Lorenzaccio
Alphonse Mucha
Lorenzaccio
lithograph
April 1898
An original Alphonse Mucha lithograph print.
April 1898
Original lithograph printed in colors on wove paper.
Signed on the stone lower right Mucha.
A superb impression of the definitive state, from the edition on this paper (there was also a small edition printed on Japan paper). Transcribed from Mucha’s 1896 poster of the same title by artisans at Atelier Chéret and issued as plate 114 (of 256) in the series Le Maîtres de l’Affiche, bearing the blindstamp of the program (Lugt 1777c) in the sheet lower right. Published by Jules Chéret: printed at Impremiere Chaix (Atelier Chéret), Paris.
Catalog: Masters of the Poster pl. 114.
Size Image: 14 x 5 5/8 inches
Sheet Size: 15 1/2 x 11 7/16 inches
Framed Size: 24 1/2 x 20 1/2 x 1 1/2 inches
Sarah Bernhardt played the male character of Lorenzo de’ Medici in Alfred de Musset’s Romantic tragedy of 1834. Set in 16th-century Florence, the plot tells of how Lorenzo de’ Medici kills Florence’s tyrant, Alessandro de’ Medici, depicted by Mucha as a snaring dragon menacing the coat of arms of the city of Florence in the upper part of the poster. Bernhardt, portrayed face on, contemplates the murder, symbolised by a dagger piercing the tyrannous dragon at the foot of the poster. The background is reminiscent of Florentine velvet.
