![PROUST, Marcel (1871-1922). Autograph sketches [drawn for Reynaldo Hahn], n.p. [Paris], n.d. [1905-1906], in pen and ink with captions, on a bifolium, 4 pages, 8vo, on mourning paper.](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2007/CKS/2007_CKS_07411_0139_000(022246).jpg?w=1)
Details
PROUST, Marcel (1871-1922). Autograph sketches [drawn for Reynaldo Hahn], n.p. [Paris], n.d. [1905-1906], in pen and ink with captions, on a bifolium, 4 pages, 8vo, on mourning paper.
A group of sketches of 'Gothic' figures inspired by Notre-Dame de Paris and the windows of Chartres cathedral, including 'Rodin Gothique N[otre] D[ame] de Paris La Vierge du Tr[anse]pt Nord'; 'St-Pierre et St-Jean au Tombeau. Apparition de N[otre] S[auveur], N[otre] D[ame] de Paris'; two specimens of the 'Perroquet Gothique' and 'St-Eustache Chartres. La terre le ciel l'eau les arbres'. The figure of Wrath ('Ira') depicted with a raised sword and two gargoyles ('gargouleh') is captioned in the comical private language sometimes used by Proust and Hahn in their letters: 'La colère très feschée de Bininuls quand [on] lui propose aller chez Radziwillch [a reference to the homosexual Prince Constantin Radziwill] Veut me tuer avec grand Kousteu'; it closely resembles a published drawing captioned 'La Colère de l'Enfant Reynaldo contre Bininuls (vitrail de Lyon)'
(Lettres à Reynaldo Hahn, ed. P.Kolb, 1956, page 75).
Proust first met Hahn, three years his junior, in 1894 at the house of Alphonse Daudet, and for several years they were lovers. Their friendship lasted for the rest of Proust's life. From 1904 they resorted to a private language ('lansgage') with invented or partly transformed words such as 'bininulserie' or 'faschcolère' (Kolb, page 20). The heavily bordered mourning paper suggests that the sketches were made soon after the death, in September 1905, of his mother, Jeanne Proust, or of his maternal uncle, George Weil, the following August.
A group of sketches of 'Gothic' figures inspired by Notre-Dame de Paris and the windows of Chartres cathedral, including 'Rodin Gothique N[otre] D[ame] de Paris La Vierge du Tr[anse]pt Nord'; 'St-Pierre et St-Jean au Tombeau. Apparition de N[otre] S[auveur], N[otre] D[ame] de Paris'; two specimens of the 'Perroquet Gothique' and 'St-Eustache Chartres. La terre le ciel l'eau les arbres'. The figure of Wrath ('Ira') depicted with a raised sword and two gargoyles ('gargouleh') is captioned in the comical private language sometimes used by Proust and Hahn in their letters: 'La colère très feschée de Bininuls quand [on] lui propose aller chez Radziwillch [a reference to the homosexual Prince Constantin Radziwill] Veut me tuer avec grand Kousteu'; it closely resembles a published drawing captioned 'La Colère de l'Enfant Reynaldo contre Bininuls (vitrail de Lyon)'
(Lettres à Reynaldo Hahn, ed. P.Kolb, 1956, page 75).
Proust first met Hahn, three years his junior, in 1894 at the house of Alphonse Daudet, and for several years they were lovers. Their friendship lasted for the rest of Proust's life. From 1904 they resorted to a private language ('lansgage') with invented or partly transformed words such as 'bininulserie' or 'faschcolère' (Kolb, page 20). The heavily bordered mourning paper suggests that the sketches were made soon after the death, in September 1905, of his mother, Jeanne Proust, or of his maternal uncle, George Weil, the following August.
Special notice
Buyers from within the EU:
VAT payable at 17.5% on just the buyer's premium (NOT the hammer price)
Buyers from outside the EU:
VAT payable at 17.5% on hammer price and buyer's premium. If a buyer, having registered under a non-EU address, decides that an item is not to be exported from the EU, then he/she should advise Christie's to this effect immediately.