Jules de Goncourt

Jules Alfred Huot de Goncourt (pronounced [ʒyl də ɡɔ̃kuʁ]; 17 December 1830 – 20 June 1870) was a French writer, who published books together with his brother Edmond.

[5][3] Both parents died while their sons were still young; after their mothers' death in 1848, Jules and Edmond inherited a legacy which gave them financial independence and allowed them to pursue their artistic interests.

[7] From 1856, Jules and Edmond published a series of essays called "L'Art du XVIIIe Siècle" (The Art of the 18th Century), which came to encompass 12 fascicles and was not finished until 1875.

[2] In the 1860s the brothers published novels characterized by Naturalism and an examination of the different social classes, which anticipates the work of later authors like Émile Zola and George Moore.

The house became something of a tourist attraction because of the brothers' collections, with newspapers publishing articles about it and strangers writing for permission to visit.