17 June 2010

Well Said: Edmond de Goncourt

Edmond de Goncourt portrayed in an 1882 etching by French artist Félix Braquemond. National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gift of Mrs. Lessing J. Rosenwald, 1987.

"I have often said to myself that if I were not a man of letters, if I had not got money, my chosen profession would have been to invent interiors for rich people. I should have loved being allowed to have given me carte blanche to work out the decor and furniture of a palace with just four walls, using what I could find from dealers, artists, modern industry, and in my own head."

So said Edmond de Goncourt (1822—1896), French man of letters and diarist extraordinaire.