Willette a. - blue and black pencils - pierrot consoling soldier - ~24x22cm; this drawing bears the following dedication: “to carabin my brother in arms”; it dates from 1891 or very shortly after. The dedicatee is none other than françois-rupert carabin, who became one of willette's close friends around 1885. On july 6, 1888, the first issue of the newspaper "le pierrot" appeared with emile goudeau as editor-in-chief; but from december 1888, willette alone printed the newspaper for which he supervised the advertising, and for which he also assumed the chief editorial role, the first page written and the illustrations. But at the beginning of 1891 willette struggled with financial difficulties and carabin offered to resume publication in his name. The adventure lasted until march 5, 1891, the date of the definitive bankruptcy of the title. Willette is ruined and deprived of his civil rights. He will then resume his collaboration with courrier français. The drawing clearly alludes to this bankruptcy, which allows us to date the drawing approximately; the dedication “my brother in arms” could have a double meaning: it can be understood as an allusion to the many evenings spent with carabin in the cabarets of montmartre (including the chat noir); but it can also be seen as an allusion to carabin's primary activity: in fact, from 1885 to 1889, carabin worked as a technical designer in the company where his father was employed, which manufactured percolators for the army; willette, for his part, is the son of a career soldier, colonel henri-léon willette. On the other hand, a priori the soldier in the drawing does not resemble françois-ruppert carabin, especially if we base ourselves on the portrait kept at the crozatier museum in puy-en-velay that charles maurin created in 1892, the approximate date of this drawing (curiously, the soldier would rather resemble charles maurin, another "brother in arms", so to speak, which could then have a contextual meaning that escapes us).
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