L'Assommoir.
LANTIER (CLAUDE), son of Gervaise Macquart and Auguste Lantier, was born
at Plassans in 1842. He was brought up by his paternal grandmother, but
when she died, in 1850, he was taken to Paris by his parents. La Fortune
des Rougon.
After Lantier's desertion of Gervaise, and her subsequent marriage to
Coupeau, Claude continued to reside with his mother, but a few years
later an old gentleman of Plassans, a lover of pictures, who had been
greatly struck by some daubs done by the child, offered to pay for his
education. The offer was accepted, and Claude returned to Plassans.
L'Assommoir.
Some years later his benefactor died, leaving him an income of a
thousand francs a year, enough to prevent him dying of hunger in the
artistic career which he had decided to follow. Having come to Paris
with an intense hatred of romanticism, he was struck by the artistic
possibilities of the _Halles Centrales_, the great provision markets
of Paris, which he haunted in search of subjects for his brush. He was
induced by Florent to attend one of the republican meetings in Lebigre's
cafe, but was not in sympathy with the movement, and declined to take
part in it.
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