Goncourt, de

French writers. The brothers collaborated in producing a compendium, L'Art du XVIIIème siècle/18th-Century Art 1859-75, historical studies, and a Journal published 1887-96 that depicts French literary life of their day. Edmond de Goncourt founded the Académie Goncourt, opened in 1903, which awards an annual prize, the Prix Goncourt, to the author of the best French novel of the year.

They also collaborated in writing novels, the best-known being Madame Gervaisais (1869); others include Soeur Philomène (1861), Renée Mauperin (1864), Germinie Lacerteux (1864), and Manette Salomon (1867). Edmond alone wrote La Fille Elisa (1877) and Chérie (1884). The brothers tried to depict the kaleidoscopic character of daily life at the very moment of living, when the smallest things are magnified. This required an elaborate and lively knowledge of the period about which they wrote (the 18th century), and they procured their information by untiring research into old letters, documents, and records, which otherwise would have remained in oblivion. Their books, therefore, are of value to historians, while the fine miniature painting of the modes and manners of their chosen period, as displayed in Portraits intimes du XVIIIème siècle/Intimate Portraits of the 18th Century (1857-58) and L'Art du XVIIIème siècle, retains the admiration accorded by their contemporaries.