"Les Huguenots" - Hand-Colored Print

[Paris]: Imp. d'Aubert & Cie.. [ca. 1845]. Hand-colored lithograph, ca. 1845, by the French illustrator, signed within the matrix by the artist, from the series L'opéra au XIXème Siècle.  Two opera patrons are shown in conversation with a costumed singer, spear resting on his shoulder casually as they stand with various set components arrayed around them. The exchange between them is printed below: 

-Viens-tu te coucher, Baptiste?
-Je peux pas, j'ai encore à massacrer les Huguenots.
-Et si tu ne les tuais pas?
-Comme t'y vas, toi, je serais à l'amende de trente sous, j'aime bien mieux les tuer...

("Are you going to bed, Baptiste?"
"I can't, I still have to slaughter the Huguenots."
"And if you don't kill them?"
"If that happens, I'd be fined thirty sous, so I would prefer to kill them...")

Light toning, else very fine.  9.75 x 12.875 inches (24.8 x 32.7 cm.). Tipped to a slightly larger support. 

Les Huguenots, a grand opera with music by Giacomo Meyerbeer and libretto by Eugène Scribe and Émile Deschamps, debuted in Paris in 1836 to much success. The story, which culminates in the 1572 St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre of the Huguenots (Protestants) by the Catholics, concerns the romance of Raoul, a Protestant, and Valentine, a Catholic.  The present print belongs to a series of around sixty caricatures entitled 'L'Opéra au XIXe siècle', initially published by the printer Aubert between 1844-1846, subsequently reprinted in 'Le Charivari.' (18529)

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Art & Design

Opera

$150.00

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