Aux Deux Passages, 1895

File — Box: CFC Trade Cards Box 4

Identifier: CFC2018.0441

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

From the Collection:

The Carlson Fable Collection is a gathering of primary fable materials at Reinert Alumni Memorial Library at Creighton University. It grew out of the personal collection of fable materials gathered by Rev. Gregory Carlson, S.J. and was given to the Creighton Libraries in 1996. There are more than 10,000 books and approximately 8,000 artifacts in the collection.

From plates to stamps, from cards to whiskey decanters, from toys to posters, you'll find just about anything you can imagine here. Please explore all that is to offer here in my fables Catalogue of Objects.

This is the largest online catalog of fable related objects on the internet. Many are from Aesop's Fables but you will find La Fontaine, Velazquez and Krylov also represented in this collection.

Dates

1895

Extent

2 Cards : 2 full-color cards illustrating La Fontaine's GA with human figures as actors. Both backs are blank. ; Just over 2 ½" by 4 1/8".

Language of Materials

French

Additional Description

Abstract

The texts do not follow La Fontaine exactly. This is the first time, I believe, that I have seen the ant dance in any form. The "Aux Deux Passages" is in Lyon and sells "nouveautés." Though I presume that there are six or seven cards in the set, these two complement each other nicely. In the first scene, the cicada approaches the ant; in the second scene, the ant dismisses the cicada. The artist here works with a very traditional approach to the fable: young woman visits matron. I find the artistry very good. The folds of the "cicada" skirt in the first picture, and the vigor of the dance (and the rejection) is telling in the second.

Now, in late 2008, I discover that these two pictures are identical with the last two in Liebig's 1892 "Grille und Ameise" series. My comments turned out to be right on the mark, and the dating seems quite close too!