Believe it or not, this is an example of the humble beginnings of the old master of Giverny himself before he ever heard of a water lily. The young Claude Monet (called "Oscar" by his family) hated school and by the time he was 17, was known throughout his town of Le Havre for his caricatures which made him a small fortune. Alas, one day he fell in with a local landscape artist called Boudin (more about him later) who challenged him to try landscape painting. Monet was swept away by the experience and soon had spent all his francs on paints and canvases. Everyone had wanted his caricatures and no one wanted his landscapes. At 37 he was a great deal poorer than he had been twenty years before.Man Standing by a Desk by Claude Oscar Monet
Stephanie,
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for taking the time to pop over to my blog today! I'm glad we could link up in twitter too! Your books sound absolutely fascinating. My editors have actually steered me away from fictionalized biographies as I'd originally planned my books. Instead I'm capitalizing more on the "fiction" but giving an afterward that says my books are inspired by the lives of great heroes of history. My first book The Preacher's Bride is based on the life of John Bunyan and his second wife. I'd love to learn more about your publishing journey!
Oh to tell you about my publishing journey would take a very long day, maybe two. It has been amazingly rich. I have met wonderful people and gone many places in America and Europe. When I was traveling for my last novel MARRYING MOZART, I said to one audience, "I am a New York girl who wrote a novel about Vienna 1780 and now I am in Oklahoma to talk about it!"
ReplyDeleteYour blog is super. I will look up your book!