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diff --git a/old/20041101-1553.txt b/old/20041101-1553.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4ec9c9f --- /dev/null +++ b/old/20041101-1553.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1492 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Hidden Masterpiece, by Honore de Balzac + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net + + +Title: The Hidden Masterpiece + +Author: Honore de Balzac + +Release Date: November 1, 2004 [EBook #1553] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HIDDEN MASTERPIECE *** + + + + +Produced by John Bickers and Dagny + + + + + THE HIDDEN MASTERPIECE + + BY + + HONORE DE BALZAC + + + + Translated By + Katharine Prescott Wormeley + + + + + THE HIDDEN MASTERPIECE + + + + CHAPTER I + +On a cold morning in December, towards the close of the year 1612, a +young man, whose clothing betrayed his poverty, was standing before +the door of a house in the Rue des Grands-Augustine, in Paris. After +walking to and fro for some time with the hesitation of a lover who +fears to approach his mistress, however complying she may be, he ended +by crossing the threshold and asking if Maitre Francois Porbus were +within. At the affirmative answer of an old woman who was sweeping out +one of the lower rooms the young man slowly mounted the stairway, +stopping from time to time and hesitating, like a newly fledged +courier doubtful as to what sort of reception the king might grant +him. + +When he reached the upper landing of the spiral ascent, he paused a +moment before laying hold of a grotesque knocker which ornamented the +door of the atelier where the famous painter of Henry IV.--neglected +by Marie de Medicis for Rubens--was probably at work. The young man +felt the strong sensation which vibrates in the soul of great artists +when, in the flush of youth and of their ardor for art, they approach +a man of genius or a masterpiece. In all human sentiments there are, +as it were, primeval flowers bred of noble enthusiasms, which droop +and fade from year to year, till joy is but a memory and glory a lie. +Amid such fleeting emotions nothing so resembles love as the young +passion of an artist who tastes the first delicious anguish of his +destined fame and woe,--a passion daring yet timid, full of vague +confidence and sure discouragement. Is there a man, slender in +fortune, rich in his spring-time of genius, whose heart has not beaten +loudly as he approached a master of his art? If there be, that man +will forever lack some heart-string, some touch, I know not what, of +his brush, some fibre in his creations, some sentiment in his poetry. +When braggarts, self-satisfied and in love with themselves, step early +into the fame which belongs rightly to their future achievements, they +are men of genius only in the eyes of fools. If talent is to be +measured by youthful shyness, by that indefinable modesty which men +born to glory lose in the practice of their art, as a pretty woman +loses hers among the artifices of coquetry, then this unknown young +man might claim to be possessed of genuine merit. The habit of success +lessens doubt; and modesty, perhaps, is doubt. + +Worn down with poverty and discouragement, and dismayed at this moment +by his own presumption, the young neophyte might not have dared to +enter the presence of the master to whom we owe our admirable portrait +of Henry IV., if chance had not thrown an unexpected assistance in his +way. An old man mounted the spiral stairway. The oddity of his dress, +the magnificence of his lace ruffles, the solid assurance of his +deliberate step, led the youth to assume that this remarkable +personage must be the patron, or at least the intimate friend, of the +painter. He drew back into a corner of the landing and made room for +the new-comer; looking at him attentively and hoping to find either +the frank good-nature of the artistic temperament, or the serviceable +disposition of those who promote the arts. But on the contrary he +fancied he saw something diabolical in the expression of the old man's +face,--something, I know not what, which has the quality of alluring +the artistic mind. + +Imagine a bald head, the brow full and prominent and falling with deep +projection over a little flattened nose turned up at the end like the +noses of Rabelais and Socrates; a laughing, wrinkled mouth; a short +chin boldly chiselled and garnished with a gray beard cut into a +point; sea-green eyes, faded perhaps by age, but whose pupils, +contrasting with the pearl-white balls on which they floated, cast at +times magnetic glances of anger or enthusiasm. The face in other +respects was singularly withered and worn by the weariness of old age, +and still more, it would seem, by the action of thoughts which had +undermined both soul and body. The eyes had lost their lashes, and the +eyebrows were scarcely traced along the projecting arches where they +belonged. Imagine such a head upon a lean and feeble body, surround it +with lace of dazzling whiteness worked in meshes like a fish-slice, +festoon the black velvet doublet of the old man with a heavy gold +chain, and you will have a faint idea of the exterior of this strange +individual, to whose appearance the dusky light of the landing lent +fantastic coloring. You might have thought that a canvas of Rembrandt +without its frame had walked silently up the stairway, bringing with +it the dark atmosphere which was the sign-manual of the great master. +The old man cast a look upon the youth which was full of sagacity; +then he rapped three times upon the door, and said, when it was opened +by a man in feeble health, apparently about forty years of age, +"Good-morning, maitre." + +Porbus bowed respectfully, and made way for his guest, allowing the +youth to pass in at the same time, under the impression that he came +with the old man, and taking no further notice of him; all the less +perhaps because the neophyte stood still beneath the spell which holds +a heaven-born painter as he sees for the first time an atelier filled +with the materials and instruments of his art. Daylight came from a +casement in the roof and fell, focussed as it were, upon a canvas +which rested on an easel in the middle of the room, and which bore, as +yet, only three or four chalk lines. The light thus concentrated did +not reach the dark angles of the vast atelier; but a few wandering +reflections gleamed through the russet shadows on the silvered +breastplate of a horseman's cuirass of the fourteenth century as it +hung from the wall, or sent sharp lines of light upon the carved and +polished cornice of a dresser which held specimens of rare pottery and +porcelains, or touched with sparkling points the rough-grained texture +of ancient gold-brocaded curtains, flung in broad folds about the room +to serve the painter as models for his drapery. Anatomical casts in +plaster, fragments and torsos of antique goddesses amorously polished +by the kisses of centuries, jostled each other upon shelves and +brackets. Innumerable sketches, studies in the three crayons, in ink, +and in red chalk covered the walls from floor to ceiling; color-boxes, +bottles of oil and turpentine, easels and stools upset or standing at +right angles, left but a narrow pathway to the circle of light thrown +from the window in the roof, which fell full on the pale face of +Porbus and on the ivory skull of his singular visitor. + +The attention of the young man was taken exclusively by a picture +destined to become famous after those days of tumult and revolution, +and which even then was precious in the sight of certain opinionated +individuals to whom we owe the preservation of the divine afflatus +through the dark days when the life of art was in jeopardy. This noble +picture represents the Mary of Egypt as she prepares to pay for her +passage by the ship. It is a masterpiece, painted for Marie de +Medicis, and afterwards sold by her in the days of her distress. + +"I like your saint," said the old man to Porbus, "and I will give you +ten golden crowns over and above the queen's offer; but as to entering +into competition with her--the devil!" + +"You do like her, then?" + +"As for that," said the old man, "yes, and no. The good woman is well +set-up, but--she is not living. You young men think you have done all +when you have drawn the form correctly, and put everything in place +according to the laws of anatomy. You color the features with +flesh-tones, mixed beforehand on your palette,--taking very good care to +shade one side of the face darker than the other; and because you draw +now and then from a nude woman standing on a table, you think you can +copy nature; you fancy yourselves painters, and imagine that you have +got at the secret of God's creations! Pr-r-r-r!--To be a great poet it +is not enough to know the rules of syntax and write faultless grammar. +Look at your saint, Porbus. At first sight she is admirable; but at +the very next glance we perceive that she is glued to the canvas, and +that we cannot walk round her. She is a silhouette with only one side, +a semblance cut in outline, an image that can't turn nor change her +position. I feel no air between this arm and the background of the +picture; space and depth are wanting. All is in good perspective; the +atmospheric gradations are carefully observed, and yet in spite of +your conscientious labor I cannot believe that this beautiful body has +the warm breath of life. If I put my hand on that firm, round throat I +shall find it cold as marble. No, no, my friend, blood does not run +beneath that ivory skin; the purple tide of life does not swell those +veins, nor stir those fibres which interlace like net-work below the +translucent amber of the brow and breast. This part palpitates with +life, but that other part is not living; life and death jostle each +other in every detail. Here, you have a woman; there, a statue; here +again, a dead body. Your creation is incomplete. You have breathed +only a part of your soul into the well-beloved work. The torch of +Prometheus went out in your hands over and over again; there are +several parts of your painting on which the celestial flame never +shone." + +"But why is it so, my dear master?" said Porbus humbly, while the +young man could hardly restrain a strong desire to strike the critic. + +"Ah! that is the question," said the little old man. "You are floating +between two systems,--between drawing and color, between the patient +phlegm and honest stiffness of the old Dutch masters and the dazzling +warmth and abounding joy of the Italians. You have tried to follow, at +one and the same time, Hans Holbein and Titian; Albrecht Durier and +Paul Veronese. Well, well! it was a glorious ambition, but what is the +result? You have neither the stern attraction of severity nor the +deceptive magic of the chiaroscuro. See! at this place the rich, clear +color of Titian has forced out the skeleton outline of Albrecht +Durier, as molten bronze might burst and overflow a slender mould. +Here and there the outline has resisted the flood, and holds back the +magnificent torrent of Venetian color. Your figure is neither +perfectly well painted nor perfectly well drawn; it bears throughout +the signs of this unfortunate indecision. If you did not feel that the +fire of your genius was hot enough to weld into one the rival methods, +you ought to have chosen honestly the one or the other, and thus +attained the unity which conveys one aspect, at least, of life. As it +is, you are true only on your middle plane. Your outlines are false; +they do not round upon themselves; they suggest nothing behind them. +There is truth here," said the old man, pointing to the bosom of the +saint; "and here," showing the spot where the shoulder ended against +the background; "but there," he added, returning to the throat, "it is +all false. Do not inquire into the why and wherefore. I should fill +you with despair." + +The old man sat down on a stool and held his head in his hands for +some minutes in silence. + +"Master," said Porbus at length, "I studied that throat from the nude; +but, to our sorrow, there are effects in nature which become false or +impossible when placed on canvas." + +"The mission of art is not to copy nature, but to represent it. You +are not an abject copyist, but a poet," cried the old man, hastily +interrupting Porbus with a despotic gesture. "If it were not so, a +sculptor could reach the height of his art by merely moulding a woman. +Try to mould the hand of your mistress, and see what you will get, +--ghastly articulations, without the slightest resemblance to her +living hand; you must have recourse to the chisel of a man who, without +servilely copying that hand, can give it movement and life. It is our +mission to seize the mind, soul, countenance of things and beings. +Effects! effects! what are they? the mere accidents of the life, and +not the life itself. A hand,--since I have taken that as an example, +--a hand is not merely a part of the body, it is far more; it expresses +and carries on a thought which we must seize and render. Neither the +painter nor the poet nor the sculptor should separate the effect from +the cause, for they are indissolubly one. The true struggle of art +lies there. Many a painter has triumphed through instinct without +knowing this theory of art as a theory. + +"Yes," continued the old man vehemently, "you draw a woman, but you do +not _see_ her. That is not the way to force an entrance into the arcana +of Nature. Your hand reproduces, without an action of your mind, the +model you copied under a master. You do not search out the secrets of +form, nor follow its windings and evolutions with enough love and +perseverance. Beauty is solemn and severe, and cannot be attained in +that way; we must wait and watch its times and seasons, and clasp it +firmly ere it yields to us. Form is a Proteus less easily captured, +more skilful to double and escape, than the Proteus of fable; it is +only at the cost of struggle that we compel it to come forth in its +true aspects. You young men are content with the first glimpse you get +of it; or, at any rate, with the second or the third. This is not the +spirit of the great warriors of art,--invincible powers, not misled by +will-o'-the-wisps, but advancing always until they force Nature to lie +bare in her divine integrity. That was Raphael's method," said the old +man, lifting his velvet cap in homage to the sovereign of art; "his +superiority came from the inward essence which seems to break from the +inner to the outer of his figures. Form with him was what it is with +us,--a medium by which to communicate ideas, sensations, feelings; in +short, the infinite poesy of being. Every figure is a world; a +portrait, whose original stands forth like a sublime vision, colored +with the rainbow tints of light, drawn by the monitions of an inward +voice, laid bare by a divine finger which points to the past of its +whole existence as the source of its given expression. You clothe your +women with delicate skins and glorious draperies of hair, but where is +the blood which begets the passion or the peace of their souls, and is +the cause of what you call 'effects'? Your saint is a dark woman; but +this, my poor Porbus, belongs to a fair one. Your figures are pale, +colored phantoms, which you present to our eyes; and you call that +painting! art! Because you make something which looks more like a +woman than a house, you think you have touched the goal; proud of not +being obliged to write "currus venustus" or "pulcher homo" on the +frame of your picture, you think yourselves majestic artists like our +great forefathers. Ha, ha! you have not got there yet, my little men; +you will use up many a crayon and spoil many a canvas before you reach +that height. Undoubtedly a woman carries her head this way and her +petticoats that way; her eyes soften and droop with just that look of +resigned gentleness; the throbbing shadow of the eyelashes falls +exactly thus upon her cheek. That is it, and--that is _not it_. What +lacks? A mere nothing; but that mere nothing is _all_. You have given +the shadow of life, but you have not given its fulness, its being, its +--I know not what--soul, perhaps, which floats vaporously about the +tabernacle of flesh; in short, that flower of life which Raphael and +Titian culled. Start from the point you have now attained, and perhaps +you may yet paint a worthy picture; you grew weary too soon. +Mediocrity will extol your work; but the true artist smiles. O Mabuse! +O my master!" added this singular person, "you were a thief; you have +robbed us of your life, your knowledge, your art! But at least," he +resumed after a pause, "this picture is better than the paintings of +that rascally Rubens, with his mountains of Flemish flesh daubed with +vermilion, his cascades of red hair, and his hurly-burly of color. At +any rate, you have got the elements of color, drawing, and sentiment, +--the three essential parts of art." + +"But the saint is sublime, good sir!" cried the young man in a loud +voice, waking from a deep reverie. "These figures, the saint and the +boatman, have a subtile meaning which the Italian painters cannot +give. I do not know one of them who could have invented that +hesitation of the boatman." + +"Does the young fellow belong to you?" asked Porbus of the old man. + +"Alas, maitre, forgive my boldness," said the neophyte, blushing. "I +am all unknown; only a dauber by instinct. I have just come to Paris, +that fountain of art and science." + +"Let us see what you can do," said Porbus, giving him a red crayon and +a piece of paper. + +The unknown copied the saint with an easy turn of his hand. + +"Oh! oh!" exclaimed the old man, "what is your name?" + +The youth signed the drawing: Nicolas Poussin. + +"Not bad for a beginner," said the strange being who had discoursed so +wildly. "I see that it is worth while to talk art before you. I don't +blame you for admiring Porbus's saint. It is a masterpiece for the +world at large; only those who are behind the veil of the holy of +holies can perceive its errors. But you are worthy of a lesson, and +capable of understanding it. I will show you how little is needed to +turn that picture into a true masterpiece. Give all your eyes and all +your attention; such a chance of instruction may never fall in your +way again. Your palette, Porbus." + +Porbus fetched his palette and brushes. The little old man turned up +his cuffs with convulsive haste, slipped his thumb through the palette +charged with prismatic colors, and snatched, rather than took, the +handful of brushes which Porbus held out to him. As he did so his +beard, cut to a point, seemed to quiver with the eagerness of an +incontinent fancy; and while he filled his brush he muttered between +his teeth:-- + +"Colors fit to fling out of the window with the man who ground them, +--crude, false, revolting! who can paint with them?" + +Then he dipped the point of his brush with feverish haste into the +various tints, running through the whole scale with more rapidity than +the organist of a cathedral runs up the gamut of the "O Filii" at +Easter. + +Porbus and Poussin stood motionless on either side of the easel, +plunged in passionate contemplation. + +"See, young man," said the old man without turning round, "see how +with three or four touches and a faint bluish glaze you can make the +air circulate round the head of the poor saint, who was suffocating in +that thick atmosphere. Look how the drapery now floats, and you see +that the breeze lifts it; just now it looked like heavy linen held out +by pins. Observe that the satiny lustre I am putting on the bosom +gives it the plump suppleness of the flesh of a young girl. See how +this tone of mingled reddish-brown and ochre warms up the cold +grayness of that large shadow where the blood seemed to stagnate +rather than flow. Young man, young man! what I am showing you now no +other master in the world can teach you. Mabuse alone knew the secret +of giving life to form. Mabuse had but one pupil, and I am he. I never +took a pupil, and I am an old man now. You are intelligent enough to +guess at what should follow from the little that I shall show you +to-day." + +While he was speaking, the extraordinary old man was giving touches +here and there to all parts of the picture. Here two strokes of the +brush, there one, but each so telling that together they brought out a +new painting,--a painting steeped, as it were, in light. He worked +with such passionate ardor that the sweat rolled in great drops from +his bald brow; and his motions seemed to be jerked out of him with +such rapidity and impatience that the young Poussin fancied a demon, +encased with the body of this singular being, was working his hands +fantastically like those of a puppet without, or even against, the +will of their owner. The unnatural brightness of his eyes, the +convulsive movements which seemed the result of some mental +resistance, gave to this fancy of the youth a semblance of truth which +reacted upon his lively imagination. The old man worked on, muttering +half to himself, half to his neophyte:-- + +"Paf! paf! paf! that is how we butter it on, young man. Ah! my little +pats, you are right; warm up that icy tone. Come, come!--pon, pon, +pon,--" he continued, touching up the spots where he had complained of +a lack of life, hiding under layers of color the conflicting methods, +and regaining the unity of tone essential to an ardent Egyptian. + +"Now see, my little friend, it is only the last touches of the brush +that count for anything. Porbus put on a hundred; I have only put on +one or two. Nobody will thank us for what is underneath, remember +that!" + +At last the demon paused; the old man turned to Porbus and Poussin, +who stood mute with admiration, and said to them,-- + +"It is not yet equal to my Beautiful Nut-girl; still, one can put +one's name to such a work. Yes, I will sign it," he added, rising to +fetch a mirror in which to look at what he had done. "Now let us go +and breakfast. Come, both of you, to my house. I have some smoked ham +and good wine. Hey! hey! in spite of the degenerate times we will talk +painting; we are strong ourselves. Here is a little man," he +continued, striking Nicolas Poussin on the shoulder, "who has the +faculty." + +Observing the shabby cap of the youth, he pulled from his belt a +leathern purse from which he took two gold pieces and offered them to +him, saying,-- + +"I buy your drawing." + +"Take them," said Porbus to Poussin, seeing that the latter trembled +and blushed with shame, for the young scholar had the pride of +poverty; "take them, he has the ransom of two kings in his pouch." + +The three left the atelier and proceeded, talking all the way of art, +to a handsome wooden house standing near the Pont Saint-Michel, whose +window-casings and arabesque decoration amazed Poussin. The embryo +painter soon found himself in one of the rooms on the ground floor +seated, beside a good fire, at a table covered with appetizing dishes, +and, by unexpected good fortune, in company with two great artists who +treated him with kindly attention. + +"Young man," said Porbus, observing that he was speechless, with his +eyes fixed on a picture, "do not look at that too long, or you will +fall into despair." + +It was the Adam of Mabuse, painted by that wayward genius to enable +him to get out of the prison where his creditors had kept him so long. +The figure presented such fulness and force of reality that Nicolas +Poussin began to comprehend the meaning of the bewildering talk of the +old man. The latter looked at the picture with a satisfied but not +enthusiastic manner, which seemed to say, "I have done better myself." + +"There is life in the form," he remarked. "My poor master surpassed +himself there; but observe the want of truth in the background. The +man is living, certainly; he rises and is coming towards us; but the +atmosphere, the sky, the air that we breathe, see, feel,--where are +they? Besides, that is only a man; and the being who came first from +the hand of God must needs have had something divine about him which +is lacking here. Mabuse said so himself with vexation in his sober +moments." + +Poussin looked alternately at the old man and at Porbus with uneasy +curiosity. He turned to the latter as if to ask the name of their +host, but the painter laid a finger on his lips with an air of +mystery, and the young man, keenly interested, kept silence, hoping +that sooner or later some word of the conversation might enable him to +guess the name of the old man, whose wealth and genius were +sufficiently attested by the respect which Porbus showed him, and by +the marvels of art heaped together in the picturesque apartment. + +Poussin, observing against the dark panelling of the wall a +magnificent portrait of a woman, exclaimed aloud, "What a magnificent +Giorgione!" + +"No," remarked the old man, "that is only one of my early daubs." + +"Zounds!" cried Poussin naively; "are you the king of painters?" + +The old man smiled, as if long accustomed to such homage. "Maitre +Frenhofer," said Porbus, "could you order up a little of your good +Rhine wine for me?" + +"Two casks," answered the host; "one to pay for the pleasure of +looking at your pretty sinner this morning, and the other as a mark of +friendship." + +"Ah! if I were not so feeble," resumed Porbus, "and if you would +consent to let me see your Beautiful Nut-girl, I too could paint some +lofty picture, grand and yet profound, where the forms should have the +living life." + +"Show my work!" exclaimed the old man, with deep emotion. "No, no! I +have still to bring it to perfection. Yesterday, towards evening, I +thought it was finished. Her eyes were liquid, her flesh trembled, her +tresses waved--she breathed! And yet, though I have grasped the secret +of rendering on a flat canvas the relief and roundness of nature, this +morning at dawn I saw many errors. Ah! to attain that glorious result, +I have studied to their depths the masters of color. I have analyzed +and lifted, layer by layer, the colors of Titian, king of light. Like +him, great sovereign of art, I have sketched my figure in light clear +tones of supple yet solid color; for shadow is but an accident, +--remember that, young man. Then I worked backward, as it were; and +by means of half-tints, and glazings whose transparency I kept +diminishing little by little, I was able to cast strong shadows +deepening almost to blackness. The shadows of ordinary painters are +not of the same texture as their tones of light. They are wood, brass, +iron, anything you please except flesh in shadow. We feel that if the +figures changed position the shady places would not be wiped off, and +would remain dark spots which never could be made luminous. I have +avoided that blunder, though many of our most illustrious painters +have fallen into it. In my work you will see whiteness beneath the +opacity of the broadest shadow. Unlike the crowd of ignoramuses, who +fancy they draw correctly because they can paint one good vanishing +line, I have not dryly outlined my figures, nor brought out +superstitiously minute anatomical details; for, let me tell you, the +human body does not end off with a line. In that respect sculptors get +nearer to the truth of nature than we do. Nature is all curves, each +wrapping or overlapping another. To speak rigorously, there is no such +thing as drawing. Do not laugh, young man; no matter how strange that +saying seems to you, you will understand the reasons for it one of +these days. A line is a means by which man explains to himself the +effect of light upon a given object; but there is no such thing as a +line in nature, where all things are rounded and full. It is only in +modelling that we really draw,--in other words, that we detach things +from their surroundings and put them in their due relief. The proper +distribution of light can alone reveal the whole body. For this reason +I do not sharply define lineaments; I diffuse about their outline a +haze of warm, light half-tints, so that I defy any one to place a +finger on the exact spot where the parts join the groundwork of the +picture. If seen near by this sort of work has a woolly effect, and is +wanting in nicety and precision; but go a few steps off and the parts +fall into place; they take their proper form and detach themselves, +--the body turns, the limbs stand out, we feel the air circulating +around them. + +"Nevertheless," he continued, sadly, "I am not satisfied; there are +moments when I have my doubts. Perhaps it would be better not to +sketch a single line. I ask myself if I ought not to grasp the figure +first by its highest lights, and then work down to the darker +portions. Is not that the method of the sun, divine painter of the +universe? O Nature, Nature! who has ever caught thee in thy flights? +Alas! the heights of knowledge, like the depths of ignorance, lead to +unbelief. I doubt my work." + +The old man paused, then resumed. "For ten years I have worked, young +man; but what are ten short years in the long struggle with Nature? We +do not know the type it cost Pygmalion to make the only statue that +ever walked--" + +He fell into a reverie and remained, with fixed eyes, oblivious of all +about him, playing mechanically with his knife. + +"See, he is talking to his own soul," said Porbus in a low voice. + +The words acted like a spell on Nicolas Poussin, filling him with the +inexplicable curiosity of a true artist. The strange old man, with his +white eyes fixed in stupor, became to the wondering youth something +more than a man; he seemed a fantastic spirit inhabiting an unknown +sphere, and waking by its touch confused ideas within the soul. We can +no more define the moral phenomena of this species of fascination than +we can render in words the emotions excited in the heart of an exile +by a song which recalls his fatherland. The contempt which the old man +affected to pour upon the noblest efforts of art, his wealth, his +manners, the respectful deference shown to him by Porbus, his work +guarded so secretly,--a work of patient toil, a work no doubt of +genius, judging by the head of the Virgin which Poussin had so naively +admired, and which, beautiful beside even the Adam of Mabuse, betrayed +the imperial touch of a great artist,--in short, everything about the +strange old man seemed beyond the limits of human nature. The rich +imagination of the youth fastened upon the one perceptible and clear +clew to the mystery of this supernatural being,--the presence of the +artistic nature, that wild impassioned nature to which such mighty +powers have been confided, which too often abuses those powers, and +drags cold reason and common souls, and even lovers of art, over stony +and arid places, where for such there is neither pleasure nor +instruction; while to the artistic soul itself,--that white-winged +angel of sportive fancy,--epics, works of art, and visions rise along +the way. It is a nature, an essence, mocking yet kind, fruitful though +destitute. Thus, for the enthusiastic Poussin, the old man became by +sudden transfiguration Art itself,--art with all its secrets, its +transports, and its dreams. + +"Yes, my dear Porbus," said Frenhofer, speaking half in reverie, "I +have never yet beheld a perfect woman; a body whose outlines were +faultless and whose flesh-tints--Ah! where lives she?" he cried, +interrupting his own words; "where lives the lost Venus of the +ancients, so long sought for, whose scattered beauty we snatch by +glimpses? Oh! to see for a moment, a single moment, the divine +completed nature,--the ideal,--I would give my all of fortune. Yes; I +would search thee out, celestial Beauty! in thy farthest sphere. Like +Orpheus, I would go down to hell to win back the life of art--" + +"Let us go," said Porbus to Poussin; "he neither sees nor hears us any +longer." + +"Let us go to his atelier," said the wonder-struck young man. + +"Oh! the old dragon has guarded the entrance. His treasure is out of +our reach. I have not waited for your wish or urging to attempt an +assault on the mystery." + +"Mystery! then there is a mystery?" + +"Yes," answered Porbus. "Frenhofer was the only pupil Mabuse was +willing to teach. He became the friend, saviour, father of that +unhappy man, and he sacrificed the greater part of his wealth to +satisfy the mad passions of his master. In return, Mabuse bequeathed +to him the secret of relief, the power of giving life to form,--that +flower of nature, our perpetual despair, which Mabuse had seized so +well that once, having sold and drunk the value of a flowered damask +which he should have worn at the entrance of Charles V., he made his +appearance in a paper garment painted to resemble damask. The splendor +of the stuff attracted the attention of the emperor, who, wishing to +compliment the old drunkard, laid a hand upon his shoulder and +discovered the deception. Frenhofer is a man carried away by the +passion of his art; he sees above and beyond what other painters see. +He has meditated deeply on color and the absolute truth of lines; but +by dint of much research, much thought, much study, he has come to +doubt the object for which he is searching. In his hours of despair he +fancies that drawing does not exist, and that lines can render nothing +but geometric figures. That, of course, is not true; because with a +black line which has no color we can represent the human form. This +proves that our art is made up, like nature, of an infinite number of +elements. Drawing gives the skeleton, and color gives the life; but +life without the skeleton is a far more incomplete thing than the +skeleton without the life. But there is a higher truth still,--namely, +that practice and observation are the essentials of a painter; and +that if reason and poesy persist in wrangling with the tools, the +brushes, we shall be brought to doubt, like Frenhofer, who is as much +excited in brain as he is exalted in art. A sublime painter, indeed; +but he had the misfortune to be born rich, and that enables him to +stray into theory and conjecture. Do not imitate him. Work! work! +painters should theorize with their brushes in their hands." + +"We will contrive to get in," cried Poussin, not listening to Porbus, +and thinking only of the hidden masterpiece. + +Porbus smiled at the youth's enthusiasm, and bade him farewell with a +kindly invitation to come and visit him. + + * * * * * + +Nicolas Poussin returned slowly towards the Rue de la Harpe and +passed, without observing that he did so, the modest hostelry where he +was lodging. Returning presently upon his steps, he ran up the +miserable stairway with anxious rapidity until he reached an upper +chamber nestling between the joists of a roof "en colombage,"--the +plain, slight covering of the houses of old Paris. Near the single and +gloomy window of the room sat a young girl, who rose quickly as the +door opened, with a gesture of love; she had recognized the young +man's touch upon the latch. + +"What is the matter?" she asked. + +"It is--it is," he cried, choking with joy, "that I feel myself a +painter! I have doubted it till now; but to-day I believe in myself. I +can be a great man. Ah, Gillette, we shall be rich, happy! There is +gold in these brushes!" + +Suddenly he became silent. His grave and earnest face lost its +expression of joy; he was comparing the immensity of his hopes with +the mediocrity of his means. The walls of the garret were covered with +bits of paper on which were crayon sketches; he possessed only four +clean canvases. Colors were at that time costly, and the poor +gentleman gazed at a palette that was well-nigh bare. In the midst of +this poverty he felt within himself an indescribable wealth of heart +and the superabundant force of consuming genius. Brought to Paris by a +gentleman of his acquaintance, and perhaps by the monition of his own +talent, he had suddenly found a mistress,--one of those generous and +noble souls who are ready to suffer by the side of a great man; +espousing his poverty, studying to comprehend his caprices, strong to +bear deprivation and bestow love, as others are daring in the display +of luxury and in parading the insensibility of their hearts. The smile +which flickered on her lips brightened as with gold the darkness of +the garret and rivalled the effulgence of the skies; for the sun did +not always shine in the heavens, but she was always here,--calm and +collected in her passion, living in his happiness, his griefs; +sustaining the genius which overflowed in love ere it found in art its +destined expression. + +"Listen, Gillette; come!" + +The obedient, happy girl sprang lightly on the painter's knee. She was +all grace and beauty, pretty as the spring-time, decked with the +wealth of feminine charm, and lighting all with the fire of a noble +soul. + +"O God!" he exclaimed, "I can never tell her!" + +"A secret!" she cried; "then I must know it." + +Poussin was lost in thought. + +"Tell me." + +"Gillette, poor, beloved heart!" + +"Ah! do you want something of me?" + +"Yes." + +"If you want me to pose as I did the other day," she said, with a +little pouting air, "I will not do it. Your eyes say nothing to me, +then. You look at me, but you do not think of me." + +"Would you like me to copy another woman?" + +"Perhaps," she answered, "if she were very ugly." + +"Well," continued Poussin, in a grave tone, "if to make me a great +painter it were necessary to pose to some one else--" + +"You are testing me," she interrupted; "you know well that I would not +do it." + +Poussin bent his head upon his breast like a man succumbing to joy or +grief too great for his spirit to bear. + +"Listen," she said, pulling him by the sleeve of his worn doublet, "I +told you, Nick, that I would give my life for you; but I never said +--never!--that I, a living woman, would renounce my love." + +"Renounce it?" cried Poussin. + +"If I showed myself thus to another you would love me no longer; and I +myself, I should feel unworthy of your love. To obey your caprices, +ah, that is simple and natural! in spite of myself, I am proud and +happy in doing thy dear will; but to another, fy!" + +"Forgive me, my own Gillette," said the painter, throwing himself at +her feet. "I would rather be loved than famous. To me thou art more +precious than fortune and honors. Yes, away with these brushes! burn +those sketches! I have been mistaken. My vocation is to love thee, +--thee alone! I am not a painter, I am thy lover. Perish art and all +its secrets!" + +She looked at him admiringly, happy and captivated by his passion. She +reigned; she felt instinctively that the arts were forgotten for her +sake, and flung at her feet like grains of incense. + +"Yet he is only an old man," resumed Poussin. "In you he would see +only a woman. You are the perfect woman whom he seeks." + +"Love should grant all things!" she exclaimed, ready to sacrifice +love's scruples to reward the lover who thus seemed to sacrifice his +art to her. "And yet," she added, "it would be my ruin. Ah, to suffer +for thy good! Yes, it is glorious! But thou wilt forget me. How came +this cruel thought into thy mind?" + +"It came there, and yet I love thee," he said, with a sort of +contrition. "Am I, then, a wretch?" + +"Let us consult Pere Hardouin." + +"No, no! it must be a secret between us." + +"Well, I will go; but thou must not be present," she said. "Stay at +the door, armed with thy dagger. If I cry out, enter and kill the +man." + +Forgetting all but his art, Poussin clasped her in his arms. + +"He loves me no longer!" thought Gillette, when she was once more +alone. + +She regretted her promise. But before long she fell a prey to an +anguish far more cruel than her regret; and she struggled vainly to +drive forth a terrible fear which forced its way into her mind. She +felt that she loved him less as the suspicion rose in her heart that +he was less worthy than she had thought him. + + + + CHAPTER II + +Three months after the first meeting of Porbus and Poussin, the former +went to see Maitre Frenhofer. He found the old man a prey to one of +those deep, self-developed discouragements, whose cause, if we are to +believe the mathematicians of health, lies in a bad digestion, in the +wind, in the weather, in some swelling of the intestines, or else, +according to casuists, in the imperfections of our moral nature; the +fact being that the good man was simply worn out by the effort to +complete his mysterious picture. He was seated languidly in a large +oaken chair of vast dimensions covered with black leather; and without +changing his melancholy attitude he cast on Porbus the distant glance +of a man sunk in absolute dejection. + +"Well, maitre," said Porbus, "was the distant ultra-marine, for which +you journeyed to Brussels, worthless? Are you unable to grind a new +white? Is the oil bad, or the brushes restive?" + +"Alas!" cried the old man, "I thought for one moment that my work was +accomplished; but I must have deceived myself in some of the details. +I shall have no peace until I clear up my doubts. I am about to +travel; I go to Turkey, Asia, Greece, in search of models. I must +compare my picture with various types of Nature. It may be that I have +up _there_," he added, letting a smile of satisfaction flicker on his +lip, "Nature herself. At times I am half afraid that a brush may wake +this woman, and that she will disappear from sight." + +He rose suddenly, as if to depart at once. "Wait," exclaimed Porbus. +"I have come in time to spare you the costs and fatigues of such a +journey." + +"How so?" asked Frenhofer, surprised. + +"Young Poussin is beloved by a woman whose incomparable beauty is +without imperfection. But, my dear master, if he consents to lend her +to you, at least you must let us see your picture." + +The old man remained standing, motionless, in a state bordering on +stupefaction. "What!" he at last exclaimed, mournfully. "Show my +creature, my spouse?--tear off the veil with which I have chastely +hidden my joy? It would be prostitution! For ten years I have lived +with this woman; she is mine, mine alone! she loves me! Has she not +smiled upon me as, touch by touch, I painted her? She has a soul,--the +soul with which I endowed her. She would blush if other eyes than mine +beheld her. Let her be seen?--where is the husband, the lover, so +debased as to lend his wife to dishonor? When you paint a picture for +the court you do not put your whole soul into it; you sell to +courtiers your tricked-out lay-figures. My painting is not a picture; +it is a sentiment, a passion! Born in my atelier, she must remain a +virgin there. She shall not leave it unclothed. Poesy and women give +themselves bare, like truth, to lovers only. Have we the model of +Raphael, the Angelica of Ariosto, the Beatrice of Dante? No, we see +but their semblance. Well, the work which I keep hidden behind bolts +and bars is an exception to all other art. It is not a canvas; it is a +woman,--a woman with whom I weep and laugh and think and talk. Would +you have me resign the joy of ten years, as I might throw away a +worn-out doublet? Shall I, in a moment, cease to be father, lover, +creator?--this woman is not a creature; she is my creation. Bring your +young man; I will give him my treasures,--paintings of Correggio, +Michael-Angelo, Titian; I will kiss the print of his feet in the dust, +--but make him my rival? Shame upon me! Ha! I am more a lover than I am +a painter. I shall have the strength to burn my Nut-girl ere I render my +last sigh; but suffer her to endure the glance of a man, a young man, +a painter?--No, no! I would kill on the morrow the man who polluted +her with a look! I would kill you,--you, my friend,--if you did not +worship her on your knees; and think you I would submit my idol to the +cold eyes and stupid criticisms of fools? Ah, love is a mystery! its +life is in the depths of the soul; it dies when a man says, even to +his friend, Here is she whom I love." + +The old man seemed to renew his youth; his eyes had the brilliancy and +fire of life, his pale cheeks blushed a vivid red, his hands trembled. +Porbus, amazed by the passionate violence with which he uttered these +words, knew not how to answer a feeling so novel and yet so profound. +Was the old man under the thraldom of an artist's fancy? Or did these +ideas flow from the unspeakable fanaticism produced at times in every +mind by the long gestation of a noble work? Was it possible to bargain +with this strange and whimsical being? + +Filled with such thoughts, Porbus said to the old man, "Is it not +woman for woman? Poussin lends his mistress to your eyes." + +"What sort of mistress is that?" cried Frenhofer. "She will betray him +sooner or later. Mine will be to me forever faithful." + +"Well," returned Porbus, "then let us say no more. But before you +find, even in Asia, a woman as beautiful, as perfect, as the one I +speak of, you may be dead, and your picture forever unfinished." + +"Oh, it is finished!" said Frenhofer. "Whoever sees it will find a +woman lying on a velvet bed, beneath curtains; perfumes are exhaling +from a golden tripod by her side: he will be tempted to take the +tassels of the cord that holds back the curtain; he will think he +sees the bosom of Catherine Lescaut,--a model called the Beautiful +Nut-girl; he will see it rise and fall with the movement of her +breathing. Yet--I wish I could be sure--" + +"Go to Asia, then," said Porbus hastily, fancying he saw some +hesitation in the old man's eye. + +Porbus made a few steps towards the door of the room. At this moment +Gillette and Nicolas Poussin reached the entrance of the house. As the +young girl was about to enter, she dropped the arm of her lover and +shrank back as if overcome by a presentiment. "What am I doing here?" +she said to Poussin, in a deep voice, looking at him fixedly. + +"Gillette, I leave you mistress of your actions; I will obey your +will. You are my conscience, my glory. Come home; I shall be happy, +perhaps, if you, yourself--" + +"Have I a self when you speak thus to me? Oh, no! I am but a child. +Come," she continued, seeming to make a violent effort. "If our love +perishes, if I put into my heart a long regret, thy fame shall be the +guerdon of my obedience to thy will. Let us enter. I may yet live +again,--a memory on thy palette." + +Opening the door of the house the two lovers met Porbus coming out. +Astonished at the beauty of the young girl, whose eyes were still wet +with tears, he caught her all trembling by the hand and led her to the +old master. + +"There!" he cried; "is she not worth all the masterpieces in the +world?" + +Frenhofer quivered. Gillette stood before him in the ingenuous, simple +attitude of a young Georgian, innocent and timid, captured by brigands +and offered to a slave-merchant. A modest blush suffused her cheeks, +her eyes were lowered, her hands hung at her sides, strength seemed to +abandon her, and her tears protested against the violence done to her +purity. Poussin cursed himself, and repented of his folly in bringing +this treasure from their peaceful garret. Once more he became a lover +rather than an artist; scruples convulsed his heart as he saw the eye +of the old painter regain its youth and, with the artist's habit, +disrobe as it were the beauteous form of the young girl. He was seized +with the jealous frenzy of a true lover. + +"Gillette!" he cried; "let us go." + +At this cry, with its accent of love, his mistress raised her eyes +joyfully and looked at him; then she ran into his arms. + +"Ah! you love me still?" she whispered, bursting into tears. + +Though she had had strength to hide her suffering, she had none to +hide her joy. + +"Let me have her for one moment," exclaimed the old master, "and you +shall compare her with my Catherine. Yes, yes; I consent!" + +There was love in the cry of Frenhofer as in that of Poussin, mingled +with jealous coquetry on behalf of his semblance of a woman; he seemed +to revel in the triumph which the beauty of his virgin was about to +win over the beauty of the living woman. + +"Do not let him retract," cried Porbus, striking Poussin on the +shoulder. "The fruits of love wither in a day; those of art are +immortal." + +"Can it be," said Gillette, looking steadily at Poussin and at Porbus, +"that I am nothing more than a woman to him?" + +She raised her head proudly; and as she glanced at Frenhofer with +flashing eyes she saw her lover gazing once more at the picture he had +formerly taken for a Giorgione. + +"Ah!" she cried, "let us go in; he never looked at me like that!" + +"Old man!" said Poussin, roused from his meditation by Gillette's +voice, "see this sword. I will plunge it into your heart at the first +cry of that young girl. I will set fire to your house, and no one +shall escape from it. Do you understand me?" + +His look was gloomy and the tones of his voice were terrible. His +attitude, and above all the gesture with which he laid his hand upon +the weapon, comforted the poor girl, who half forgave him for thus +sacrificing her to his art and to his hopes of a glorious future. + +Porbus and Poussin remained outside the closed door of the atelier, +looking at one another in silence. At first the painter of the +Egyptian Mary uttered a few exclamations: "Ah, she unclothes herself!" +--"He tells her to stand in the light!"--"He compares them!" but he +grew silent as he watched the mournful face of the young man; for +though old painters have none of such petty scruples in presence of +their art, yet they admire them in others, when they are fresh and +pleasing. The young man held his hand on his sword, and his ear seemed +glued to the panel of the door. Both men, standing darkly in the +shadow, looked like conspirators waiting the hour to strike a tyrant. + +"Come in! come in!" cried the old man, beaming with happiness. "My +work is perfect; I can show it now with pride. Never shall painter, +brushes, colors, canvas, light, produce the rival of Catherine +Lescaut, the Beautiful Nut-girl." + +Porbus and Poussin, seized with wild curiosity, rushed into the middle +of a vast atelier filled with dust, where everything lay in disorder, +and where they saw a few paintings hanging here and there upon the +walls. They stopped before the figure of a woman, life-sized and half +nude, which filled them with eager admiration. + +"Do not look at that," said Frenhofer, "it is only a daub which I made +to study a pose; it is worth nothing. Those are my errors," he added, +waving his hand towards the enchanting compositions on the walls +around them. + +At these words Porbus and Poussin, amazed at the disdain which the +master showed for such marvels of art, looked about them for the +secret treasure, but could see it nowhere. + +"There it is!" said the old man, whose hair fell in disorder about his +face, which was scarlet with supernatural excitement. His eyes +sparkled, and his breast heaved like that of a young man beside +himself with love. + +"Ah!" he cried, "did you not expect such perfection? You stand before +a woman, and you are looking for a picture! There are such depths on +that canvas, the air within it is so true, that you are unable to +distinguish it from the air you breathe. Where is art? Departed, +vanished! Here is the form itself of a young girl. Have I not caught +the color, the very life of the line which seems to terminate the +body? The same phenomenon which we notice around fishes in the water +is also about objects which float in air. See how these outlines +spring forth from the background. Do you not feel that you could pass +your hand behind those shoulders? For seven years have I studied these +effects of light coupled with form. That hair,--is it not bathed in +light? Why, she breathes! That bosom,--see! Ah! who would not worship +it on bended knee? The flesh palpitates! Wait, she is about to rise; +wait!" + +"Can you see anything?" whispered Poussin to Porbus. + +"Nothing. Can you?" + +"No." + +The two painters drew back, leaving the old man absorbed in ecstasy, +and tried to see if the light, falling plumb upon the canvas at which +he pointed, had neutralized all effects. They examined the picture, +moving from right to left, standing directly before it, bending, +swaying, rising by turns. + +"Yes, yes; it is really a canvas," cried Frenhofer, mistaking the +purpose of their examination. "See, here is the frame, the easel; +these are my colors, my brushes." And he caught up a brush which he +held out to them with a naive motion. + +"The old rogue is making game of us," said Poussin, coming close to +the pretended picture. "I can see nothing here but a mass of confused +color, crossed by a multitude of eccentric lines, making a sort of +painted wall." + +"We are mistaken. See!" returned Porbus. + +Coming nearer, they perceived in a corner of the canvas the point of a +naked foot, which came forth from the chaos of colors, tones, shadows +hazy and undefined, misty and without form,--an enchanting foot, a +living foot. They stood lost in admiration before this glorious +fragment breaking forth from the incredible, slow, progressive +destruction around it. The foot seemed to them like the torso of some +Grecian Venus, brought to light amid the ruins of a burned city. + +"There is a woman beneath it all!" cried Porbus, calling Poussin's +attention to the layers of color which the old painter had +successively laid on, believing that he thus brought his work to +perfection. The two men turned towards him with one accord, beginning +to comprehend, though vaguely, the ecstasy in which he lived. + +"He means it in good faith," said Porbus. + +"Yes, my friend," answered the old man, rousing from his abstraction, +"we need faith; faith in art. We must live with our work for years +before we can produce a creation like that. Some of these shadows have +cost me endless toil. See, there on her cheek, below the eyes, a faint +half-shadow; if you observed it in Nature you might think it could +hardly be rendered. Well, believe me, I took unheard-of pains to +reproduce that effect. My dear Porbus, look attentively at my work, +and you will comprehend what I have told you about the manner of +treating form and outline. Look at the light on the bosom, and see how +by a series of touches and higher lights firmly laid on I have managed +to grasp light itself, and combine it with the dazzling whiteness of +the clearer tones; and then see how, by an opposite method,--smoothing +off the sharp contrasts and the texture of the color,--I have been +able, by caressing the outline of my figure and veiling it with cloudy +half-tints, to do away with the very idea of drawing and all other +artificial means, and give to the form the aspect and roundness of +Nature itself. Come nearer, and you will see the work more distinctly; +if too far off it disappears. See! there, at that point, it is, I +think, most remarkable." And with the end of his brush he pointed to a +spot of clear light color. + +Porbus struck the old man on the shoulder, turning to Poussin as he +did so, and said, "Do you know that he is one of our greatest +painters?" + +"He is a poet even more than he is a painter," answered Poussin +gravely. + +"There," returned Porbus, touching the canvas, "is the ultimate end of +our art on earth." + +"And from thence," added Poussin, "it rises, to enter heaven." + +"How much happiness is there!--upon that canvas," said Porbus. + +The absorbed old man gave no heed to their words; he was smiling at +his visionary woman. + +"But sooner or later, he will perceive that there is nothing there," +cried Poussin. + +"Nothing there!--upon my canvas?" said Frenhofer, looking first at the +two painters, and then at his imaginary picture. + +"What have you done?" cried Porbus, addressing Poussin. + +The old man seized the arm of the young man violently, and said to +him, "You see nothing?--clown, infidel, scoundrel, dolt! Why did you +come here? My good Porbus," he added, turning to his friend, "is it +possible that you, too, are jesting with me? Answer; I am your friend. +Tell me, can it be that I have spoiled my picture?" + +Porbus hesitated, and feared to speak; but the anxiety painted on the +white face of the old man was so cruel that he was constrained to +point to the canvas and utter the word, "See!" + +Frenhofer looked at his picture for a space of a moment, and +staggered. + +"Nothing! nothing! after toiling ten years!" + +He sat down and wept. + +"Am I then a fool, an idiot? Have I neither talent nor capacity? Am I +no better than a rich man who walks, and can only walk? Have I indeed +produced nothing?" + +He gazed at the canvas through tears. Suddenly he raised himself +proudly and flung a lightning glance upon the two painters. + +"By the blood, by the body, by the head of Christ, you are envious men +who seek to make me think she is spoiled, that you may steal her from +me. I--I see her!" he cried. "She is wondrously beautiful!" + +At this moment Poussin heard the weeping of Gillette as she stood, +forgotten, in a corner. + +"What troubles thee, my darling?" asked the painter, becoming once +more a lover. + +"Kill me!" she answered. "I should be infamous if I still loved thee, +for I despise thee. I admire thee; but thou hast filled me with +horror. I love, and yet already I hate thee." + +While Poussin listened to Gillette, Frenhofer drew a green curtain +before his Catherine, with the grave composure of a jeweller locking +his drawers when he thinks that thieves are near him. He cast at the +two painters a look which was profoundly dissimulating, full of +contempt and suspicion; then, with convulsive haste, he silently +pushed them through the door of his atelier. When they reached the +threshold of his house he said to them, "Adieu, my little friends." + +The tone of this farewell chilled the two painters with fear. + + * * * * * + +On the morrow Porbus, alarmed, went again to visit Frenhofer, and +found that he had died during the night, after having burned his +paintings. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Hidden Masterpiece, by Honore de Balzac + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HIDDEN MASTERPIECE *** + +***** This file should be named 1553.txt or 1553.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.net/1/5/5/1553/ + +Produced by John Bickers and Dagny + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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