num_pages: 464
description: The Masterpiece is the tragic story of Claude Lantier, an ambitious and talented young artist who has come from the provinces to conquer Paris but is conquered instead by the flaws of his own genius. Set in the 1860s and 1870s, it is the most autobiographical of the twenty novels in Zola's Rougon-Macquart series. It provides a unique insight into Zola's career as a writer and his relationship with Cezanne, a friend since their schooldays in Aix-en-Provence. It also presents a well-documented account of the turbulent Bohemian world in which the Impressionists came to prominence despite the conservatism of the Academy and the ridicule of the general public.
language: English
title: The Masterpiece
titlecomplete: The Masterpiece
characters: Pierre Sandoz, Louis Dubuche, Claude Lantier, Christine Hallegrain
genres: Art, French Literature, Literary Fiction, Novels, Literature, Roman, Classics, Fiction, 19th Century, France
ratings_count: 4433
series: Les Rougon-Macquart
awards: awardedAt: 1009872000000
name: Premi de Traducció Vidal Alcover
category: Margarida Casacuberta Rocarols
publisher: Oxford University Press