His Masterpiece
Zola, Émile, 1840-1902
English
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Below is a summary of His Masterpiece
HIS MASTERPIECE
BY
EMILE ZOLA
Edited, With a Preface, By
Ernest Alfred Vizetelly
PREFACE
'HIS MASTERPIECE,' which in the original French bears the title of
_L'Oeuvre_, is a strikingly accurate story of artistic life in Paris
during the latter years of the Second Empire. Amusing at times,
extremely pathetic and even painful at others, it not only contributes
a necessary element to the Rougon-Macquart series of novels--a series
illustrative of all phases of life in France within certain dates--but
it also represents a particular period of M. Zola's own career and
work. Some years, indeed, before the latter had made himself known at
all widely as a novelist, he had acquired among Parisian painters and
sculptors considerable notoriety as a revolutionary art critic, a
fervent champion of that 'Open-air' school which came into being
during the Second Empire, and which found its first real master in
Edouard Manet, whose then derided works are regarded, in these later
days, as masterpieces. Manet died before his genius was fully
recognised; still he lived long enough to reap some measure of
recognition and to see his influence triumph in more than one respect
among his brother artists. Indeed, few if any painters left a stronger
mark on the art of the second half of the nineteenth century than he
did, even though the school, which he suggested rather than
established, lapsed largely into mere impressionism--a term, by the
way, which he himself coined already in 1858; for it is an error to
attribute it--as is often done--to his friend and junior, Claude
Monet.
It was at the time of the Salon of 1866 that M. Zola, who criticised
that exhibition in the _Evenement_ newspaper,* first came to the front
as an art critic, slashing out, to right and left, with all the vigour
of a born combatant, and championing M. Manet--whom he did not as yet
know personally--with a fervour born of the strongest convictions. He
had come to the conclusion that the derided painter was being treated
with injustice, and that opinion sufficed to throw him into the fray;
even as, in more recent years, the belief that Captain Dreyfus was
innocent impelled him in like manner to plead that unfortunate
officer's cause. When M. Zola first championed Manet and his disciples
he was only twenty-six years old, yet he did not hesitate to pit
himself against men who were regarded as the most eminent painters and
critics of France; and although (even as in the Dreyfus case) the only
immediate result of his campaign was to bring him hatred and
contumely, time, which always has its revenges, has long since shown
how right he was in forecasting the ultimate victory of Manet and his
principal methods.
* Some of the articles will be found in the volume of his
miscellaneous writings entitled _Mes Haines_.
In those days M. Zola's most intimate friend--a companion of his
boyhood and youth--was Paul Cezanne, a painter who developed talent as
an impressionist; and the lives of Cezanne and Manet, as well as that
of a certain rather dissolute engraver, who sat for the latter's
famous picture _Le Bon Bock_, suggested to M. Zola the novel which he
has called _L'Oeuvre_. Claude Lantier, the chief character in the
book, is, of course, neither Cezanne nor Manet, but from the careers
of those two painters, M. Zola has borrowed many little touches and
incidents.* The poverty which falls to Claude's lot is taken from the
life of Cezanne, for Manet--the only son of a judge--was almost
wealthy. Moreover, Manet married very happily, and in no wise led the
pitiful existence which in the novel is ascribed to Claude Lantier and
his helpmate, Christine. The original of the latter was a poor woman
who for many years shared the life of the engraver to whom I have
alluded; and, in that connection, it as well to mention that what may
be called the Bennecourt episode of the novel is virtually
photographed from life.
* So far as Manet is concerned, the curious reader may consult M.
Antonin Proust's interesting 'Souvenirs,' published in the _Revue
Blanche_, early in 1897.
Whilst, however, Claude Lantier, the hero of _L'Oeuvre_, is unlike
Manet in so many respects, there is a close analogy between the
artistic theories and practices of the real painter and the imaginary
one. Several of Claude's pictures are Manet's, slightly modified. For
instance, the former's painting, 'In the Open Air,' is almost a
replica of the latter's _Dejeuner sur l'Herbe_ ('A Lunch on the
Grass'), shown at the Salon of the Rejected in 1863. Again, many of
the sayings put into Claude's mouth in the novel are really sayings of
Manet's. And Claude's fate, at the end of the book, is virtually that
of a moody young fellow who long assisted Manet in his studio,
preparing his palette, cleaning his brushes, and so forth. This lad,
whom Manet painted in _L'Enfant aux Cerises_ ('The Boy with the
Cherries'), had artistic aspirations of his own and, being unable to
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