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6. Alphonse Legros (1837-1911) La Légende du Bonhomme Misère : La Mort dans le Poirier (The Legend of Goodman Misery : Death in the Pear Tree)
Etching, 1877, 228 x 152 mm., Bliss 140 undetermined state (vi, vii or viii/viii). Fine impression on laid paper with full margins on three sides, irregular but still good at the left; a faint line of discoloration around the old mat opening and remains of brown paper hinges verso. Legros did a number of images of confrontations with death, but this one is not what it at first seems to be. The legend of the Bonhomme Misère is a French folk tale. The peasant, Misère, has as his only valued possession a pear tree. He gives lodging one night to two mysterious travelers, Peter and Paul, who grant him in return the rather odd gift that whoever climbs into his pear tree will be stuck there. When Death approaches, the old man inveigles him into the tree, where he is forced to stay, and thus Misère (misery or poverty) remains forever among the living. It should be noted that the circular structure in the background is not a Ferris wheel but a device used in rock quarrying in the nineteenth century. The impression bears the address of Cadart and is presumably not from the 1880 re-issue by Hamerton. |
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