His Masterpiece, Emile Zola [read ebook pdf .TXT] 📗

Side,  And Looking As Charmingly Delicate As A Cut Gem Set In

Fine Gold. He Insisted On Beholding It When The Sun Was Rising And

Transpiercing The Morning Mists,  When The Quai De L'horloge Flushes

And The Quai Des Orfevres Remains Wrapt In Gloom; When,  Up In The Pink

Sky,  It Is Already Full Of Life,  With The Bright Awakening Of Its

Towers And Spires,  While Night,  Similar To A Falling Cloak,  Slides

Slowly From Its Lower Buildings. He Beheld It Also At Noon,  When The

Sunrays Fall On It Vertically,  When A Crude Glare Bites Into It,  And

It Becomes Discoloured And Mute Like A Dead City,  Retaining Nought But

The Life Of Heat,  The Quiver That Darts Over Its Distant Housetops. He

Beheld It,  Moreover,  Beneath The Setting Sun,  Surrendering Itself To

The Night Which Was Slowly Rising From The River,  With The Salient

Edges Of Its Buildings Still Fringed With A Glow As Of Embers,  And

With Final Conflagrations Rekindling In Its Windows,  From Whose Panes

Leapt Tongue-Like Flashes. But In Presence Of Those Twenty Different

Aspects Of The Cite,  No Matter What The Hour Or The Weather Might Be,

He Ever Came Back To The Cite That He Had Seen The First Time,  At

About Four O'clock One Fine September Afternoon,  A Cite All Serenity

Under A Gentle Breeze,  A Cite Which Typified The Heart Of Paris

Beating In The Limpid Atmosphere,  And Seemingly Enlarged By The Vast

Stretch Of Sky Which A Flight Of Cloudlets Crossed.

 

Claude Spent His Time Under The Pont Des Saints-Peres,  Which He Had

Made His Shelter,  His Home,  His Roof. The Constant Din Of The Vehicles

Overhead,  Similar To The Distant Rumbling Of Thunder,  No Longer

Disturbed Him. Settling Himself Against The First Abutment,  Beneath

The Huge Iron Arches,  He Took Sketches And Painted Studies. The

_Employes_ Of The River Navigation Service,  Whose Offices Were Hard

By,  Got To Know Him,  And,  Indeed,  The Wife Of An Inspector,  Who Lived

In A Sort Of Tarred Cabin With Her Husband,  Two Children,  And A Cat,

Kept His Canvases For Him,  To Save Him The Trouble Of Carrying Them To

And Fro Each Day. It Became His Joy To Remain In That Secluded Nook

Beneath Paris,  Which Rumbled In The Air Above Him,  Whose Ardent Life

He Ever Felt Rolling Overhead. He At First Became Passionately

Interested In Port St. Nicolas,  With Its Ceaseless Bustle Suggesting

That Of A Distant Genuine Seaport. The Steam Crane,  _The Sophia_,

Worked Regularly,  Hauling Up Blocks Of Stone; Tumbrels Arrived To

Fetch Loads Of Sand; Men And Horses Pulled,  Panting For Breath On The

Big Paving-Stones,  Which Sloped Down As Far As The Water,  To A Granite

Margin,  Alongside Which Two Rows Of Lighters And Barges Were Moored.

For Weeks Claude Worked Hard At A Study Of Some Lightermen Unloading A

Cargo Of Plaster,  Carrying White Sacks On Their Shoulders,  Leaving A

White Pathway Behind Them,  And Bepowdered With White Themselves,

Whilst Hard By The Coal Removed From Another Barge Had Stained The

Waterside With A Huge Inky Smear. Then He Sketched The Silhouette Of A

Swimming-Bath On The Left Bank,  Together With A Floating Wash-House

Somewhat In The Rear,  Showing The Windows Open And The Washerwomen

Kneeling In A Row,  On A Level With The Stream,  And Beating Their Dirty

Linen. In The Middle Of The River,  He Studied A Boat Which A Waterman

Sculled Over The Stern; Then,  Farther Behind,  A Steamer Of The Towing

Part 9 Pg 174

Service Straining Its Chain,  And Dragging A Series Of Rafts Loaded

With Barrels And Boards Up Stream. The Principal Backgrounds Had Been

Sketched A Long While Ago,  Still He Did Several Bits Over Again--The

Two Arms Of The Seine,  And A Sky All By Itself,  Into Which Rose Only

Towers And Spires Gilded By The Sun. And Under The Hospitable Bridge,

In That Nook As Secluded As Some Far-Off Cleft In A Rock,  He Was

Rarely Disturbed By Anybody. Anglers Passed By With Contemptuous

Unconcern. His Only Companion Was Virtually The Overseer's Cat,  Who

Cleaned Herself In The Sunlight,  Ever Placid Beneath The Tumult Of The

World Overhead.

 

At Last Claude Had All His Materials Ready. In A Few Days He Threw Off

An Outline Sketch Of The Whole,  And The Great Work Was Begun. However,

The First Battle Between Himself And His Huge Canvas Raged In The Rue

Tourlaque Throughout The Summer; For He Obstinately Insisted Upon

Personally Attending To All The Technical Calculations Of His

Composition,  And He Failed To Manage Them,  Getting Into Constant

Muddles About The Slightest Deviation From Mathematical Accuracy,  Of

Which He Had No Experience. It Made Him Indignant With Himself. So He

Let It Go,  Deciding To Make What Corrections Might Be Necessary

Afterwards. He Covered His Canvas With A Rush--In Such A Fever As To

Live All Day On His Steps,  Brandishing Huge Brushes,  And Expending As

Much Muscular Force As If He Were Anxious To Move Mountains. And When

Evening Came He Reeled About Like A Drunken Man,  And Fell Asleep As

Soon As He Had Swallowed His Last Mouthful Of Food. His Wife Even Had

To Put Him To Bed Like A Child. From Those Heroic Efforts,  However,

Sprang A Masterly First Draught In Which Genius Blazed Forth Amidst

The Somewhat Chaotic Masses Of Colour. Bongrand,  Who Came To Look At

It,  Caught The Painter In His Big Arms,  And Stifled Him With Embraces,

His Eyes Full Of Tears. Sandoz,  In His Enthusiasm,  Gave A Dinner; The

Others,  Jory,  Mahoudeau And Gagniere,  Again Went About Announcing A

Masterpiece. As For Fagerolles,  He Remained Motionless Before The

Painting For A Moment,  Then Burst Into Congratulations,  Pronouncing It

Too Beautiful.

 

And,  In Fact,  Subsequently,  As If The Irony Of That Successful

Trickster Had Brought Him Bad Luck,  Claude Only Spoilt His Original

Draught. It Was The Old Story Over Again. He Spent Himself In One

Effort,  One Magnificent Dash; He Failed To Bring Out All The Rest; He

Did Not Know How To Finish. He Fell Into His Former Impotence; For Two

Years He Lived Before That Picture Only,  Having No Feeling For

Anything Else. At Times He Was In A Seventh Heaven Of Exuberant Joy;

At Others Flung To Earth,  So Wretched,  So Distracted By Doubt,  That

Dying Men Gasping In Their Beds In A Hospital Were Happier Than

Himself. Twice Already Had He Failed To Be Ready For The Salon,  For

Invariably,  At The Last Moment,  When He Hoped To Have Finished In A

Few Sittings,  He Found Some Void,  Felt His Composition Crack And

Crumble Beneath His Fingers. When The Third Salon Drew Nigh,  There

Came A Terrible Crisis; He Remained For A Fortnight Without Going To

His Studio In The Rue Tourlaque,  And When He Did So,  It Was As To A

House Desolated By Death. He Turned The Huge Canvas To The Wall And

Rolled His Steps Into A Corner; He Would Have Smashed And Burned

Everything If His Faltering Hands Had Found Strength Enough. Nothing

More Existed; Amid A Blast Of Anger He Swept The Floor Clean,  And

Spoke Of Setting To Work At Little Things,  Since He Was Incapable Of

Perfecting Paintings Of Any Size.

 

In Spite Of Himself,  His First Idea Of A Picture On A Smaller Scale

Part 9 Pg 175

Took Him Back To The Cite. Why Should Not He Paint A Simple View,  On A

Moderate Sized Canvas? But A Kind Of Shame,  Mingled With Strange

Jealousy,  Prevented Him From Settling Himself In His Old Spot Under

The Pont Des Saints-Peres. It Seemed To Him As If That Spot Were

Sacred Now; That He Ought Not To Offer Any Outrage To His Great Work,

Dead As It Was. So He Stationed Himself At The End Of The Bank,  Above

The Bridge. This Time,  At Any Rate,  He Would Work Directly From

Nature; And He Felt Happy At Not Having To Resort To Any Trickery,  As

Was Unavoidable With Works Of A Large Size. The Small Picture,  Very

Carefully Painted,  More Highly Finished Than Usual,  Met,  However,  With

The Same Fate As The Others Before The Hanging Committee,  Who Were

Indignant With This Style Of Painting,  Executed With A Tipsy Brush,  As

Was Said At The Time In The Studios. The Slap In The Face Which Claude

Thus Received Was All The More Severe,  As A Report Had Spread Of

Concessions,  Of Advances Made By Him To The School Of Arts,  In Order

That His Work Might Be Received. And When The Picture Came Back To

Him,  He,  Deeply Wounded,  Weeping With Rage,  Tore It Into Narrow

Shreds,  Which He Burned In His Stove. It Was Not Sufficient That He

Should Kill That One With A Knife-Thrust,  It Must Be Annihilated.

 

Another Year Went By For Claude In Desultory Toil. He Worked From

Force Of Habit,  But Finished Nothing; He Himself Saying,  With A

Dolorous Laugh,  That He Had Lost Himself,  And Was Trying To Find

Himself Again. In Reality,  Tenacious Consciousness Of His Genius Left

Him A Hope Which Nothing Could Destroy,  Even During His Longest Crises

Of Despondency. He Suffered Like Some One Damned,  For Ever Rolling The

Rock Which Slipped Back And Crushed Him; But The Future Remained,  With

The Certainty Of One Day Seizing That Rock In His Powerful Arms And

Flinging It Upward To The Stars. His Friends At Last Beheld His Eyes

Light Up With Passion Once More. It Was Known That He Again Secluded

Himself In The Rue Tourlaque. He Who Formerly Had Always Been Carried

Beyond The Work On Which He Was Engaged,  By Some Dream Of A Picture To

Come,  Now Stood At Bay Before That Subject Of The Cite. It Had Become

His Fixed Idea--The Bar That Closed Up His Life. And Soon He Began To

Speak Freely Of It Again In A New Blaze Of Enthusiasm,  Exclaiming,

With Childish Delight,  That He Had Found His Way And That He Felt

Certain Of Victory.

 

One Day Claude,  Who,  So Far,  Had Not Opened His Door To His Friends,

Condescended To Admit Sandoz. The Latter Tumbled Upon A Study With A

Deal Of Dash In It,  Thrown Off Without A Model,  And Again Admirable In

Colour. The Subject Had Remained The Same--The Port St. Nicolas On The

Left,  The Swimming-Baths On The Right,  The Seine And Cite In The

Background. But Sandoz Was Amazed At Perceiving,  Instead Of The Boat

Sculled By A Waterman,  Another Large Skiff Taking Up The Whole Centre

Of The Composition--A Skiff Occupied By Three Women. One,  In A Bathing

Costume,  Was Rowing; Another Sat Over The Edge With Her Legs Dangling

In The Water,  Her Costume Partially Unfastened,  Showing Her Bare

Shoulder; While The Third Stood Erect And Nude At The Prow,  So Bright

In Tone That She Seemed Effulgent,  Like The Sun.

 

'Why,  What An Idea!' Muttered Sandoz. 'What Are Those Women Doing

There?'

 

'Why,  They Are Bathing,' Claude Quietly Answered. 'Don't You See That

They Have Come Out Of The Swimming-Baths? It Supplies Me With A Motive

For The Nude; It's A Real Find,  Eh? Does It Shock You?'