His Masterpiece, which in the original French bears the title of L’Oeuvre, is a strikingly accurate story of artistic life in Paris during the latter years of the Second Empire. Amus­ing at times, extremely pathetic and even painful at others, it not only contributes a necessary element to the Rougon-Mac­quart series of novels—a series illustrative of all phases of life in France within certain dates—but it also represents a particular period of M. Zola’s own career and work.