Original drawing by Théophile Alexandre Steinlen accompanied by a letter from Ernest Renan

Théophile Alexandre STEINLEN 
(Lausanne 1859 - Paris 1923)
The death of Jesus - illustration for the sung text n°13 entitled 'The life of Jesus', written by Ernest Renan, for the musical collection 'Prose en musique'
1888
black ink and colored pencils
37 x 23 cm; 62 x 44 cm
with an autograph letter from Ernest Renan and a dedication from Marcel Peguy (son of Charles)
 

Bibliography:
website: www.marcel-legay.com

Krummenacker Carolyne et al. Théophile-Alexandre Steinlen (1859-1923): [exhibition, Payerne, Switzerland, Musée de Payerne, May 15-20 September 2004, Paris, Musée de Montmartre, November 11, 2004-February 13, 2005]. Paris: Fragments, 2004.
Mary Ellen Poole, Chansonnier and Chanson in Parisian Cabarets Artistiques, 1881-1914, Thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Musicology, University of Illinois at Ubana-Champaign, 1994.
Prose in Music − Single audition, Booklet/Program of the performance given in the Kriegelstein room, rue Charras, Imp. Pairault et Cie, Paris, 1899.

Created in 1888 by Théophile Alexandre Steinlen, an emblematic figure of Montmartre artists, our drawing is intended to illustrate the musical collection ‘Prose en musique’. Created at the initiative of the singer Marcel Legay, this musical event is a unique audition, which is performed in June 1889. The authors chosen by Marcel Legay are, among others: Jean Richepin, Charles Frémine, François Coppée, Alphonse Daudet, Louise Michel , Juliette Adam, Emile Zola, Ernest Renan and Guy de Maupassant. The performers in this unique audition are members of the Opera or the Opéra-Comique.

In her thesis, Mary Ellen Poole writes: "In June 1889, Legay invited a small audience of critics, artists and intellectuals to witness an experiment, 'Prose in Music,' which would prove to be elsewhere be the only one of this type. Léon de Bercy found this program – which included prose by Richepin, Coppée, Zola, etc., performed by various singers from the Opera and the Opéra-Comique – so remarkable that he reproduced it in full in his 1902 work on the singers of Montmartre. He reports that the reviews were encouraging although the composer remained firmly opposed to organizing a second performance. The author also tells us that the success of the event nevertheless encouraged its creator to allow a single extract from 'Prose en Musique' to give rise to other performances; namely the melodramatic setting to music of the “Death of Jesus”, by Ernest Renan, therefore our subject. “The cycle, as a whole, helped establish Legay’s dual reputation both in the world of art and that of popular music.”
 

To create this drawing, it is easy to see that our artist was largely inspired by the writings of Renan. Indeed, in his work ‘The Life of Jesus’, the Breton writer chronologically relates the main episodes of Life of Jesus and describes the landscapes, customs, and social relations of the Jews at his time. He proposes a thesis according to which the life of Jesus had to be written like that of any other man. Through this drawing, Steinlen tends to follow Renan's story, by offering an iconography as close as possible to customs and the supposed reality of the events on the day of Christ's death.
A poignant testimony, our drawing is accompanied by an autograph letter from Ernest Renan written to Perros-Guirec on October 18, 1888, where the latter gives his agreement for it to be reproduced in the collection cited above.

We also see that this set was then offered by Marcel Peguy to one of his relatives.

Ref: 3T41VEW0PF