lesser talent who has co-opted the 'Open Air' school and made it a critical and financial triumph. Christine, whom he has at last married, watches as the painting – and especially the nude – begins to destroy his soul. When their son dies, Claude is inspired to paint a picture of the dead body that is accepted by the Salon (after considerable politicking). The painting is ridiculed for its subject and its execution and Claude again turns to his huge landscape. Christine watches as he spirals further into obsession and madness. A last-ditch effort to free him from Art in general and from his wished-for masterpiece in particular has an effect but in the end Claude hangs himself from his scaffolding. The only ones of his old friends who attend his funeral are Sandoz and Bongrand, an elder statesman of the artistic community who recognized and helped nurture Claude's genius. Relation to the other Rougon-Macquart novels Claude Lantier (b. 1842, the son of Gervaise Macquart and Auguste Lantier) is first introduced briefly as a child in La fortune des Rougon. In L'assommoir, he comes to Paris with his parents but returns to Plassans under the sponsorship of a local patron who recognizes his artistic talent. In Le ventre de Paris, Claude has returned to Paris and is discovered in the Les Halles marketplace searching for realistic subjects to paint. Zola's plan for the Rougon-Macquart novels was to show how heredity and environment worked on a family over the course of the Second French Empire. Claude is the son (and grandson) of alcoholics and inherits their predisposition for self-destruction. All of the descendants of Adelaïde Fouque (Tante Dide), Claude's great-grandmother demonstrate what today would be called obsessive-compulsive behaviors. In Claude, this is manifested in his obsessive approach to making art. Claude's brothers are Jacques Lantier (La bête humaine), the engine driver who becomes a murderer and Étienne Lantier (Germinal), the miner who becomes a revolutionary and union agitator. Their half-sister is the prostitute Anna (Nana) Coupeau (Nana). Claude's son Jacques also figures in L'Œuvre, his death from unspecified causes being brought about by his parents' neglect. In him, Zola shows what happens when energy and natural creativity are stifled. Historical basis The book includes a few autobiographical details. As a young journalist, Zola wrote many articles on art and he was deeply interested in the newest ways of painting; he was