er complete indifference to art, and her middle-class
selfishness. Le Ventre de Paris.

He was appointed a member of the family council which nominally had
charge of Pauline Quenu's fortune. La Joie de Vivre.

He established himself in a studio near the roof of an old house close
to the river, and there lived the life of a Bohemian, with an absolute
disdain for everything not related to art. He revolted against the
canons of the schools, and tried to achieve truth in painting by
adopting an exaggerated realism. His hopes became centred in a large
painting, which he called _Plein Air_, intended for exhibition in the
_Salon_. The picture was rejected, and when shown at a minor exhibition
was greeted with derision by the public. About this period began his
connection with Christine Hallegrain, with whom he lived for several
years, and ultimately married. They took up house at Bennecourt in an
old cottage, and there some years passed happily enough, a son
named Jacques Louis being born in 1860. But Claude gradually became
discontented, and the family returned to Paris, where there began a long
struggle against poverty, a struggle beginning in high anticipation and
ending in despair. After a long search for a subject for a picture which
was to be his masterpiece, Claude selected a stretch of the river near
Notre Dame, and into this he intended to put all those new theories
of art with which he hoped to revolutionize the world. Everything was
sacrificed to this picture; the small fortune left him by his early
benefactor was gradually realized to provide food, and when it was
exhausted there was little but starvation for the artist and his
dependants. The work was begun in a frenzy of genius, but was constantly
interrupted by doubts and indecision; it became a monomania, and under
its influence Claude's mind gradually became unhinged; the family virus
was at last showing itself. Christine was wholly taken up with her
husband, and their child died of an illness due greatly to neglect. By
this time Claude was incapable of any real feeling save for art, and
the death of his child only served to give him a subject for a picture.
Having torn himself away from his intended masterpiece for a time, he
painted _L'Enfant Mort_, which was exhibited in the _Salon_, and met
with an even more contemptuous reception from the public than his _Plein
Air_. Christine used all her influence to prevent her husband from
returning to his task, but