VIN MARIANI
Jules Chéret
VIN MARIANI
lithograph
July 1897
July 1897
Original lithograph printed in colors on wove paper.
Signed and dated on the stone center left Chéret / 94.
A fine impression of the definitive state, from the edition on this paper (there was also a small edition on Japan paper). Transcribed from Chéret’s 1894 poster of the same title by artisans at Atelier Chéret and issued as plate 77 (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. 77.
When cocaine and alcohol meet inside a person, they create a third unique drug called cocaethylene. Cocaethylene works like cocaine, but with more euphoria.
So in 1863, when Parisian chemist Angelo Mariani combined coca and wine and started selling it, a butterfly did flap its wings. His Vin Marian became extremely popular. Jules Verne, Alexander Dumas, and Arthur Conan Doyle were among literary figures said to have used it, and the chief rabbi of France said, "Praise be to Mariani’s wine!"
Pope Leo XIII reportedly carried a flask of it regularly and gave Mariani a medal.
