The Picture of Dorian Gray biography, "Oscar Wilde" (1989), the literary critic Richard Ellmann said that: Wilde does not name the book, but at his trial he conceded that it was, or almost [was], Huysmans's "À rebours" ... to a correspondent, he wrote that he had played a 'fantastic variation' upon "À rebours", and someday must write it down. The references in "Dorian Gray" to specific chapters are deliberately inaccurate. Some commentators have suggested that "The Picture of Dorian Gray" was influenced by the British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli's (anonymously published) first novel "Vivian Grey" (1826) as, "a kind of homage from one outsider to
The Picture of Dorian Gray (opera) Basil, Lord Henry and Dorian engage in conversation whilst Basil becomes completely absorbed in his painting, and does not stop the two from talking. Basil declares the finished painting to be his masterpiece. Dorian then laments the fact that while he will grow old, the picture will remain young forever, saying 'If it were only the other way...for that, I would give my soul.' Basil notices a change in Dorian and accuses Lord Henry of becoming a bad influence on him. Not wanting his painting to harm his friendship with Dorian and Lord Henry, Basil attempts to destroy it, but