Alors nous soulevâmes la toile, pour passer nos têtes par-dessus le bordage et contempler l’eau en frissonnant.

Then we pulled up the canvas, and all four of us poked our heads out over the off-side, and looked down at the water and shivered.

Jerome, Jerome Klapka / Trois hommes dans le bateauJerome, Jerome Klapka / Three Men in a Boat

Three Men in a Boat

Jerome, Jerome Klapka

Trois hommes dans le bateau

Jerome, Jerome Klapka

Et ce qu’ils virent, ce fut Irma Bécot au bras de Gagnière, écrasés tous les deux contre une cimaise, lui en train d’examiner une petite toile, tandis qu’elle, ravie de la bousculade, levait son museau rose et riait à la cohue.

In lieu thereof they perceived Irma Becot on the arm of Gagniere, both of them pressed against a hand-rail, he busy examining a small canvas, while she, delighted at being hustled about, raised her pink little mug and laughed at the crowd.

Zola, Emile / L'OeuvreZola, Emile / His Masterpiece

His Masterpiece

Zola, Emile

L'Oeuvre

Zola, Emile

Il céda enfin, alla prendre une petite toile, commença une étude de l’enfant mort.

He yielded to it at last, took a small canvas, and began to paint a study of the dead child.

Zola, Emile / L'OeuvreZola, Emile / His Masterpiece

His Masterpiece

Zola, Emile

L'Oeuvre

Zola, Emile

– I’ sont vraiment d’une autre race que nous, avec leur peau de toile de tente, avoue Biquet qui, pourtant, n’a pas froid aux yeux.

"No doubt they're a different race from us, with their tent-cloth skin," Barque confesses, though he does not know himself what "cold feet" are.

Barbusse, Henri / Le feuBarbusse, Henri / Under fire

Under fire

Barbusse, Henri

© 1917 by E. P. DUTTON & CO

Le feu

Barbusse, Henri

© BELENUS, 2008

À la fin, Claude remarqua une petite toile sur un chevalet de bois noir, drapé de peluche rouge.

Eventually, Claude espied a little canvas on an ebony easel, draped with red plush.

Zola, Emile / L'OeuvreZola, Emile / His Masterpiece

His Masterpiece

Zola, Emile

L'Oeuvre

Zola, Emile

Il traînait avec soin le fusain sur la toile; à petits coups, maigrement; son dessin, roide et sec, rappelait d'une façon grotesque celui des maîtres primitifs.

He carefully trailed the charcoal over the canvas with short, sorry strokes, his rigid, cold drawing recalling in a grotesque fashion that of the primitive masters.

Zola, Emile / Therese RaquinZola, Emile / Therese Raquin

Therese Raquin

Zola, Emile

Therese Raquin

Zola, Emile

«Très fin, dit Claude, devant la petite toile, pour être aimable.

'Very finely treated,' said Claude, wishing to be amiable, as he stood in front of the little canvas.

Zola, Emile / L'OeuvreZola, Emile / His Masterpiece

His Masterpiece

Zola, Emile

L'Oeuvre

Zola, Emile

Du plafond, tendu d’un écran de toile blanche, tombait une clarté égale, douce et morne, qui se reflétait, pareille à une eau de source immobile, dans le miroir du parquet fortement ciré.

From the roof, shaded by a white linen screen, there fell a soft, even, rather sad light, which was reflected like quiescent water by the well-waxed, mirror-like floor.

Zola, Emile / L'OeuvreZola, Emile / His Masterpiece

His Masterpiece

Zola, Emile

L'Oeuvre

Zola, Emile

Le baiser du soleil montait lentement ; il avait laissé le cadre pour la toile peinte ; on eût pu croire qu’une lumière blonde sortait de l’image sainte.

The sun's kiss was slowly ascending; it had left the frame for the painted canvas. One might have thought that a pale light was issuing from the sacred subject.

Zola, Emile / Stories for NinonZola, Emile / Contes à Ninon

Contes à Ninon

Zola, Emile

Stories for Ninon

Zola, Emile

Il dut se quereller avec sa mère pour entrer chez le marchand de toile; elle voulait le garder toujours auprès d'elle, entre deux couvertures, loin des accidents de la vie.

He had to quarrel with his mother to go with the dealer in linen. She wanted to keep him always with her, between a couple of blankets, far from the accidents of life.

Zola, Emile / Therese RaquinZola, Emile / Therese Raquin

Therese Raquin

Zola, Emile

Therese Raquin

Zola, Emile

Il était resté très provincial, il avait gardé comme idéal certains salons cossus de Plassans, dont les fauteuils conservaient toute l'année leurs housses de toile blanche.

There was still a deal of provincialism in his nature, and certain substantially furnished drawing-rooms that he remembered at Plassans, where the chairs and couches were kept swathed in white coverings the whole year round, still formed his ideals.

Zola, Emile / Son Excellence Eugene RougonZola, Emile / His Excellency

His Excellency

Zola, Emile

Son Excellence Eugene Rougon

Zola, Emile

Cette toile disait tout, constituait la meilleure leçon de choses qu’on pût voir.

That canvas said everything; it was the best lesson of things that could be seen.

Zola, Emile / Les Trois Villes - LourdesZola, Emile / The Three Cities Trilogy - Lourdes

The Three Cities Trilogy - Lourdes

Zola, Emile

Les Trois Villes - Lourdes

Zola, Emile

Il avait lâché le fusain, pour étaler de minces couleurs sur la toile, d'un air appliqué d'écolier.

He had now laid his charcoal aside and was putting colour on the canvas with an earnest air.

Zola, Emile / Son Excellence Eugene RougonZola, Emile / His Excellency

His Excellency

Zola, Emile

Son Excellence Eugene Rougon

Zola, Emile

De tout l’atelier, tombé à un noir lugubre, la grande toile seule gardait une pâleur, un dernier reste de jour qui s’effaçait.

In the whole studio, which had become lugubriously black, the big canvas only showed a glimpse of pallidity, a last vestige of the waning daylight.

Zola, Emile / L'OeuvreZola, Emile / His Masterpiece

His Masterpiece

Zola, Emile

L'Oeuvre

Zola, Emile

C’était l’obsession, l’heure passée là-bas, sur le pont des Saints-Pères, qui lui rendait le sommeil impossible, et qui l’avait ramené en face de sa toile, dévoré du besoin de la revoir, malgré la nuit.

The besetting worry, made more acute by that hour spent on the Pont des Saints-Peres, had prevented him from sleeping and had brought him once more before his canvas, consumed with a longing to look at it again, in spite of the lateness of the hour.

Zola, Emile / L'OeuvreZola, Emile / His Masterpiece

His Masterpiece

Zola, Emile

L'Oeuvre

Zola, Emile