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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from The Hidden Masterpiece by Honore de Balzac: but their semblance. Well, the work which I keep hidden behind bolts
and bars is an exception to all other art. It is not a canvas; it is a
woman,--a woman with whom I weep and laugh and think and talk. Would
you have me resign the joy of ten years, as I might throw away a worn-
out doublet? Shall I, in a moment, cease to be father, lover, creator?
--this woman is not a creature; she is my creation. Bring your young
man; I will give him my treasures,--paintings of Correggio, Michael-
Angelo, Titian; I will kiss the print of his feet in the dust,--but
make him my rival? Shame upon me! Ha! I am more a lover than I am a
painter. I shall have the strength to burn my Nut-girl ere I render my
last sigh; but suffer her to endure the glance of a man, a young man,
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