Bon soir. Good Evening. BAL2013.51, En 1827

Author(s): monnier, henry bonaventure (paris, 07–06–1799 - paris, 03–01–1877 — 3–6–1877), designer senefelder et cie, designer-lithographer production date: in 1827 dating in century: 19th century type(s) of object(s): graphic arts, print name(s): print materials and techniques: lithography, vellum paper, watercolor dimensions - artwork: height: 20. 5cm width: 28. 2cm description: colored print marks, inscriptions, hallmarks: title of the work - under the image: good evening. Good evening. Author inscription - below the image on the right: senefelder lith. Inscription concerning the author - under the image on the left: henry monnier iconographic description: a man lies in an armchair, engulfed by large cushions, his legs stretched out on a footstool. His sunken and grayish face, his hands abandoned on the armrests, suggest that he is dead. On a small round table, a candle is covered with a snuffer. In the background a priest and perhaps a doctor walk away. Actor, playwright and designer, henry monnier helped illustrate la comédie humaine. His engravings of administrative morals, and especially his play scenes from bureaucratic life, clearly inspired balzac for his novel la femme supérieure, renamed les employés. The same references to the customs of their time often inspired the two artists in parallel on numerous subjects as we can see in the following extract: "during the consoling ceremony of viaticum, celebrated for this being who had never sinned, but to whom the christian world said goodbye, most of these crude faces were sincerely moved. A few tears flowed down harsh cheeks cracked by the sun and browned by work in the open air. This feeling of voluntary kinship was everything simple. There was no one in the commune who would not have pitied this poor creature, who would not have given him his daily bread; had he not found a father in each child, a mother in the most cheerful little girl? -- he is dead, said the priest. The candles were lit. [excerpt from the country doctor, by honoré de balzac] themes / subjects / places represented: social subject, morals, death, candle mode of acquisition: purchase institution: maison de balzac inventory number: bal2013. 51. Date: En 1827.