Original drawing by Joseph-Emmanuel Van Driesten for the cover of a projected sheet music entitled "Le Chant des Vagues" by Félicien Menu de Ménil
France: Circa 1890s-1900. Original drawing. 39 x 24cm. Mounted on a support sheet.
Dessin d'un projet de couverture pour la musique de F. de Ménil : Le Chant des Vagues
Félicien Menu de Ménil (16 July 1860 – 28 March 1930) was a French composer and Esperanto enthusiast best known for his musical setting of Ludwig Zamenhof's poem "La Espero". He was also the editor of and a contributor to La Revuo.
Joseph-Emmanuel Van Driesten (1853-1923)
In 1886, he won a silver medal in Vienna for a series of paintings of thirty-two genealogical trees outlining the ancestry of Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria. In 1886, Van Driesten relocated to Paris, taking up residence at 19 Rue du Poncelet. There, he offered instructional courses for ladies in both illumination (heraldic illustration, calligraphy, and the creation of decorative monograms and initials) and miniature portraiture. (It would seem that miniature portraiture was of secondary interest to him, likely something he pursued to satisfy the growing demand for high quality color portraits in Paris in the last years of the nineteenth century.) He also published two monthly magazines of art instruction: L’Enlumineu (The Illuminator), published from 1889 to 1892, and Le Coloriste Enlumineur (The Colorist Illuminator), published from 1893 to 1898. He is said to have participated regularly exhibitions of the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts (National Society of Fine Arts), where he exhibited both miniature portraits and heraldic works, received a total of 18 gold and silver medals. His period of flourish as a miniature portrait painter were from 1886-1998. He was active as a heraldist and heraldic illuminator for a much longer period, from 1870 until his death in 1923. Listesd by Benezit, Blättel (pages 912, 913), and Lemoine-Bouchard (page 513).
Félicien Menu de MÉNIL (1860-1930) Manuscrit musical autographe, Noël Flamand, illustré de dessins originaux de Joseph-Emmanuel Van DRIESTEN (1853-1923) ; 3 pages grand in-fol.
Rare composition musicale de l’auteur de l’hymne de l’esperanto (La Espero, sur des paroles de L.L. Zamenhof). Mélodie pour chant et piano sur une poésie d’Émile Blémont : « L’hiver assiège toits et balcons »... Le peintre héraldiste J.E. Van Driesten a composé, à l’encre de Chine avec rehauts de blanc, une page de titre représentant un ange jetant de la neige sur un beffroi ; sur les deux pages de musique, il a composé une bordure florale, avec vignette d’un moine jouant le carillon, et une adoration des bergers ; il a plus tardivement ajouté une dédicace sur la page de titre à son ami De Ménil. On joint une photographie originale de F. de Ménil (1908) ; un autoportrait de J.E. Van Driesten (fusain et sanguine), signé et dédicacé à Mme de Ménil ; et 3 dessins de projets de couverture pour des musiques de F. de Ménil : Romance orientale, Le Chant du soir des Druides et Le Chant des vagues
Included is a "Certificate d'exportation pour un bien cuturel" issued by by Ministère Culture of France.
Expertise by Thierry Bodin,
Syndicat Français des
Experts Professionnels en Œuvres d’Art.
Les Autographes
45, rue de l’Abbé Grégoire 75006 Paris. Item #51-3911
Price: $400.00