In 1857 Edmond made the water-colour drawing of "Jules smoking a Pipe,"
which was afterward lithographed. His feet on the edge of the
mantel-piece in front of him, Jules, seated in an arm-chair, a small
pipe in his mouth, gives himself up to the delights of the _far niente_.
This contemplative attitude was a favourite one with him, and one in
which he was often discovered by visitors. By representing him thus,
Edmond gave an additional force to the living memory that all who knew
his brother have retained of him.
Three years later (1860) Jules in his turn made a portrait of Edmond,
not in the same indolent attitude, but also in profile, and with a pipe
in his mouth. This print is one of the best in the Burty album. We know
of no further mutual representations by the brothers; with the exception
of Jules de Goncourt's etching of Edmond seated across a chair, smoking
a cigar, the design of which we reproduce. But there are several fine
portraits by other hands of the younger brother, the one who was the
first to go, perforce abandoning his sublime and suicidal task.
[Illustration: EDMOND DE GONCOURT.