unknown Masterpieceby Balzac
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In the words of Pablo Picasso, "There are so many realities that, in trying to encompass them all, one ends in darkness." For me, these realities, expressed in The Unknown Masterpiece, reveal the nature of an artist, which is "a nature sometimes mocking, sometimes kind, at once fertile and desolate." (p.25)
The old artist, Frenhofer, the present artist, Porbus, and the future artist, Nicolas Poussin, are the three characters in The Unknown Masterpiece who represent the realities of art. Nicolas Poussin, the future artist, plagued with self doubt but ultimately ambitious and talented, prostitutes his girlfriend Gillette's loyalty for this ambition by offering her body to the visuals of Frenhofer in exchange for a glimpse of his mysterious painting, his mistress. To sacrifice his love for art is the first stage in an artist's tormented existence. "Among such fragile sentiments, none so resembles love as the youthful passion of an artist first suffering that delicious torture which will be his destiny of glory and of woe, a passion brimming with boldness and fear, vague hopes and inevitable frustrations." (p.8)
The present, fashionable, and initially exalted artist, Porbus, achieves a position on the artist's ladder somewhat wavering in mediocrity and excellence. Frenhofer criticizes Porbus for his failure to give his paintings "life...