Le Chef-d'œuvre inconnu

Infobox Book
name = Le Chef-d’œuvre inconnu
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image_caption = Image from "Le Chef-d’œuvre inconnu"
author = Honoré de Balzac
illustrator = Pierre Vidal
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country = France
language = French
series = La Comédie humaine
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publisher = Charles-Béchet
pub_date = 1831
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"Le Chef-d’œuvre inconnu" (English "The Unknown Masterpiece") is a short story by Honoré de Balzac. It was first published in the newspaper "L'Artiste" with the title "Maître Frenhofer" (English: "Master 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. At the most fundamental level, "Le Chef-d’œuvre inconnu" is a reflection on art.

Plot Summary

Young Nicolas Poussin, as yet unknown, visits the painter Porbus in his workshop. He is accompanied by the old master Frenhofer who comments expertly on the large tableau that Porbus has just finished. The painting is of Mary of Egypt, and while Frenhofer sings her praises, he hints that the work seems unfinished. With some slight touches of the paintbrush, Frenhofer transforms Porbus' painting such that Mary the Egyptian appears to come alive before their very eyes. Although Frenhofer has mastered his technique, he admits that he has been unable to find a suitable model for his own masterpiece, "La Belle noiseuse," on which he has been working for ten years. This future masterpiece, that no one has yet seen, is to be the portrait of Catherine Lescault. Poussin offers his own lover, Gilette, as a potential model. Gilette's beauty is so great that it inspires Frenhofer to finish his project quickly. Poussin and Porbus come to admire the painting, but all they can see is part of a foot that has been lost in a swirl of colors. Their disappointment drives Frenhofer to madness, and he destroys the painting and kills himself.

Picasso and "le Chef-d’œuvre inconnu"

In 1921, Ambroise Vollard asked Picasso to illustrate "Le Chef-d’œuvre inconnu." Picasso was fascinated by the text and identified with Frenhofer so much that he moved to the rue des Grands-Augustins in Paris where Porbus' studio was supposedly located. It was in his new studio that he painted his own Masterpiece, "Guernica". Picasso lived here during World War II.

Adaptations

"Le Chef-d’œuvre inconnu" inspired the film "la Belle Noiseuse" by Jacques Rivette (1991).