Pierre Grassou

Illustration of Honoré de Balzac's Pierre Grassou (1839).

Pierre Grassou is an 1839 novel by French author Honoré de Balzac (1799-1850) and included in the Scènes de la vie parisienne section of his novel sequence La Comédie humaine.

Plot

Pierre Grassou de Fougères is a mediocre painter who lives off painting forgeries commissioned by an old swindler and art-dealer named Elias Magus. Grassou paints forgeries of works by Titian, Raphael, and other famous artists. Magus resells these forgeries for a large profit to members of the Petite bourgeoisie who are incapable of appreciating good art.

Monsieur Vervelle, a prosperous bottle-dealer obsessed with art, is introduced to Grassou by Magus, who introduces the painter as a grand master. Vervelle and his wife are enchanted with Grassou and believe he would make a good match for their daughter Virginie.

Grassou is invited to Ville-d'Avray, where the Vervelle mansion is garishly decorated, and also includes a large collection of Grassou’s work, including the forgery of a Titian. Grassou recognizes his own mediocrity, but when it is discovered by the Vervelles that the forgeries in their home were painted by Grassou, “far from denting his reputation, multiples Grassou’s value as an artist”^[1] and as a son-in-law, since Vervelle believes Grassou to possess all the combined talent of Rubens, Rembrandt, Terburg, and Titian.

Despite his advantageous marriage, Grassou remains bitter that he is not a true artist. “This painter, a good father and a good husband, is unable to eradicate from his heart a fatal thought, namely, that artists laugh at his work; that his name is a term of contempt in the studios; and that the feuilletons take no notice of his pictures. But he still works on; he aims for the Academy, where, undoubtedly, he will enter."^[2]

Wikisource has original text related to this article:

Pierre Grassou

References

↑ Diana Knight, Balzac and the model of painting: artist stories in La Comédie humaine. Volume 24 of Research monographs in French studies (MHRA, 2007), 102.
↑ de Balzac, Honoré. Pierre Grassou. Trans. Katharine Prescott Wormeley. Wikisource.

La Comédie humaine by Honoré de Balzac

List of characters

Scènes de la vie privée	La Maison du chat-qui-pelote Le Bal de Sceaux La Bourse La Vendetta Madame Firmiani Une double famille La Paix du ménage La Fausse Maîtresse Étude de femme Autre étude de femme La Grande Bretêche Albert Savarus Mémoires de deux jeunes mariées Une fille d'Eve La Femme de trente ans La Femme abandonnée La Grenadière Le Message Gobseck Le Contrat de mariage Un début dans la vie Modeste Mignon Béatrix Honorine Le Colonel Chabert La Messe de l'athée L'Interdiction Pierre Grassou

Scènes de la vie de province	Ursule Mirouët Eugénie Grandet Pierrette Le Curé de Tours La Rabouilleuse Un ménage de garçon L'illustre Gaudissart La Muse du département La Vieille Fille Le Cabinet des Antiques Le Lys dans la vallée Illusions perdues

Scènes de la vie Parisienne	Splendeurs et misères des courtisanes Un prince de la bohème Un homme d’affaires Gaudissart II Les Comédiens sans le savoir Ferragus La Duchesse de Langeais La Fille aux yeux d'or Le Père Goriot César Birotteau La Maison Nucingen Les Secrets de la princesse de Cadignan Les Employés Sarrasine Facino Cane La Cousine Bette Le Cousin Pons Les Petits Bourgeois

Scènes de la vie politique	Une ténébreuse affaire Un épisode sous la Terreur Madame de la Chanterie L'Initié Z. Marcas Le Député d'Arcis

Scènes de la vie militaire	Les Chouans Une passion dans le désert

Scènes de la vie de campagne	Le Médecin de campagne Le Curé de village Les Paysans

Études philosophiques	La Peau de chagrin La Recherche de l'absolu Jésus-Christ en Flandre Melmoth réconcilié Le Chef-d'œuvre inconnu L'Enfant maudit Gambara Massimilla Doni Les Marana Adieu Le Réquisitionnaire El Verdugo Un drame au bord de la mer L'Auberge rouge L'Elixir de longue vie Maître Cornélius Sur Catherine de Médicis Louis Lambert Les Proscrits Séraphîta

Études analytiques	La Physiologie du mariage Petites misères de la vie conjugale

Related works by others	Fernand Lotte: Armorial de la Comédie Humaine

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