# Hippolyte Schinner — Shorts from Scenes from Private Life character guide

> Hippolyte Schinner in Shorts from Scenes from Private Life by Honoré de Balzac.

**Role:** major

**Also known as:** Schinner, Hippolyte

**First appearance:** 0004-the-purse

## Snapshot

A gifted young painter, raised in sacrifice by his devoted mother, who finds his hard-won happiness threatened by a cruel deception.

## Who they are

Hippolyte Schinner has risen from poverty to acclaim through talent and his mother's selfless devotion, earning the Cross of the Legion of Honor at just twenty-five. Fastidious in his friendships and still possessed of a boyish idealism, he is unprepared for the treachery that lurks beneath the polished surface of the society he has entered. When he falls in love, he must test whether his faith in human goodness can survive the revelation of those closest to him. His story pits artistic integrity and filial love against the corrosive power of betrayal.

## Relationships

### [Adélaïde](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/shorts_from_scenes_from_private_life_se/characters/adelaide)

_romantic_

Adélaïde and Hippolyte Schinner are lovers, with their relationship tested by social and financial pressures.

### [Adélaïde](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/shorts_from_scenes_from_private_life_se/characters/adelaide)

_romantic_

Adélaïde and Hippolyte Schinner are lovers, with their relationship tested by social and financial pressures.

## In the story

### [The Purse](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/shorts_from_scenes_from_private_life_se/chapters/the-purse)

The young painter who falls and is rescued by his neighbors; he becomes enamored with Adélaïde and offers to paint her mother's portrait.

### [Pierre Grassou](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/shorts_from_scenes_from_private_life_se/chapters/pierre-grassou)

A master painter under whom Grassou studied to learn coloring; later criticizes Grassou's rejected painting.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/shorts_from_scenes_from_private_life_se/characters/hippolyte_schinner
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/shorts_from_scenes_from_private_life_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/shorts_from_scenes_from_private_life_se/characters