Editing Edmond de Goncourt (section)

==Biography==
Goncourt was born in [[Nancy, France|Nancy]]. His parents, Marc-Pierre Huot de Goncourt and Annette-Cécile de Goncourt (née Guérin), were minor aristocrats who died when he and his brother [[Jules de Goncourt]] were young adults.<ref name="DAH">{{Cite news| url=https://arthistorians.info/goncourte| title=Goncourt, Edmond de| publisher=Dictionary of Art Historians|access-date=18 March 2021}}</ref> His father was a former cavalry officer and squadron commander in the [[Grande Armée]] of [[Napoleon I]], and his grandfather Jean-Antoine Huot de Goncourt had been a deputy in the [[National Constituent Assembly (France)|National Assembly]] of 1789.<ref>{{cite book| title=Renée Mauperin| author=Edmond & Jules de Goncourt| publisher=P.F. Collier & Son| year=1902| page=xxxi}}</ref><ref name="goncourt"/> Edmond attended the pension Goubaux, the [[Lycée Henri IV]], and the [[Lycée Condorcet]].<ref>{{cite book| title=Journal des Goncourt Mémoires de la Vie Littéraire I: 1851–1865| author=Edmond & Jules de Goncourt| publisher=Robert Laffont| year=1989| page=LVIII}}</ref> At the Lycée Condorcet, he studied rhetoric and philosophy from 1840 to 1842, followed by the study of law between 1842 and 1844.<ref name="goncourt">{{cite web| url=http://www.goncourt.org/biographie_goncourt.html| title=Biographie| language=French| publisher=www.goncourt.org| access-date=9 April 2021}}</ref>

After their mother's death in 1848, the brothers inherited an income which enabled them to live independently and pursue their artistic interests. Edmond was able to leave a treasury clerkship that had made him so miserable as to contemplate suicide.<ref name="Britannica"/><ref name="DAH"/> For much of his life, he collaborated with Jules creating works of art criticism, a [[Goncourt Journal|notorious journal]], and subsequently several novels. Their most notable novel was ''[[Germinie Lacerteux]]'' (1865), inspired by the exploits of the brothers' housekeeper Rose, who stole from them to fund a double life of orgies and sexual encounters. It is considered one of the earliest works of French [[Literary realism|Realism]] to deal with the working class.<ref name="Britannica">{{cite news| url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Edmond-and-Jules-Goncourt| title=Edmond and Jules Goncourt| publisher=Encyclopaedia Britannica| access-date=18 March 2021}}</ref><ref name="DAH"/>
[[File:Tournachon, Gaspard-Félix - Edmont und Jules de Goncourt (1822-1896 und 1830-1870) (Zeno Fotografie).jpg|thumb|[[Nadar]] – Edmond and Jules de Goncourt (1822–1896 and 1830–1870) c. 1855]]

In 1852, Edmond and his brother were indicted for an "outrage against public morality" after they quoted erotic Renaissance poetry in an article.<ref name="Britannica"/> They were ultimately acquitted.

Edmond was known to be fascinated with [[Rococo]] and [[Japanese art]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://exchange.umma.umich.edu/resources/13933/view|title=Exchange: Portrait of Edmond de Goncourt|website=exchange.umma.umich.edu|access-date=8 April 2020}}</ref> He also collected rare books.<ref>[[Friderica Derra de Moroda]], "Choréographie: The Dance Notation of the Eighteenth Century: Beauchamp or Feuillet?," The Book Collector 16, no. 4 (1967): 459.</ref> The brothers' house at [[Auteuil, Paris|Auteuil]], which they purchased in 1868, was a showcase for their collection of 18th century French and Far Eastern art. Edmond documented the house and its interiors in his 1881 book ''La Maison d'un Artiste.''<ref name="Warner">{{Cite journal| title=Framing, Symmetry, and Contrast in Edmond de Goncourt's Aesthetic Interior| author=Pamela J. Warner| journal=Studies in the Decorative Arts| volume= 15| publisher=University of Rhode Island| year=2008| issue=2| pages=36–64| doi=10.1086/652829| s2cid=53404870| url=https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/art_facpubs/1}}</ref> Between 1856 and 1875, the brothers published essays on 18th century art in a collected series called ''L'Art du XVIIIe siècle'', which revived appreciation for the Rococo.<ref name="DAH"/>

After the death of Jules in 1870, Edmond continued to write novels alone. He also continued writing the ''[[Journal des Goncourt]]'', which he and Jules had begun in 1851, only stopping 12 days before his death in 1896.<ref name="Adam Kirsch">{{Cite news| url=https://www.nysun.com/arts/masters-of-indiscretion/44314/| title=Masters of Indiscretion| author=Adam Kirsch| publisher=New York Sun| date=29 November 2006| access-date=20 March 2021}}</ref> He completed unfinished works from his collaboration with his brother, including a monograph on [[Paul Gavarni]] (1873) and a book called ''L'Amour au XVIIIe Siècle'' (1875).<ref>{{cite book| title=Renée Mauperin| author=Edmond & Jules de Goncourt| publisher=P.F. Collier & Son| year=1902| page=xxxii}}</ref> He revised, enlarged and reissued ''Les Maîtresses de Louis XV'' (1860) in three volumes between 1878 and 1879: ''La du Barry'', ''Madame de Pompadour'', and ''La Duchesse de Châteauroux et ses soeurs''.<ref>{{cite book| title=Journal des Goncourt Mémoires de la Vie Littéraire I: 1851–1865| author=Edmond & Jules de Goncourt| publisher=Robert Laffont| year=1989| page=LXXXXVIII}}</ref> His last novel, ''Chérie'' (1884), about a young woman who expresses her artistic sensibility in fashion, can be read as an exploration of impressionistic art.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Lubrich|first=Naomi|title="Luftschlösser weben. Edmond de Goncourt und die Mode der modernen Großstadt", in: Lendemains, 40/160|year=2015|pages=109–136|language=de}}</ref> He collected the letters of his late brother in 1885, and between 1887 and 1896 issued nine volumes of the ''Journal''.<ref name="Edmond & Jules de Goncourt 1902 xxxiii">{{cite book| title=Renée Mauperin| author=Edmond & Jules de Goncourt| publisher=P.F. Collier & Son| year=1902| page=xxxiii}}</ref> Edmond became increasingly jealous of more successful writers like [[Guy de Maupassant]] and [[Émile Zola]], which is reflected in scathing entries in the ''Journal''. In 1893 he wrote of Maupassant that his "success with loose society women is an indication of their vulgarity, for never have I seen a man of the world with such a red face, such common features, or such a peasant build."<ref name="Adam Kirsch"/>

He bequeathed his entire estate for the foundation and maintenance of the [[Académie Goncourt]]. In honour of his brother and collaborator, Jules de Goncourt (17 December 1830{{snd}}20 June 1870), each December since 1903, the Académie awards the [[Prix Goncourt]]. It is the most prestigious prize in French literature, given to "the best imaginary prose work of the year".<ref name=unwin-intro>{{cite book|title=The Cambridge Companion to the French Novel: From 1800 to the Present |first=Timothy|last=Unwin |page=xxii |chapter=Introduction |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mIq99LRgKw8C&pg=PR22 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1997 |isbn=9780521499149|quote=The 'big six' literary prizes in France have an extremely high profile and are, significantly, all awarded for novels. The best known and most prestigious is the Prix Goncourt. The other major literary prizes are the Grand Prix du Roman de l'Academie Francaise, the Prix Femina (awarded by a jury of women, though not necessarily to a female novelist), the Prix Renaudot, the Prix Interallie and the Prix Medicis.}}</ref>

Edmond de Goncourt died in [[Champrosay]] in 1896,<ref name="dictionary"/> and was interred in the [[Cimetière de Montmartre]] in Paris.<ref name="landru">{{cite web |last1=Landru |first1=Philippe |title=GONCOURT Edmond (1822-1896) et Jules (1830-1870) de Montmartre - 13ème division |url=https://www.landrucimetieres.fr/spip/spip.php?article99 |website=Cimetières de France et d’ailleurs |access-date=1 June 2024 |date=4 February 2008}}</ref>
[[File:Félix Bracquemond - Edmond de Goncourt.jpg|thumb|Etching on parchment portrait of Goncourt by [[Félix Bracquemond]] (1882)]]