Christmas Ballad
ca. 1895
Toulouse-Lautrec, the king of Parisian posters, traded his usual cabaret girls for a moody, ragged figure in this 1895 sheet music cover for 'Ballade de Noël.' Instead of a jolly Santa, we see a huddled character trudging through the wind, carrying a heavy bundle of branches that looks more like firewood than a festive tree. The sketchy, energetic lines perfectly capture the biting cold of a Parisian winter. The song features lyrics by poet Jean Richepin and music by Désiré Dihau—a bassoonist friend of Degas—showing just how connected the artistic world of Montmartre really was.
- Technique
- Lithograph
- Material
- Paper
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