TRIPTYCH
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TRIPTYCH
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CAST OF CHARACTERS:
Roland de Grenville: A patron of the arts of little renown (age ~30)
Madeleine de Grenville: His wife and companion (age ~30)
Adele and Samuel: Servants
Charles Montaigne: A painter of passion (age ~32)
Boniface Roy: A painter of beauty (age ~24)
Ambrose Ferland: A painter of intellect (age ~60)
Jacqueline Ferland: The younger wife of Ambroise (age ~45)
Ghislaine Ferland: The young daughter of the Ferland family (~16).
One hook in the tale is the theory of three, that Roland came up with and is trying to put into practise. Basically, it is that in every art movement/renaissance, three dominant figures have emerged nearly simultaneously and in each case, the characters demonstrate particular characteristics. His scheme is to find three artists that have these characteristics, isolate them and... presto: art movement! The three figures are as follows:
| Type | Examples | Artistic Characteristics | Personality Characteristics | Life pattern characteristics |
| Inventor | Leonardo, Haydn, Tolstoy, Zola, Wordsworth, William Holman Hunt, Tintoretto | Experimental, Cerebral, Theoretical | Jumps from project to project. Often fails. Can be quite religious. Philosophical. | Usually older than the others. Usually lives to a ripe old age, is often married for the bulk of their life to one woman. |
| Giant | Michelangelo, Beethoven, Dostoyevsky, Balzac, Coleridge, Rossetti, Titian | Grand, Passionate, Expansive, Bold | Undertakes projects that consume them. Prone to untidiness and often loveless lives. Prone to Irritability and anti-social behaviour but friends have remarkable loyalty, including women. Ill mannered and unclean. | Live long lives, often after having lost a significant sense. Unhappy love lives. |
| Lyric | Raphael, Mozart, Turgenev, Maupassant, Byron, John Everett Millais, Giorgione | Beautiful, Complete, Prolific | Ladies Man. Usually youngest of group. Fond of life with Joie de Vivre. Art comes easily to them and they enjoy the rewards of it. | Often dies young, with potential unrealized. Often poorer than they ought to be. |
He might have deserved to be a better corpse. Surely his hand would have painted dainty red rivulets and not the cardinal spray of blood and brains that had vomited from that holed cadaver. Slender fingers that did oft delight to play on pink and pliant feminine flesh, are now cold and still and lifeless grey. Not glorious painted angels, nor the white swan with Leda, nor his quiet, small Madonna reflect back from open eyes, now dried, and there, just above the stinging burn of black powder, floats the last lingering wisp of Hungarian cologne.
CHAPTER
ONE:
This too begins in Paris, 1877
Three painters are gathered and a proposal is set forth to each. Ambrose will bring his wife and daughter (Ghislaine). They travel to Amance.
CHAPTER
TWO:
A Gathering at Amance
They settle into Roland and Madeleine's villa for the summer. Roland explains his scheme over dinner.
CHAPTER
THREE:
A Summer Start
The painters get to work and the others poke their noses in.
CHAPTER
FOUR:
A Subject is Proposed
Boniface and Madeleine become flirtatious. There is a small concert, and we begin to see desires and attractions bubble to the surface.
CHAPTER
FIVE:
Innocent Intrigues
Ghislaine poses for Montaigne and develops quite an infatuation. Boniface gets bold about his attraction to Madeleine and Roland is aware.
CHAPTER
SIX:
As Pleasant an Afternoon
Ghislaine goes on a picnic with Charles and Boniface. Madeleine joins them and it becomes a risqué secret
CHAPTER
SEVEN:
Gathering Consequence
The picnic has small aftershocks
CHAPTER
EIGHT:
Impending Passage
Roland determines to leave for Paris, to test Madeleine's fidelity.
CHAPTER
NINE:
The Play of Mice
With Roland gone, Boniface and Madeleine becomes brazen. Ambrose confronts the other two about their behaviours.
CHAPTER
TEN:
Misbeguilings
Boniface is unable to change his behaviour for long
CHAPTER
ELEVEN:
Unaccounted Incidents
Charles discovers the worst
CHAPTER TWELVE:
Reflections
Madeleine and Ghislaine require change
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Whence and Whither
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Death
FIN