Salvador dali
"louis de brézé"
from "les songes drôlatiques de pantagruel" (the drolatic dreams of pantagruel)
from the rarest edition …
more
Salvador dali
"louis de brézé"
from "les songes drôlatiques de pantagruel" (the drolatic dreams of pantagruel)
from the rarest edition of 50 only
original lithograph on japan paper
year: 1973
76 x 56 cm
hand-signed
hand-numbered 8/50
catalogue raisonné:
r.michler and l. W. Löpsinger
"salvador dali, catalogue raisonné of prints ii - lithographs and wood engravings 1956-1980" pages 155 - ref. 1410
with certificate
___
history of this artwork
sometime in the 1960s, spanish surrealist artist salvador dali, already considered one of the leading artists worldwide, discovered a special book published in paris in 1565 by richard breton, as the 'last work' of the writer françois rabelais, and named it after his bestseller about the giant pantagruel. This book, "les songes drôlatiques de pantagruel", i.e. The drolatic dreams of pantagruel (where 'drolatic' means funny and amusing), consists of 120 woodcuts, each page showing a completely different figure: strange, hybrid creatures, combinations of man and animal, insect, plant and object, pot-bellied or hunchbacked, with special noses, snouts, trunks or beaks; each having a title in the end of the book.
enraptured and inspired by the new discovery, he chose 25 images and devised variations on these then four-century-old prints. These images have been printed as original lithographs at atelier grapholith in paris, and published by carpentier in geneve in 1973.
this very artwork is one meant to represent louis de brézé, seigneur d'anet and comte de maulevrier, a french nobleman, grandson of king charles vii of france by his natural daughter with his mistress agnès sorel.
here the original text in french (an english translation follows):
ce personnage à gros ventre et à tête de cheval, tenant une fléche émoussée et empennée dans le dents, et portant un arbalète à grand ressort, emblème de la chasse, coiffé d'un bonnet à gros bourlet, comme la précédente caricature, et qui lui retombe sur le dos en figurant deux immense pantalon, chaussé de souliers à la poulaine, et le pied gauche monté sur un haut talon, est encore ce même sieur de brezé, comte de maulevrier dit le boiteux, grand-veneur de france, etc. L'auteur lui donne une tête de cheval, pour indiquer qu'il étoit l'époux de la grande jument de gargantua. La fléche empennée et émoussée qui lui traverse la bouche annonce que sa femme lui passoit la plume par le bec, et qu'il n'en étoit pas blessé.
this character with a big belly and a horse's head, holding a blunt and feathered arrow in his teeth, and carrying a crossbow with a large spring, emblem of hunting, wearing a cap with a large bulge, like the previous caricature, and which falls on his back to represent two immense trousers, shod in poulaine shoes, and the left foot mounted on a high heel, is still this same lord of brezé, count of maulevrier called the lame, grand-hunter of france, etc. The author gives him a horse's head, to indicate that he was the husband of gargantua's great mare. The feathered and blunt arrow which passes through his mouth announces that his wife passed the quill through his beak, and that he was not injured by it.
___
sold with certificate of authenticity, copy of the catalogue raisonné, and copy of the original woodcut and which inspired dali (we have it in our collection) this piece has an attribution mark,
i am sure that it is completely authentic and take full responsibility for any authenticity
issues arising from misattribution
less
