one of the earliest champions of the work of Édouard Manet. The character of Sandoz, a young writer whose ambition is to write a story of a family that would portray the present epoch, is most clearly a self-portrait of the author. The basis of some of the other characters, including Claude Lantier, is murkier. Though Claude is most often understood as being based on Cézanne, the Impressionist painters Édouard Manet and Claude Monet are often cited as other possible sources. (In fact, Claude Lantier's first painting in the book is based on Manet's Le déjeuner sur l'herbe.). In a letter written after the novel's appearance in 1886, Claude Monet (who was acquainted with Cézanne and Manet) indicated that he did not recognize himself or any of his fellow painters in the character. Other parallels between the author's life and the novel include Lantier's dead child painting being similar to Monet's portrait of the deceased Camille (his first wife), Lantier's idea of mobile studios mirroring Monet's and loose ties equating Fagerolles and Manet. In the book, the Open Air school got its name from the title of Lantier's first mentioned painting. In real life, the Impressionists got their name from Monet's 1874 painting Impression: Sunrise. Open Air (Plein air) and Impressionism were insulting names given by critics and jeering crowds. Sources Brown, F. (1995). Zola: A life. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux. Zola, E. L'Œuvre, translated as The Masterpiece by Thomas Walton (1957, rev. 1993) External links (French) (English) (1967) (TV) (French) Aruna D'Souza, "Paul Cézanne, Claude Lantier, and Artistic Impotence." In Nineteenth-Century Art Worldwide, autumn 2004. See also Zola and The Quest for The Absolute in Art, by Thomas Zamparelli, Yale French Studies © 1969 Yale University Press 1886 French novels Novels by Émile Zola Books of Les Rougon-Macquart Novels first published in serial form Works originally published in Gil Blas (periodical) Novels about artists Novels set in Paris