The Hidden Masterpiece

Honoré de Balzac

Read The Hidden Masterpiece by Honoré de Balzac in the Tower of Babel, a free online library of public-domain works preserved in clean, searchable text. No sign-up. The full text is served as a plain-text file at a predictable URL, where text is present: https://antarctic-labs.com/tower-of-babel/1553-the-hidden-masterpiece.txt.

Description

Honore de Balzac wrote The Hidden Masterpiece, translated by Katharine Prescott Wormeley. Chapter one opens on a cold December morning toward the close of the year 1612, in the Rue des Grands-Augustins in Paris. A poor young man paces before a house, hesitating like a lover, then asks if Maitre Francois Porbus is within.

Told yes, the young man climbs the stair with pauses and doubts, feeling the keen thrill of a young artist nearing a man of genius. Balzac compares that first passion for art to love itself, full of boldness and timidity, sure hope and sure discouragement. The painter Porbus, once favored by Henry IV, works in the atelier above.

Catalog record

CREATORHonoré de Balzac
COLLECTIONBOOKS
FORMATTXT
FILE SIZE75 KB
LICENSEPUBLIC_DOMAIN
RIGHTSPUBLIC DOMAIN
SOURCEProject Gutenberg

Source: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1553

Browse the full library · About the Tower of Babel