La Maison du chat-qui-pelote
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| Author | Honoré de Balzac |
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| Original title | La Maison du chat-qui-pelote |
| Translator | Clara Bell |
| Cover artist | Édouard Toudouze |
| Country | France |
| Language | French |
| Series | La Comédie humaine |
| Genre | Scènes de la vie privée |
| Publisher | Mame-Delaunay |
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Publication date
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1829 |
| Followed by | Le Bal de Sceaux |
La Maison du chat-qui-pelote (At the Sign of the Cat and Racket) is a novel by Honoré de Balzac. It is the opening work in the Scènes de la vie privée (Scenes of Private Life), which comprises the first volume of Balzac's La Comédie humaine.
First entitled Gloire et Malheur (Glory and Misfortune), this short novel was completed at Maffliers in October 1829 and published by Mame-Delaunay in 1830. The first edition was followed by four revised editions. The final edition, published by Furne in 1842, appeared under the title of La Maison du chat-qui-pelote and was itself corrected indefinitely.
The idea for the story came from the haberdashery business run by the Sallambiers on the maternal side of Balzac's family.
The work is dedicated to Mademoiselle Marie de Montheau.
The artist Théodore de Sommervieux falls in love with Augustine Guillaume, the daughter of a conservative cloth merchant, whose house of business on the Rue Saint-Denis in Paris is known by sign of the Cat and Racket. Théodore, a winner of the Prix de Rome and a knight of the Legion of Honor, is famous for his interiors and chiaroscuro effects in imitation of the Dutch School. He makes an excellent reproduction of the interior of the Cat and Racket, which is exhibited at the Salon alongside a strikingly modern portrait of Augustine. The affair blossoms with the help of Madame Guillaume's younger cousin Madame Roguin, who is already acquainted with Théodore. The lovers become engaged, somewhat against the best wishes of Augustine's parents, who had originally intended her to marry Monsieur Guillaume's clerk Joseph Lebas. In 1808 Augustine marries Théodore at the local church of Saint-Leu; on the same day her elder sister Virginie marries Lebas.
The marriage is not a happy one. Augustine adores Sommervieux but is incapable of understanding him as an artist. Although she is more refined than her parents, her education and social standing leave her too far below the level of her husband to allow a meeting of minds to take place. Théodore's passion for her cools and she is treated with disdain by his fellow artists. Théodore instead finds a kindred soul in the Duchesse de Carigliano, to whom he gives the famous portrait of Augustine and to whom he becomes hopelessly attached, neglecting his rooms on the Rue des Trois-Frères (now a part of the Rue Taitbout).
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