A L'Opera: Madame Caron Dans Faust

1893

10 x 12 7/8 in /
25.4 x 30.5 cm

Single edition of 100 impressions
Printed in olive-green on wove paper
Red monogram stamp in lower right
Printed by Ancourt
Published by L'Escarmouche and reproduced in the 7 January 1894 issue of the magazine

Rose Caron (Lucile Meuniez, 1857-1930) was already on the decline as an opera singer when this image was created. A newspaper from this same year notes that ‘she is sung out;' however, while her vocals may have been failing, she was strategically developing her acting abilities. With a flair for the dramatic evident in this lithograph, she portrayed characters with ‘expressions of her soul and her tragic mien, stature, poses and manner of play to thrill her audience much more than her voice did when it was in the plentitude of its beauty and strength.' Her intense style has been captured here by Lautrec as she portrays Gretchen in Charles Gounod's Faust.

References: Wittrock 39, Adriani 54