rest of Owen’s fate for yourself, and I am sure it will not surprise to learn that—since this is a work of Hawthorne’s—that his fate is not entirely a happy one. Still, though, Owen remains undaunted, for he learns a most important thing:
When the artist rose high enough to achieve the Beautiful, the symbol by which he made it perceptible to mortal senses became of little value in his eyes, while his spirit possessed itself in the enjoyment of the Reality.
June 29, 2024
Hawthorne is my hero and more: but on the day, this lacked the familiar magic. On another day I may be more attuned. The Artist who sets heart and mind on higher things in order to create a lifetime’s achievement must not be surprised if the world(ling) is underwhelmed. The message is clear...But it took so long to say it.
July 26, 2017
I have arranged my thoughts into a haiku:
"Living for a task,
All manner of things can change
In living with it."
"Living for a task,
All manner of things can change
In living with it."
June 3, 2017
I read this novella in my first year of college. I must have read it like 5-10 times - not because I wanted to though. Every time I read I had mixed emotions about it.
The first time I read, an innocent first year student, I thought it was student. Then I began to appreciate its beauty, only to understand the futility of "the beautiful" afterwards. I later sympathised with the Artist - whose name I naturally can't remember.
Having read it several times and till today I think I still have mixed feelings about it. It's a good story, not much room for character development and the like, but it's interesting and makes a comparison between what people truly need and the beautiful - albeit useless - things.
The first time I read, an innocent first year student, I thought it was student. Then I began to appreciate its beauty, only to understand the futility of "the beautiful" afterwards. I later sympathised with the Artist - whose name I naturally can't remember.
Having read it several times and till today I think I still have mixed feelings about it. It's a good story, not much room for character development and the like, but it's interesting and makes a comparison between what people truly need and the beautiful - albeit useless - things.
July 14, 2015
This is one of the better classical short stories I've listened to or read. In just an hour, Hawthorne, tells a tight and beautiful story about one mans life and obsession with beauty and life. It is bittersweet, but the main character does not view it as so.
Paul Woodson is a superb narrator. Just take a listen to the audio sample, and you'll see what I mean. I generally speed my listening up at least a bit, but did not do it for this one at all. His voice was just too spot on. Plus, I knew it was a short story and I didn't want it to end.
I admittedly really disliked The Scarlet Letter. Did not enjoy it in school, and I tried several years later to give it another chance, and disliked it even more then. I've avoided touching anything else by Hawthorne since. I'm so glad I was given this book to listen and review because now I see there may be a different side to the author that I will enjoy.
I received this book for free from audiobookblast dot com in exchange for an honest review.
Paul Woodson is a superb narrator. Just take a listen to the audio sample, and you'll see what I mean. I generally speed my listening up at least a bit, but did not do it for this one at all. His voice was just too spot on. Plus, I knew it was a short story and I didn't want it to end.
I admittedly really disliked The Scarlet Letter. Did not enjoy it in school, and I tried several years later to give it another chance, and disliked it even more then. I've avoided touching anything else by Hawthorne since. I'm so glad I was given this book to listen and review because now I see there may be a different side to the author that I will enjoy.
I received this book for free from audiobookblast dot com in exchange for an honest review.
April 28, 2013
I loved it! I loved it! I loved it! I read and studied it 6 or 7 years ago, its beautiful :) I go like "child of the sun, playmate of the summer breeze!" out loud every time I see a butterfly :)
December 17, 2019
"So long as we love life for itself, we seldom dread the losing it. When we desire life for the attainment of an object, we recognize the frailty of its texture".
Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Artist of the Beautiful is a tale about the poetic and prosaic, the practical and the beautiful, romance and reality. It's a story about an artist trapped in a material world which cannot appreciate nor understand him.
I feel that my review cannot do justice to Hawthorne, who is, in my opinion, the greatest American writer of all time. His talent knew no bounds, and I'd prefer not to say another word about The Artist of the Beautiful, lest I spoil an utterly perfect short story.
Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Artist of the Beautiful is a tale about the poetic and prosaic, the practical and the beautiful, romance and reality. It's a story about an artist trapped in a material world which cannot appreciate nor understand him.
I feel that my review cannot do justice to Hawthorne, who is, in my opinion, the greatest American writer of all time. His talent knew no bounds, and I'd prefer not to say another word about The Artist of the Beautiful, lest I spoil an utterly perfect short story.
January 14, 2026
très bonne surprise, j'aimerais moi aussi accéder au royaume angélique en transcendant la matière
il me faut partir en quête de la pierre philosophale et des élixirs les plus subtils, sans céder jamais à la mécanique...
qu'en dirait Alan Turing finalement
y a-t-il un chiffre écarlate du souffle battant, où est-ce là le piège illusoire qui fait croire à la formalisation du vivant ?
observer le papillon en gloire
il me faut partir en quête de la pierre philosophale et des élixirs les plus subtils, sans céder jamais à la mécanique...
qu'en dirait Alan Turing finalement
y a-t-il un chiffre écarlate du souffle battant, où est-ce là le piège illusoire qui fait croire à la formalisation du vivant ?
observer le papillon en gloire
July 20, 2013
A lot of Hawthorne's short stories seem to be warning against science, but this one praises it. Owen's artistry doesn't try to fight nature, as Aylmer does in The Birthmark or Giovanni does in Rappacinni's Daughter. Owen as an artist is fascinated by butterflies, so he works alongside nature instead of in competition with it to create an absolutely beautiful mechanical butterfly. It truly is a work of art, and its completion brings Owen the peace and joy he'd been seeking for his entire life. This short story was a lot less depressing than some of Hawthorne's others.
July 26, 2014
A perfectly beautiful short story by Nathaniel Hawthorne about the ephemeral nature of true beauty and the importance of art for art's sake.
"Not at this latest moment was he to learn that the reward of all high performance must be sought within itself, or sought in vain."
Read for a course in sci-fi/fantasy literature.
"Not at this latest moment was he to learn that the reward of all high performance must be sought within itself, or sought in vain."
Read for a course in sci-fi/fantasy literature.
June 9, 2024
“Mientras amamos la vida por sí misma, rara vez tememos perderla. Cuando deseamos la vida para alcanzar un objetivo, tomamos conciencia de su fragilidad” ~ El artista de lo bello de Nathaniel Hawthorne.
El artista de lo bello es un relato en el que el autor pone sobre la mesa las dos mentes que rigen nuestra inteligencia: por un lado el sentido práctico, y, por otro, el sentido de la creatividad. Conocemos así a una joven y dos jóvenes, un herrero y un relojero, que busca la perfección. Es, sobre este último sobre el que gira el grueso de la historia ya que, enamorado de la joven dama, se vuelca en el diseño de una obra perfecta para regalarle, pero mientras se centra en ella con máxima pulcritud, ni cuenta se da de que la vida pasa volando.
Maravillosamente escrita pero realmente no me ha dicho gran cosa. Quizá porque me ha desesperado esa búsqueda de la perfección que, cuando se logra, deja de ser perfecta, con lo cual estamos ante la paradoja de si realmente existe. Además, tampoco creo que hayan de ser excluyentes los dos ámbitos, ni prevalecer uno sobre el otro.
¿Qué haríamos sin el arte y sin los artistas? En primer lugar, esta cuenta ya no existiría. Quizá debamos comenzar a pensar un poco más en lo que el arte nos aporta y a valorarlo. Parece que todo lo que nos salvó y alabamos durante la pandemia, por momentos, semeja ser superfluo y los artistas de lo bello, –de la música, de la escritura, de la pintura, escultura y un largo etcétera–, se consideran profesionales inferiores a los técnicos por los que sí estamos más dispuestos a pagar por su trabajo y por su tiempo.
Toda esta reflexión espontánea que estoy escribiendo en esta reseña me recuerda al libro “Aquiles en Tik Tok” de Eduardo Infante en el que el autor nos lleva a reflexionar sobre la importancia de retomar las artes y las humanidades en la educación de nuestros hijos, y dejar de inculcar el mensaje de que solo lo que es lucrativo merece la pena. Si todos nos dedicamos a profesiones “productivas”, ¿quién va a curar nuestra alma?
El artista de lo bello es un relato en el que el autor pone sobre la mesa las dos mentes que rigen nuestra inteligencia: por un lado el sentido práctico, y, por otro, el sentido de la creatividad. Conocemos así a una joven y dos jóvenes, un herrero y un relojero, que busca la perfección. Es, sobre este último sobre el que gira el grueso de la historia ya que, enamorado de la joven dama, se vuelca en el diseño de una obra perfecta para regalarle, pero mientras se centra en ella con máxima pulcritud, ni cuenta se da de que la vida pasa volando.
Maravillosamente escrita pero realmente no me ha dicho gran cosa. Quizá porque me ha desesperado esa búsqueda de la perfección que, cuando se logra, deja de ser perfecta, con lo cual estamos ante la paradoja de si realmente existe. Además, tampoco creo que hayan de ser excluyentes los dos ámbitos, ni prevalecer uno sobre el otro.
¿Qué haríamos sin el arte y sin los artistas? En primer lugar, esta cuenta ya no existiría. Quizá debamos comenzar a pensar un poco más en lo que el arte nos aporta y a valorarlo. Parece que todo lo que nos salvó y alabamos durante la pandemia, por momentos, semeja ser superfluo y los artistas de lo bello, –de la música, de la escritura, de la pintura, escultura y un largo etcétera–, se consideran profesionales inferiores a los técnicos por los que sí estamos más dispuestos a pagar por su trabajo y por su tiempo.
Toda esta reflexión espontánea que estoy escribiendo en esta reseña me recuerda al libro “Aquiles en Tik Tok” de Eduardo Infante en el que el autor nos lleva a reflexionar sobre la importancia de retomar las artes y las humanidades en la educación de nuestros hijos, y dejar de inculcar el mensaje de que solo lo que es lucrativo merece la pena. Si todos nos dedicamos a profesiones “productivas”, ¿quién va a curar nuestra alma?
February 17, 2014
This is one of my favorite stories by Hawthorne, mostly because I adore the notion of a mechanical butterfly. Roll your eyes as you will, but hey. There is, of course, the pain of watching an obsessed creator spiraling downward, perfecting his one goal while destroying all else that should truly matter. I suppose my focus on the butterfly is the curse of the story, yeah?
September 22, 2014
This story built the bridge between my own struggle of linking the beautiful idea of imagination to reality as many "artists" do. Hawthorne is the artist of the beautiful here, molding into words what I have such a hard time expressing. It gives you the strength to continue pursuing the beautiful in a world that demands the practical.
December 20, 2015
Hawthorne can be painful to read at times, only because he had so many ideas that would make you pause to think. This was one of his most beautifully written short stories, and I grew up thinking that he'd be my top 5 writers because of it.
October 17, 2016
Ver a través de los ojos de los artistas aquellas cosas que pasan desapercibidas y que hacen de lo común algo bello.
Este libro te hacen soñar despierta, te acaricia los sentidos y te atrapa entre sus letras. Pequeñas joyas escritas con una delicadeza casi perfecta.
Este libro te hacen soñar despierta, te acaricia los sentidos y te atrapa entre sus letras. Pequeñas joyas escritas con una delicadeza casi perfecta.
January 11, 2014
Too beautiful for words. Sublime!
July 5, 2014
A delicate tale of a sensitive artist-scientist and his consuming obsession to imbue machines with life.
May 27, 2016
A real treat to read (listen to).
It is the first non humanoid SF short story
It is the first SF Robotic insect story written and the first story written about clock mechanics.
It is the first non humanoid SF short story
It is the first SF Robotic insect story written and the first story written about clock mechanics.
September 27, 2016
I love this story. Any true artist will.
May 10, 2019
The writing is good and the points made are spot on target, but the actually story itself is tragic and brutal to read, and leaves the reader feeling very down once it is completed.
March 5, 2020
Absolutely LOVED this story
December 10, 2020
Loved this- no clue why he wanted copies destroyed.
Read
July 22, 2024Hawthorne wants you to touch some grass
July 23, 2024
5 ⭐️
“So long as we love life for itself, we seldom dread the losing it.”
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Artist of the Beautiful” is a beautifully crafted tale that explores the intricate relationship between art, beauty, and the human experience. The short story weaves together themes of aspiration, creativity, and the ephemeral nature of beauty itself, creating a rich narrative. Owen Warland, a watchmaker who dedicates his life to crafting a beautiful mechanical butterfly is the protagonist in the story. Hawthorne paints Owen as a tortured artist, caught between the demands of the mundane world and his yearning for artistic perfection. The story dives into the struggles that many creative artists face, capturing the tension between societal expectations and personal ambition.
Hawthorne’s writing is simply beautiful and one of my favourites! His use of imagery and symbolism adds depth to the narrative.
Overall, “The Artist of the Beautiful” is a beautiful short story about the interplay between art and existence, a reminder of the power of beauty to both uplift and isolate, earning a well-deserved 5 ⭐️!
“And there it sat, in strange despair, until his lamp flickered in the socket and left the Artist of the Beautiful in darkness.”
“(…) with finer grace, that might enable her to be the interpreter between strength and beauty.”
“So long as we love life for itself, we seldom dread the losing it.”
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Artist of the Beautiful” is a beautifully crafted tale that explores the intricate relationship between art, beauty, and the human experience. The short story weaves together themes of aspiration, creativity, and the ephemeral nature of beauty itself, creating a rich narrative. Owen Warland, a watchmaker who dedicates his life to crafting a beautiful mechanical butterfly is the protagonist in the story. Hawthorne paints Owen as a tortured artist, caught between the demands of the mundane world and his yearning for artistic perfection. The story dives into the struggles that many creative artists face, capturing the tension between societal expectations and personal ambition.
Hawthorne’s writing is simply beautiful and one of my favourites! His use of imagery and symbolism adds depth to the narrative.
Overall, “The Artist of the Beautiful” is a beautiful short story about the interplay between art and existence, a reminder of the power of beauty to both uplift and isolate, earning a well-deserved 5 ⭐️!
“And there it sat, in strange despair, until his lamp flickered in the socket and left the Artist of the Beautiful in darkness.”
“(…) with finer grace, that might enable her to be the interpreter between strength and beauty.”
September 10, 2025
L’art doit-il être productif, utile ou au contraire, peut-il exister pour sa seule beauté ? Consacrer sa vie à la création d’une œuvre de beauté pure mène t’il inévitablement à la confrontation entre l’inutilité du beau et sa productivité ?.
C’est sans doute la question que ce court recueil datant de 1844 tente de nous poser. Cela explique sans doute aussi pourquoi certains personnages sont si peu explorés ; ils ne sont là que pour représenter l’idée de l’utilité ou de l’indifférence.
Le style est d’époque et caractéristique de cet auteur représentatif du romantisme américain.
<< L'un de ses projets les plus rationnels fut d'adjoindre un dispositif musical aux mécanismes de ses montres afin que les âpres dissonances de la vie fussent rendues si possible mélodieuses et que chaque instant qui s'échappait tombât dans les abysses du passé en une harmonie de gouttes d'or ».
C’est sans doute la question que ce court recueil datant de 1844 tente de nous poser. Cela explique sans doute aussi pourquoi certains personnages sont si peu explorés ; ils ne sont là que pour représenter l’idée de l’utilité ou de l’indifférence.
Le style est d’époque et caractéristique de cet auteur représentatif du romantisme américain.
<< L'un de ses projets les plus rationnels fut d'adjoindre un dispositif musical aux mécanismes de ses montres afin que les âpres dissonances de la vie fussent rendues si possible mélodieuses et que chaque instant qui s'échappait tombât dans les abysses du passé en une harmonie de gouttes d'or ».
February 21, 2026
We are studying short stories in a homeschool co-op class and this story was one of them.
First, the story is very well written. Okay, so Nathaniel Hawthorne loved the word 'ethereal'...a lot. However, the sentences were filled with words that packed a thoughtful, beautiful punch.
The artist is a bit contradictory and I believe it was intentional for him to be so. He longs for just one person to understand him, for Ann to love him, and for a place in the community. When that is just within reach, he snaps and isolates himself and it threatens to take all his progress away.
If you are creative you'll both relate and roll your eyes at the artist.
Very pretty, though sad story. I want to reread this one soon.
First, the story is very well written. Okay, so Nathaniel Hawthorne loved the word 'ethereal'...a lot. However, the sentences were filled with words that packed a thoughtful, beautiful punch.
The artist is a bit contradictory and I believe it was intentional for him to be so. He longs for just one person to understand him, for Ann to love him, and for a place in the community. When that is just within reach, he snaps and isolates himself and it threatens to take all his progress away.
If you are creative you'll both relate and roll your eyes at the artist.
Very pretty, though sad story. I want to reread this one soon.
May 21, 2024
For a writer who barely had access to the european Romanticism and fairy tales but who lived in a country that had completed a successful industrial revolution just prior of a civil war, the would-be motherland of such scientists, inventors and businessmen such as Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, the Wright brothers, Norbert Wiener, Howard Hughes, and,of course, Walt Disney, Hawthorne shows a impressive notion of a reality being increasedly destroyed and substituted by artificial imitations with a society ruled by dissimulated relationships and behaviours. With a little less of those pretentious fairy tale explanations this short story could be properly called science fiction.
June 20, 2023
If someone in the modern day wrote this as a novel, and gave it character development and a more in depth story I feel like it would be amazing. Independently, this story is fine. It’s good even, but there is so much wasted potential on the ideas presented.
I totally sympathize with the Artist, and his role in the story.
I read this for an assignment on gothic literature and romanticism so yknow
I totally sympathize with the Artist, and his role in the story.
I read this for an assignment on gothic literature and romanticism so yknow
January 24, 2019
An ambitious guest / Wakefield / The minister’s black veil / Young goodman brown / The artist of the beautiful / Rappaccini’s daughter
Personally - “An Ambitions Guest” and “Wakefield” was something new to me and enjoyed a lot. “Rappaccini’s daughter” felt like a fairytale and somewhat liked it. Others not so much
Personally - “An Ambitions Guest” and “Wakefield” was something new to me and enjoyed a lot. “Rappaccini’s daughter” felt like a fairytale and somewhat liked it. Others not so much
June 16, 2017
Short, strange tale of a meek watchmaker attempting to create the perfect embodiment of beauty in art. This was a thing with Hawthorne it seems. Notable in that it's considered the first story to feature a robotic insect.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 52 reviews