The Project Gutenberg EBook of Pierre Grassou, by Honore de Balzac

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Title: Pierre Grassou

Author: Honore de Balzac

Translator: Katharine Prescott Wormeley

Release Date: March, 1998 [Etext #1230]
Posting Date: February 21, 2010

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PIERRE GRASSOU ***

Produced by John Bickers and Dagny

PIERRE GRASSOU

By Honore De Balzac

Translated by Katharine Prescott Wormeley

Dedication

To The Lieutenant-Colonel of Artillery, Periollas, As a Testimony of the
Affectionate Esteem of the Author,

De Balzac

PIERRE GRASSOU

Whenever you have gone to take a serious look at the exhibition of works
of sculpture and painting, such as it has been since the revolution
of 1830, have you not been seized by a sense of uneasiness, weariness,
sadness, at the sight of those long and over-crowded galleries? Since
1830, the true Salon no longer exists. The Louvre has again been taken
by assault,--this time by a populace of artists who have maintained
themselves in it.

In other days, when the Salon presented only the choicest works of art,
it conferred the highest honor on the creations there exhibited. Among
the two hundred selected paintings, the public could still choose: a
crown was awarded to the masterpiece by hands unseen. Eager, impassioned
discussions arose about some picture. The abuse showered on Delacroix,
on Ingres, contributed no less to their fame than the praises and
fanaticism of their adherents. To-day, neither the crowd nor the
criticism grows impassioned about the products of that bazaar. Forced to
make the selection for itself, which in former days the examining
jury made for it, the attention of the public is soon wearied and the
exhibition closes. Before the year 1817 the pictures admitted never went
beyond the first two columns of the long gallery of the old masters; but
in that year, to the great astonishment of the public, they filled the
whole space. Historical, high-art, genre paintings, easel pictures,
landscapes, flowers, animals, and water-colors,--these eight specialties
could surely not offer more than twenty pictures i