An Archive of Art and Literature by the Bohemians of Antebellum New York

The Unknown Chef d' Oeuvre [translated from Balzac for the N.Y. Saturday Press]

Balzac, Honore de. "The Unknown Chef d' Oeuvre [translated from Balzac for the N.Y. Saturday Press]." New York Saturday Press, November 15, 1859, 1-2.
Type
newspaper
Genre
short fiction
Abstract

The two younger men contrive to see their master's collection of work by letting him draw one of their mistresses. It is revealed that the master does not actually paint anything, only imagines it, and when the men reveal this to him, he throws them out, burns all of his canvases, and dies.