From Jean-Jacques Henner (1829-1905), the painter from Bernwiller, near Mulhouse, who lived most of his life in Paris, all that remains in the Alsatian imagination is a painting in a narrow format.
That of a young Alsatian dressed all in black, hands joined, gazing into the distance, wearing a knot marked with a tricolor cockade,
L'Alsace, elle await
.
Used to responding to commissions, the artist painted this allegory of Alsace in the aftermath of the debacle of Sedan and the Treaty of Frankfurt in 1871 which attached it, as well as part of Lorraine, to the new German Empire.
The "ladies" around Marguerite Kestner, wife of an industrialist from Thann, donated it to Gambetta.
Through the etching that he had engraved by Léopold Flameng, he ensured a wide distribution which took part in the myth of the “Lost Provinces”.
See also
Museum attendance: trompe-l'oeil figures in 2021
At the Palais Rohan, a stone's throw from Strasbourg Cathedral, “La Chair et l'Idéal”, a sumptuous retrospective with 90 paintings and 40 graphic works, allows you to understand ...
This article is for subscribers only.
You have 82% left to discover.
To cultivate one's freedom is to cultivate one's curiosity.
Continue reading your article for € 1 the first month
I ENJOY IT
Already subscribed?
Log in