The Hidden Masterpiece

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About this book

The Hidden Masterpiece is by Honore De Balzac, translated by Katharine Prescott Wormeley. A young man whose clothing betrayed his poverty stands before the door of a house in the Rue des Grands-Augustine, in Paris, on a cold morning in December towards the close of the year 1612. The young man crosses the threshold and asks whether Maitre Francois Porbus is within.

An old man climbs the spiral stairway, with an oddity of dress and magnificent lace ruffles, and the young man fancies he sees something diabolical in the expression of the old man’s face. Porbus says in a low voice, "See, he is talking to his own soul," and the words act like a spell on Nicolas Poussin. A speaker addresses Porbus: look attentively at my work, and you will comprehend what I have told you about the manner of treating form and outline.

About the author

Honoré de Balzac

Honoré de Balzac (1799-1850) was a French novelist whose vast Human Comedy, a connected series of novels and stories, is a monument of literary realism and one of the great achievements of world literature.