The Unknown Masterpiece

Reproduction of the original, first published in 1854. An English translation of the French short story "Le Chef-d'œuvre inconnu", written in the mid-19th-century. Set in seventeenth-century Paris, it follows young Nicolas Poussin, established painter Porbus, and the enigmatic master Frenhofer, who has labored for ten years on a secret painting he believes will be his greatest triumph. When Poussin offers his lover as a model, the work nears completion, raising questions about what it will reveal. A meditation on artistic perfection and obsession.