Salvador dali
"l'ante-christ" (the antichrist)
from "les songes drôlatiques de pantagruel" (the drolatic dreams of pantagruel)
from the rarest edition …
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Salvador dali
"l'ante-christ" (the antichrist)
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. 1412
with certificate
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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 the antichrist.
here the original text in french (an english translation follows):
cet enfant emmaillotté avec des bandelettes, comme une momie, étançonné avec deux fourches, pour l'empêcher de tomber, qui ouvre une grande bouche, avec un regard sinistre, qui est coiffé d'un bonnet figurant la tiare, qui tient de la main droite une longue canne, surmontée d'un hibou ou d'une chouette, devant lequel on voit voltiger une multitude d'oiseaux , et qui a à son côté, passés en bandoulière, un pied de pore, de bouc ou de liévre, et une gourde, me paroît être l'ante-christ.
"l'ante-christ (dit rabelais) est deja né, ce a m'a l'on dist. Vray est qu'il ne faict encore qu'egratigner sa nourrice et ses gouvernantes.
liv. Iii, chap. Xxvi
this child wrapped in bandages, like a mummy, propped up with two pitchforks, to prevent him from falling, who opens a large mouth, with a sinister look, who is wearing a cap representing a tiara, who holds in his right hand a long cane, surmounted by an owl or a barn owl, in front of which we see a multitude of birds fluttering, and who has at his side, slung over his shoulder, a foot of a pig, a goat or a hare, and a flask, seems to me to be the anti-christ.
"the antichrist is already born; at least it is so reported by many. The truth is, he has not reached further than to the scratching of his nurse and governesses".
book iii, chap. Xxvi
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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
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