Gaspard Winckler is a forger who leads a comfortable life thanks to his craftsmanship. Until one day, seemingly out of the blue, he slits the throat of his client Anatole Madera and flees. What happened? For twelve years, Gaspard patiently copied the great masters. The Condottiere by Antonello da Messina was supposed to be his masterpiece, and he failed with it. It was only thirty years after Georges Perec's death that the manuscript of this early novel, which incorporates elements of the crime genre, was published in France. It tells the story of a young painter's breakthrough, who renounces imitation through an act of violence and dares to take the step towards an independent work.