<p>Perhaps the most autobiographical of Zola's Rougon-Macquart cycle of novels <i>The Masterpiece</i> is a hard bleak and raw portrait of unrecognized artistic genius. Claude Lantier brother to Nana and son of Gervaise is a struggling painter who dreams of conquering the Paris art scene with his revolutionary 'open air' style of painting. Discouraged and mocked Claude retreats to the countryside with a young woman from Clermont with whom he has fallen in love before returning to Paris where he continues to experience rejection at every turn. Zola's depiction of a frustrated artist is said to have drawn heavily on the real-life experiences of Edouard Manet and Paul Cezanne the latter of whom broke off his friendship with the author upon reading the novel.</p>