A New York Review Books Original One of Honore de Balzac's most celebrated tales, ''The Unknown Masterpiece'' is the story of a painter who, depending on one's perspective, is either an abject failure or a transcendental genius--or both. The story, which has served as an inspiration to artists as various as Cezanne, Henry James, Picasso, and New Wave director Jacques Rivette, is, in critic Dore Ashton's words, a ''fable of modern art.'' Published here in a new translation by poet Richard Howard, ''The Unknown Masterpiece'' appears, as Balzac intended, with ''Gambara,'' a grotesque and tragic novella about a musician undone by his dreams.