# Jory — His Masterpiece character guide

> Jory in His Masterpiece by Émile Zola.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Gagnière, Jory of Gagnière, Madame Jory

**First appearance:** 0001-his-masterpiece

## Snapshot

An art critic who moves through the studios and fairs of Paris with a notebook and an opinion, Jory is the circle's witness, its gossip, and its uneasy conscience.

## Who they are

Jory circulates among the painters, sculptors, and dealers, taking the temperature of a scene that is always shifting beneath his feet. He is the friend Christine and Sandoz can rely on to notice when Claude is sinking, and the one who can read a booth at the Clignancourt fair as a verdict on a whole career. His proximity to every faction makes him the story's connective tissue, the man through whom the reader sees how reputations are made and unmade.

## Relationships

### [Claude Lantier](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/his_masterpiece_se/characters/claude_lantier)

_friendship_

Claude and Jory are friends and part of the same artistic circle, though Jory is more frivolous and less committed to art than Claude.

### [Sandoz](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/his_masterpiece_se/characters/sandoz)

_friendship_

Jory and Sandoz are friends within the same bohemian artist group, though Sandoz often finds Jory's shallow opportunism tiresome.

### [Fagerolles](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/his_masterpiece_se/characters/fagerolles)

_friendship_

Fagerolles and Jory are close friends and allies, both pragmatic and ambitious, often scheming together for social and professional gain.

### [Mathilde](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/his_masterpiece_se/characters/mathilde)

_romantic_

Jory has a casual, exploitative romantic relationship with Mathilde, a working-class woman he treats as a temporary amusement.

### [Claude Lantier](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/his_masterpiece_se/characters/claude_lantier)

_friendship_

Claude and Jory are friends and part of the same artistic circle, though Jory is more frivolous and less committed to art than Claude.

### [Sandoz](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/his_masterpiece_se/characters/sandoz)

_friendship_

Jory and Sandoz are friends within the same bohemian artist group, though Sandoz often finds Jory's shallow opportunism tiresome.

### [Fagerolles](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/his_masterpiece_se/characters/fagerolles)

_friendship_

Fagerolles and Jory are close friends and allies, both pragmatic and ambitious, often scheming together for social and professional gain.

### [Sandoz](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/his_masterpiece_se/characters/sandoz)

_friendship_

Jory and Sandoz are friends within the same bohemian artist group, though Sandoz often finds Jory's shallow opportunism tiresome.

### [Claude Lantier](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/his_masterpiece_se/characters/claude_lantier)

_friendship_

Claude and Jory are friends and part of the same artistic circle, though Jory is more frivolous and less committed to art than Claude.

### [Fagerolles](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/his_masterpiece_se/characters/fagerolles)

_friendship_

Fagerolles and Jory are close friends and allies, both pragmatic and ambitious, often scheming together for social and professional gain.

### [Mathilde](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/his_masterpiece_se/characters/mathilde)

_romantic_

Jory has a casual, exploitative romantic relationship with Mathilde, a working-class woman he treats as a temporary amusement.

## In the story

### [III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/his_masterpiece_se/chapters/iii)

A coarse but comradely figure who declares his disgust with the hanging committee and plans to bombard it in his articles.

### [III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/his_masterpiece_se/chapters/iii)

A landscape painter from Melun, passionate about music (especially Schumann), who arrives late and speaks of music as an almost spiritual experience.

### [V](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/his_masterpiece_se/chapters/v)

Gagnière is seen with Irma Bécot, admiring a small, childish painting, and his own landscape is displayed nearby.

### [Chapter VII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/his_masterpiece_se/chapters/vii)

Accompanies Claude to Bongrand's studio; at dinner he defends Fagerolles and boasts about his influence as a journalist.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/his_masterpiece_se/characters/jory
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/his_masterpiece_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/his_masterpiece_se/characters