Year: 2000 Source: Symposium, v.54, no.2, (Summer 2000), p.90-112 SIEC No: 20070029

In June 1835 the death by suicide of the famed French painter, Antoine-Jean Gros, was announced. At the time, Gros’s suicide was thought to be related to an incurable depression brought on by a disastrous showing at the annual Salon a few months earlier. The author of this article argues Gros’s inner torments & eventual decline provided a model for Balzac’s depiction of a mad painter’s representational failure in “Le Chef-d’oeuvre inconnu”. Nolan also believes the uneasy relationships between Gros & his disciplies shed light on the tension between master & apprentice in Balzac’s tale. (42 notes, 42 refs.)