by Tom Gurney
Tom Gurney BSc (Hons) is an art history expert with over 20 years experience
Page Created on / Page Updated on
Email: tomgurney1@gmail.com / Phone: +44 7429 011000
Lorenzaccio: Sarah Bernhardt as Lorenzo de’ Medici
Alphonse Mucha's Lorenzaccio advertises Sarah Bernhardt in a role that complicates the viewer's first impression. The actor stands alone in dark Renaissance dress beneath a green dragon and the arms of Florence. It is an 1896 colour-lithograph theatre poster, not a painting of a monster or an illustration of a single performed scene. Its tall format gives Bernhardt the public presence of a star, while its smaller signs point toward the murder at the centre of Alfred de Musset's play.[1][2]
At a Glance
- ObjectPoster for ‘Lorenzaccio’[1]
- Design / print date1896[1][4]
- Mediumcolour lithograph; printed by F. Champenois, Paris[1][4]
- Purposeadvertisement for Bernhardt in Lorenzaccio at the Théâtre de la Renaissance[1][4]
- Local imageinherited 400 × 1121-pixel reproduction; exact print impression untraced
- Comparisonseparate 1896 pencil head study of Bernhardt for this poster[3]
Lorenzaccio in Mucha’s career
Contents
- A role written for a man, played by Bernhardt
- Reading the figure and the dragon
- A poster built for distance and detail
- The study and the surviving sheets
- Lorenzaccio among Mucha’s theatre posters
Look closer: Lorenzaccio
The narrow poster copy permits a reading of its major forms and printed names, although the smallest linework will not bear extreme enlargement.
123Details from Lorenzaccio
Select a detail image to open the full-size gallery, then use the arrows to compare views.
Play and playwright
The top panel names Lorenzaccio and Alfred de Musset, setting the theatrical subject before the central figure.
Bernhardt in the central field
The costume, medallion and heraldic shapes compress an entire role into the tall middle section.
The theatre at the base
The bottom panel names the Théâtre de la Renaissance and carries the printer line beneath it.
A role written for a man, played by Bernhardt
Bernhardt played Lorenzo de' Medici, the male title character in Alfred de Musset's Lorenzaccio. The Mucha Foundation identifies the play as an 1834 Romantic tragedy set in sixteenth-century Florence.[1] That is the date of the drama, not of the poster: Mucha's lithograph was made in 1896 for a Bernhardt production advertised at the Théâtre de la Renaissance.[1][4] Keeping those dates apart makes the image easier to read. Renaissance costume evokes the play's world, while the printed theatre name and performer credit address a Paris audience in the 1890s.
The long inscription at the top tells a potential theatre-goer what is being advertised. It names Lorenzaccio, de Musset's five-act play and epilogue, and an adaptation credited to Armand d'Artois. Bernhardt's name runs down the sides of the central figure, and the theatre's name anchors the bottom. These are not ornamental captions added later; they are part of the poster's work as an advertisement. Someone seeing only the figure would miss how insistently the print names the star, title and venue.[1][4]
Bernhardt's casting also changes the figure's visual force. Mucha gives her a short-haired, sombre and richly dressed Lorenzo rather than disguising the image's identity as a Bernhardt poster. Her role is male; the poster's public promise is the encounter with Bernhardt performing it. The Foundation's wider Sarah Bernhardt catalogue places this design within the series Mucha made for her after Gismonda. His elongated format and single standing figure make the theatre posters recognisable together even though the productions and characters differ.[2]
The performance has a firmer date than the poster's general 1896 catalogue year. A Bibliothèque nationale de France theatre notice, drawn from a programme in the Rondel collection, records the production's creation at the Théâtre de la Renaissance on 3 December 1896.[5] It names Bernhardt as Lorenzo, Armand d'Artois as adapter, and Bernhardt and Maurice Grau as theatre directors. It also lists other cast members, including the performer of Alessandro de' Medici. These details anchor Mucha's advertisement to a particular staging rather than to Musset's 1834 printed drama in the abstract.
The adaptation mattered. A recent French doctoral study describes d'Artois's version as concentrating the sprawling play around Lorenzo, cutting secondary intrigues for the stage.[6] Mucha's single standing figure and the surrounding emblems similarly concentrate attention on the title role, although the sources do not say the artist worked directly from the adapted script. Contemporary criticism also treated Bernhardt's undertaking as a bold event: Henry Bauer's review in L'Écho de Paris on 5 December 1896 praised the production's artistic ambition and discussed the difficulty of bringing Musset's long drama within theatrical limits.[7] This is evidence of early reception of the performance, not proof of how audiences judged Mucha's poster.
Jules Lemaître's review, published at the end of December 1896, adds a revealing qualification to the wording Mucha printed. The poster calls the play one in five acts and an epilogue, yet Lemaître says that the epilogue was omitted from d'Artois's staging, a loss he regretted because he thought it completed the drama's meaning.[13] The inscription can therefore preserve the literary title or advertised form without documenting exactly what the audience saw at every performance. Lemaître admired Bernhardt's detailed construction of Lorenzo's shifting motives, describing a performance that conveyed more than one fixed mood.[13] His account helps explain the poster's poised, ambiguous central figure, but he was reviewing the acting and adaptation, not analysing Mucha's lithograph.
Bernhardt's role in this production also went beyond appearing on the sheet. A Société d'Histoire du Théâtre biographical study lists Lorenzaccio among stagings in which she took part as a director and explains how, while acting a leading role, she worked with a theatre's artistic director and author on the whole production.[14] The BnF programme-based notice names her and Maurice Grau as directors of the Théâtre de la Renaissance for this engagement.[5] Those labels describe overlapping but different responsibilities; neither source makes Mucha a stage director. The poster advertised a production shaped by Bernhardt as performer and theatre leader, while Mucha supplied its public image.[5][14]
Reading the figure and the dragon
Bernhardt faces forward with one hand raised near her mouth. She holds a book in the other. A dagger hangs at her belt. Her dark tunic and cape occupy much of the poster's height, while the patterned niche behind her makes the still pose feel deliberate. The book is plainly visible, but the reproduction does not establish its title or contents. The dagger is an object in the costume; the design gives it narrative weight without requiring a claim about the precise instant on stage that is shown.[1]
Above, a green dragon curves around a shield and the Florentine arms. The Mucha Foundation explains the dragon as a symbol for Alessandro de' Medici, Florence's tyrannical ruler, and the shield as the city's threatened identity. Lorenzo's killing of Alessandro is the drama's central action. Mucha places the threat in a decorative but alarming form rather than drawing the two men in combat. The lower band adds another sign of the contemplated murder: the Foundation reads its small dagger-and-dragon motif as a symbolic piercing of the tyrant.[1]
The image therefore has two levels at once. It sells the particular actress and theatre through prominent words and a full-length figure. It also compresses the play's political conflict into a dragon, civic emblems and a blade. The dragon is symbolic within this poster, not a creature that the source says appears literally in de Musset's play. The old reading of a conqueror threatening the city was too vague to distinguish the story's players. The Foundation's identification gives the design a more exact relation to Lorenzo and Alessandro.[1]
A poster built for distance and detail
The narrow sheet can be understood first from a distance. The bold title sits high; Bernhardt occupies the central vertical run; the theatre name closes the design near the ground. A passer-by could register those large parts before tracing the armour-like decoration, the small lower motif or the printed adaptation line. The hierarchy matters because a poster competes for attention in public space. This is an inference from the composition and its advertising purpose, rather than a record of how every contemporary viewer saw it.[1][4]
Seen close up, the design rewards a different pace. Warm gold and ochre surround the figure; the dark clothes and green dragon interrupt the pale ground. The patterned niche evokes textiles. The Foundation describes its background as reminiscent of Florentine velvet.[1] This is a design comparison, not evidence that the poster reproduces a particular surviving fabric. Repeated scrolling forms and the curved niche keep the figure within one enclosed frame while the lettering remains legible around it.
The National Trust, discussing its own Lorenzaccio impression at Smallhythe Place, points to the S-like curve of Bernhardt's pose and left leg even though she is dressed for a male part.[10] This reading shifts attention from costume alone to the line that binds figure and frame. It is a museum's interpretation of the design, not a record of Bernhardt's exact movement on stage. The poster's stillness and its curling ornament can coexist: a viewer first meets a frontal character, then follows a line that winds through the costume and surrounding decoration.[1][10]
Mucha did not need to make Bernhardt move dramatically to announce a drama. A still, almost meditative pose can suggest a decision before an act. The dragon supplies pressure without placing another actor on the sheet. This is one reason the poster differs from a stage photograph: it constructs a visual emblem of the production and its star. Its colour lithography allowed that emblem to circulate as printed advertising rather than as a unique painted canvas.[1][2]
The study and the surviving sheets
The Mucha Foundation catalogues a separate pencil head study for Lorenzaccio. It records 1896 and a sheet of 25 × 21.5 cm.[3] The study shows that a head was worked out apart from the final printed poster. It should not be confused with a reduced edition of the lithograph, and its measurements cannot be used to describe the full poster. The study is linked here for comparison; no image from the Trust's study has been added to this local page.
The Foundation's catalogue describes a poster sheet measuring 203.7 × 76 cm.[1] The Bibliothèque nationale de France records a colour-lithograph Lorenzaccio impression by Mucha and Champenois, dated 1896, measuring 207 × 77 cm.[4] Those figures are close but different. They refer to each institution's catalogued material, not to a single universal measurement for every print. The inherited image on this page is a 400-pixel-wide digital reproduction; its precise source impression has not been traced. A reader should not turn its pixel dimensions into the physical size of an original sheet.
A Japanese institutional record adds another sheet close to those tall measurements. The Ehime Museum of Art catalogues its 1896 Lorenzaccio lithograph at 206.8 × 76.5 cm.[11] By contrast, the Musée Carnavalet in Paris describes accession AFF1135 as 97.3 × 37.6 cm, and the National Museum of Western Art in Tokyo measures accession G.1971-0005 at 97 × 36 cm.[8][9] A National Trust example at Smallhythe Place is 99.4 × 36.1 cm.[10] The two approximate size groups are clear in these records, but measurements alone do not explain their printing relationship. They could reflect distinct issued formats, cutting or another material history; none of the cited short records establishes a printer's reduction sequence. The Japanese museum identifies its smaller sheet as a colour lithograph, dates it 1896 and records a 1971 gift from Sadajiro Kubo. That is the history of one held impression, not the origin of this website's reproduction.[9]
A rare-book catalogue makes a more specific claim about one reduced sheet. It describes a Champenois Lorenzaccio poster tentatively dated 1897 and measuring 95.5 × 33.2 cm after trimming. The dealer identifies it as Rennert and Weill's variant 2, says Mucha reworked the smaller design, and points to a changed position of his printed signature.[15] The catalogue also gives 102.4 × 37 cm as the full-margin dimensions cited by Rennert and Weill. These are useful leads for the two size groups, but the dealer's proposed artist intervention rests on the cited signature comparison; the institutional records above do not independently verify a revised drawing or fix the production date of every small sheet. The 95.5 cm height describes a trimmed offered impression, not a contradiction of the near-97 cm museum holdings.[8][9][10][15]
The same catalogue describes another smaller variant 3, assigned to about 1910–11, with a green-dominant palette and a 98.3 × 36.8 cm visible area in its frame. It compares that variant to Carnavalet's sheet.[15] Carnavalet itself catalogues its object as 1896, so the comparison does not establish that the Paris museum's impression was printed in 1910–11. A framed visible area, a trimmed sheet and an unmounted museum sheet are three different measurements. The later issue remains a promising print-history question, with the seller's dating and the museum's record left explicitly attributed.[8][15]
Carnavalet's catalogue is especially useful because it transcribes details on its particular sheet. It records the play title, Musset's name, Armand d'Artois's adaptation, the Théâtre de la Renaissance and a curved line reading “Sarah Bernhardt Anno Domini MDCCCXCVI”. It also notes a printed Champenois credit, Mucha's signature, the museum mark and a 15-centime fiscal stamp near the upper left.[8] The Roman numerals reinforce the 1896 advertisement date. The stamp is physical evidence attached to that Paris sheet, not proof that every copy was stamped, where this one was posted, or that it ever occupied a specific street. The more modest Carnavalet format also cautions against calling every extant Lorenzaccio impression a two-metre poster.[1][4][8]
There was also a later collector's form. The BnF groups six Mucha designs in its Maîtres de l'Affiche record, printed by Chaix between 1896 and 1900. It identifies Lorenzaccio as plate 114 and gives 39.5 × 28 cm for the plates in that group, noting a blind stamp at lower right.[12] This record documents a publication context separate from the Champenois theatre sheets. Its broad date range covers the group and does not date the individual Lorenzaccio plate to a particular month. The plate number, printer and small format give a reader a way to avoid mistaking a later collectible reproduction for the original street advertisement or for Carnavalet's intermediate-sized impression.[4][8][12]
The National Trust records its smaller, framed sheet as NT 1117316 and says it belonged to Dame Ellen Terry, the English stage actress.[10] That provenance gives the image a documented later life in a performer's collection across the Channel. The institution also describes Terry and Bernhardt as friends and admirers of each other's work. It does not give a date or route by which Terry obtained this print, so the ownership cannot be used to infer that Mucha's poster advertised a London performance or that Bernhardt personally presented it to Terry.[10]
The earlier version of this page described the work as owned by the V&A and referred to inscriptions on its back. The sources used for this rebuild securely establish examples catalogued by the Foundation and BnF, but do not identify the local JPEG as a V&A impression or show its reverse. The poster can survive in more than one collection. Here the front-facing composition and the cited records support the reading; unverified reverse-side details are left aside.[1][4]
Lorenzaccio among Mucha’s theatre posters
Lorenzaccio belongs near Gismonda, the design that began Mucha's celebrated collaboration with Bernhardt, and Médée, whose different story turns to a more openly violent image. The Foundation lists La Dame aux Camélias and Lorenzaccio in 1896, La Samaritaine in 1897, Médée and La Tosca in 1898, and Hamlet in 1899.[2] Each has to advertise a specific role. The recurring tall figure and carefully placed lettering make them a connected design project without making their dramatic meanings identical.
The comparison also helps explain why this image is more than a decorative portrait. Bernhardt's face and costume attract attention, but the play title, adaptation credit, dragon, arms and dagger make a tightly organised argument for the production. Mucha did not simply show a famous actor; he gave the public a compact visual promise of the story she would perform. That combination of star image, legible advertisement and symbolic narrative is the poster's distinctive achievement.[1][2]
To look further, compare the Gismonda poster for a different use of the standing figure, or read the Bernhardt role in Hamlet to see how another male part was made visible. The linked pencil study and the BnF record below let readers follow the design and surviving print evidence separately.[2][3][4]
Watch: Alphonse Mucha
Explore Mucha’s theatre posters and his collaboration with Sarah Bernhardt.
Alfons Mucha: Gismonda
A National Gallery Prague highlight centred on the breakthrough Sarah Bernhardt poster.
Watch on YouTubeArtworks directory
| Name | Date | Medium |
|---|---|---|
| 'Accept Love and Enthusiasm from Your Son, Mother of the Holy Nation': study for the mural 'By Own Strength III' at the Lord Mayor's Hall, Obecní Dům, Prague | 1910-1911 | Pencil and charcoal on canvas |
| 'By force towards freedom, with love towards unity!': study for the mural 'By Own Strength II' at the Lord Mayor's Hall, Obecní Dům, Prague | 1910-1911 | Pencil and charcoal on canvas |
| 'The Passing Wind Takes Youth Away': design for a fan and the façade of the 'Pavilion of Man' (unrealised) | 1899 | Colour lithograph |
| 'Through humiliated and tortured, you will live again, my country!': study for the mural 'By Own Strength II' at the Lord Mayor's Hall, Obecní Dům, Prague | 1910-1911 | Pencil and charcoal on canvas |
| 1918-1928: Poster for the 10th Anniversary of the Independence of the Republic of Czechoslovakia | 1928 | Colour lithograph |
| 6th Sokol Festival | 1912 | Colour lithograph |
| 8th Sokol Festival | 1925 | Colour lithograph |
| After the Battle of Grunwald | 1924 | egg tempera on canvas |
| After the Battle of Vitkov Hill | 1923 | egg tempera on canvas |
| Age of Love | 1936–1938 | |
| Age of Reason | 1936–1938 | |
| Age of Wisdom | 1936–1938 | |
| Amants | 1895 | Colour lithograph |
| Apotheosis of the Slavs | 1926 | Egg tempera on canvas |
| As Hamlet | 1899 | colour lithograph |
| Au Quartier Latin | 1898 | Magazine cover |
| Banknotes of Czechoslovakia, designed by Mucha: 500 crown; 50 Crown; 10 Crown | 1929 | Banknotes |
| Bieres de la Meuse | 1897 | Colour lithograph |
| Biscuits Champagne Lefevre Utile | 1896 | Colour lithograph |
| Biscuits Lefevre Utile | 1896 design for 1897 calendar; Foundation object/Carnavalet 1897 | Colour lithograph |
| Blessed are the Pure in Heart | 1906 | Printed magazine illustration |
| Bleu Deschamps | 1903 (deposit) | Colour lithograph |
| Bosnia & Herzegovina Pavilion - illustration featured in 'Le Figaro Illustré' (1 March 1900) | 1900 | Reproduction from Le Figaro Illustré after watercolour original |
| Bosnia-Herzegovina Pavilion: cartoon for the mural 'The Roman Period and the Arrival of the Slavs' | 1899-1900 | ink and crayon on paper |
| Bosnia-Herzegovina Pavilion: fragment of the upper frieze featuring Ivo and Anica, characters from Bosnian legends | 1899-1900 | tempera and watercolour on canvas |
| Bosnian Legends: Death of Hasanaga's Bride | 1899 | Charcoal on paper |
| Bosnian Legends: Murcia - The Plague Lady | 1899 | Charcoal on paper |
| Bosnian Pavilion Restaurant at the Paris Exhibition 1900: design for the menu | 1900 | Pencil and watercolour on paper |
| Boutique Fouquet (interior design) | 1901 | Shop interior design |
| Boutique Fouquet: sketches of the shop's signboard and decorative details | c.1900 | Pencil, ink and watercolour on paper |
| Box for Lefèvre-Utile biscuits: Gaufrettes Vanille | c.1900 | Tin box covered with lithographed label |
| Box for Lefèvre-Utile biscuits: Madère | c.1900 | Tin box covered with lithographed label |
| Brightness of the Day | 1899 | Colour lithograph |
| Broach with Pendant | 1900 | Gold, ivory, mother-of-pearl and semi-precious stones |
| Byzantine Head - The Blonde | 1897 | Colour lithograph |
| Byzantine Heads (pair) | 1897 | Colour lithograph |
| Byzantine Heads: Brunette | 1897 | Colour lithograph |
| Bénédictine | 1898 (BnF deposit); Hamburg 1899; MNAC 1896 or 1898 | Colour lithograph |
| Champagne Ruinart | 1896 | Colour lithograph |
| Chocolat Ideal | before or in 1897 (catalogue conflict) | Colour lithograph |
| Chocolat Masson (1897 calendar) | 1896–1897 | Colour lithograph |
| Choirboys at Petrov Church, Brno | 1905 | Watercolour on cardboard |
| Cloches de Noel | 1900 | Illustrated book |
| Comedy: study for a mural for the German Theatre, New York | 1908 | Oil on canvas |
| Cours Mucha: poster advertising Mucha's art classes held at the Académie Colarossi, Paris | 1900 | colour lithograph |
| Creative Force - Jan z Pernštýna: study for a pendentive of the Lord Mayor’s Hall, Obecní Dům, Prague | 1910-1911 | Oil on canvas |
| Crucifixion | c.1868 | Pencil, crayon and watercolour on paper |
| Cycles Perfecta | 1897 or 1902 (catalogue conflict) | Colour lithograph |
| Dance | 1898 | Colour lithograph |
| Dead Couple - Abandoned | c.1899-1900 | Charcoal and pastel on blue paper |
| Defense of Sziget against the Turks by Nicholas Zrinsky | 1914 | egg tempera on canvas |
| Design for a champagne poster | c. 1896 | Charcoal and pastel on paper |
| Design for a display stand at the Paris Exhibition 1900 | c.1899-1900 | Pencil and wash on paper |
| Design for Champagne Ruinart | c. 1896 | Pencil, watercolour and gold leaf on paper |
| Design for the cover of the magazine 'Fantaz' | 1882 | Ink and watercolour on paper |
| Design for the heading of the cover of the magazine 'Krokodil' | 1885 | Pen and ink on cardboard |
| Design for the poster for the Mucha Exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum, New York, January-February 1921 | 1920 | Pen and ink and watercolour on paper |
| Designs for cutlery | c.1900 | Charcoal and white on card |
| Designs for tableware | c.1900 | Charcoal, coloured pencil and white on card |
| Diadem for 'La princesse lointaine' | 1895 | metal and pearls |
| Diploma of Ivančice: Mock diploma honouring a local celebrity, with illustration of the first line of 'May', a poem by Karel Hynek Mácha | 1882 | Pen and ink and watercolour on paper |
| Documents décoratifs: designs for a watch and accessories (unused) | 1901-1902 | Pencil, ink and white on paper |
| Documents décoratifs: final study for Plate 25, featuring studies of lily | 1901-1902 | Pencil on paper |
| Documents décoratifs: final study for Plate 43 | 1901-1902 | Pencil, ink and wash, heightened with white on paper |
| Documents décoratifs: final study for Plate 49 | 1901-1902 | Pencil and white on paper |
| Documents décoratifs: final study for Plate 50 | 1901-1902 | Pencil and white on paper |
| Documents décoratifs: final study for Plate 60 | 1901-1902 | Pencil, ink and wash, heightened with white on paper |
| Documents décoratifs: final study for Plate 63 | 1901-1902 | Pencil and white on paper |
| Documents décoratifs: final study for Plate 67 | 1901-1902 | Pencil and white on paper |
| Documents décoratifs: final study for Plate 71 | 1901-1902 | Pencil and white on paper |
| Documents décoratifs: final study for Plate 72 | 1901-1902 | Pencil and wash, heightened with white on paper |
| Documents décoratifs: line drawing for Plate 33, featuring lily motifs | 1901-1902 | Pencil, pen and ink on paper |
| Documents décoratifs: Plate 54 | 1902 | Lithograph |
| Dreaming of Freedom: study for a Panel of the Small Reception Room at the Lord Mayor’s Hall, Obecní Dům, Prague | 1910-1911 | Pen and ink and watercolour on paper |
| Dusk | 1899 | Colour lithograph |
| Evening | 1899 | Colour lithograph |
| F. Champenois (Rêverie imprint) | 1898 | Colour lithograph |
| F. Guillot-Pelletier calendar (1898) | 1897–1898 | Colour lithograph |
| Feather | 1899 | Colour lithograph |
| Figures décoratives: final study for Plate 2 | 1904-1905 | Pencil and white on paper |
| Figures décoratives: final study for Plate 3 | 1904-1905 | Pencil and white on paper |
| Figures décoratives: final study for Plate14 | 1904-1905 | Pencil with white on paper |
| Figures décoratives: sketch study for Plate14 | 1904-1905 | Blue pencil on paper |
| Flirt Lefevre Utile | 1899 (Foundation design); BnF legal deposit 1900 | Colour lithograph |
| Flower | 1897 | Colour lithograph |
| Flower: final study for decorative panel | 1897 | Pencil, ink and watercolour on paper |
| France Embraces Bohemia | 1918 | oil on canvas |
| Fruit | 1897 | Colour lithograph |
| Georges Fouquet (1858-1929), Paris, after design by Mucha: Ornamental Chain with pendants | 1900 | Gold, enamel, fresh-water pearls, mother of pearl and semi-precious stones |
| Georges Fouquet (1858-1929), Paris, after Mucha design: 'Peacock' Ring (Exhibited at the Paris Exhibition 1900) | 1900 | Opal and gold |
| Girl Weeping | c.1899-1900 | Black chalk and pastel on paper |
| Girl with Loose Hair and Tulips | 1920 | Oil on canvas |
| Gismonda | 1894 | Colour lithograph |
| Head of a Girl, statue for the stand of the Houbigant Perfumery at the Paris Exhibition 1900 | 1900 | Bronze, silver and parcel gilt |
| Head of Sarah Bernhardt: Study for 'Lorenzaccio' | 1896 | Pencil on paper |
| Heather from Coastal Cliffs | 1902 | Colour lithograph |
| Heidsieck & Co | 1901 | Colour lithograph |
| Holy Mount Athos | 1926 | Egg tempera on canvas |
| Ilsée, Princesse de Tripoli | 1897 | Illustrated book |
| In the Desert: Study for an illustration for the Světozor magazine | 1889 | Pencil, watercolour and gouache on paper |
| Incantation (Salammbô) | 1897 | Lithograph |
| Independence - Jiří z Poděbrad: study for a pendentive of the Lord Mayor’s Hall, Obecní Dům, Prague | 1910-1911 | Oil on canvas |
| Interior and furniture designs | c.1900 | Pencil on paper |
| Interior of Boutique Fouquet: design for a wall-mounted display cabinet with statuette and mirror | c.1900 | Pencil on paper |
| Interior of Boutique Fouquet: design for the fireplace with statuettes, mirror, and the ornamental details of the wall | c.1900 | Pencil and watercolour on cardboard |
| Interior of Boutique Fouquet: sketches of the fireplace with statue, mirror, display cabinet, and the ornamental details of the wall | c.1900 | Pencil, pen and ink on paper |
| Ivy | 1901 | Colour lithograph |
| Jan Milic of Kromeriz | 1916 | egg tempera on canvas |
| Jaroslava and Jiří, the Artist’s Children | 1918 | Oil on canvas |
| JOB poster | 1896 | Colour lithograph |
| Judgement of Paris (calendar for Vieillemard printing company) | 1895 | Colour lithograph |
| Justice - Master Jan Hus: study for a pendentive of the Lord Mayor's Hall, Obecní dům, Prague | 1910-1911 | Oil on canvas |
| L'Annee Qui Vient | 1897 | red chalk on paper |
| L'Illustration magazine - cover for Christmas 1896/1897 | 1896 | Magazine cover |
| L'Illustré Soleil du Dimanche | 1897 | Magazine cover |
| La Dame aux Camélias: designs for cover and interior of special programme | 1896 | Pencil and watercolour on paper |
| La Nature | 1899-1900 | Bronze and amethyst |
| La Plume | 1897 | Magazine cover |
| La Samaritaine | 1897 | colour lithograph |
| Lance Parfum Rodo | 1896; Albertina print c. 1900 | Colour lithograph |
| Laurel | 1901 | Colour lithograph |
| Le Monde Illustré | 1900 | Magazine cover |
| Le Pater | 1899 | Illustrated book |
| Le Pater: early study for the 1st allegorical scene 'Our Father who art in Heaven' (1899) (Mucha Foundation object 300) | 1899 | Pencil on paper |
| Le Pater: early study for the 1st allegorical scene 'Our Father who art in Heaven' (1899) (Mucha Foundation object 302) | 1899 | Pastel on paper |
| Le Pater: study for the 6th allegorical scene 'Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors' | 1899 | Charcoal and ink wash on paper |
| Lefevre Utile | 1904 | Advertisement |
| Leslie Carter | 1908 | Colour lithograph |
| Letem Českým Světem | 1898 | Printed book |
| Lorenzaccio | 1896 | Colour lithograph |
| Luchon poster (attributed to Mucha) | 1895 | Colour lithograph |
| Madonna of the Lilies | 1905 | Tempera on canvas |
| Master Jan Hus Preaching at the Bethlehem Chapel | 1916 | egg tempera on canvas |
| Maude Adams | 1908 | Lithograph, hand-coloured in watercolour and gouache |
| Maude Adams as Joan of Arc | 1909 | Oil on canvas |
| Medea | 1898 | Colour lithograph |
| Menu for the Bosnian Pavilion Restaurant at the Paris Exhibition 1900 | 1900 | Colour lithograph |
| Militancy - Jan Žižka: study for a pendentive of the Lord Mayor's Hall, Obecní dům, Prague | 1910-1911 | Oil on canvas |
| Military Camp in Winter, near a City on Fire | c.1899-1900 | Pastel on paper |
| Moet et Chandon | 1899 | Colour lithograph |
| Monaco Monte Carlo | 1897 | Colour lithograph |
| Moon | 1902 | |
| Moravian Teachers' Choir | 1911 | Colour lithograph |
| Morning Alphonse Mucha Painting / AlphonseMucha.org | 1899 | Colour lithograph |
| Morning Star | 1902 | Colour lithograph |
| Moët & Chandon White Star | 1899 | Colour lithograph |
| Mrs Mucha’s Necklace | 1906 | gold, enamel and semi-precious stones |
| Mural for the Bosnia-Herzegovina Pavilion: The Roman Period and the Arrival of the Slavs | 1900 | tempera and watercolour on canvas |
| Murals by Mucha in the Lord Mayor's Hall, Obecní Dům (Municipal House), Prague (1910-1911) | ||
| Music | 1898 | Colour lithograph |
| Nativity | c. 1934 | oil on canvas |
| Nestle's Food for Infants | 1897 | Colour lithograph |
| Night | 1899 | Colour lithograph |
| Nude on a Rock | 1898-1899 | Bronze |
| Official Banquet of the Paris Exhibition 1900: design for the menu featuring a fashionable woman wearing a Mucha-style jewellery | 1900 | Pencil, gouache and wash on grey paper |
| Ornamental motifs designed for 'Combinaisons Ornementales se Multipliant à l'Infini à l'Aide du Miroir' (1901) | c.1900-1901 | Blue and red pencil on paper |
| Packaging for 'Savon Mucha Violette' | 1906 | Colour lithograph |
| Packaging for Lefèvre-Utile biscuits: Boudoir | 1901 | Colour lithograph |
| Page's Costume: study for an illustration for 'Le Costume au Théâtre' | 1890 | Pencil and watercolour on cardboard |
| Painting | 1898 | Colour lithograph |
| Peonies | 1897–1898 | Ink and watercolour |
| Petr Chelcicky at Vodnany | 1918 | egg tempera on canvas |
| Poetry | 1898 | Colour lithograph |
| Portrait of Jaroslava | c.1927-1935 | Oil on canvas |
| Portrait of Josephine Crane Bradley as Slavia | 1908 | Oil and tempera on canvas |
| Portrait of Marie Chytilová (Maruška), Mucha's Future Wife | 1903 | pastel on paper |
| Portrait of Mucha's Sister, Angela | c.1880 | Oil on canvas |
| Portrait of Mucha's Sister, Anna | c.1885 | Oil on canvas |
| Portrait of Mucha's Son, Jiří | 1925 | Oil on canvas |
| Portrait of Mucha's Wife, Maruška | 1908/17 | Oil on canvas |
| Portrait of Woman | c. mid 1910s - 1925 | Blue pastel on grey paper |
| Poster for 'Hommage Respectueux de Nestlé' (the Nestlé Company's tribute to Queen Victoria's 60th Jubilee) | 1897 | Colour lithograph |
| Poster for 'Imprimerie Cassan Fils' | 1896 | Colour lithograph |
| JOB poster (1898) | 1898 | Colour lithograph |
| Poster for 'La Dame aux Camélias' | 1896 | Colour lithograph |
| Poster for 'La Tosca' | 1899 | Colour lithograph |
| Poster for 'Regional Exhibition at Ivančice 1913' | 1912 | Colour lithograph |
| Poster for 'The Slav Epic Exhibition, Brno, 1930' | 1928-1930 | Colour lithograph |
| Poster for 'Waverley Cycles' | 1898 | Colour lithograph |
| Poster for the 'Lottery of the Union of Southwestern Moravia' | 1912 | Colour lithograph |
| Poster for the Austrian Pavilion at the Paris Exhibition 1900 | 1900 | Colour lithograph |
| Prague Subjugated: study for a Panel of the Small Reception Room at the Lord Mayor’s Hall, Obecní Dům, Prague | 1910-1911 | Pen and ink and watercolour on paper |
| Primrose | 1899 | Colour lithograph |
| Primrose and Feather (paired image) | 1899 | Colour lithographs (paired image) |
| Princess Hyacinth (Princezna Hyacinta) | 1911 | Colour lithograph |
| Print proof for the Biscuits Lefèvre-Utile tin | 1899 | Lithograph |
| Reverie | 1898 | Colour lithograph |
| Russia Restituenda [Russia Must Recover] | 1922 | Colour lithograph |
| Salome | 1897 | Colour lithograph |
| Salon des Cent | 1896 | Colour lithograph |
| Salon of the Hundred | 1897 | Colour lithograph |
| Sarah Bernhardt - La Princesse Lointaine - Lefevre Utile | 1903 | Colour lithograph |
| Sarah Bernhardt as La Princesse Lointaine: poster for 'La Plume' magazine | 1897 | Colour lithograph |
| Sarah Bernhardt in the role of the Duc de Reichstadt in L’Aiglon | 1900 | Pencil on paper |
| Sarah Bernhardt: study of her full-standing figure | c.1896 | Pen and ink on paper |
| Savonnerie de Bagnolet calendar | 1898 (calendar) | Printed advertising calendar |
| Self-portrait (1899) | 1899 | Oil on board |
| Self-portrait (1907) | 1907 | Blue and white crayon on blue Ingres paper |
| Self-portrait, sketching in his apartment, Paris | late 1880s | oil on canvas |
| Sketches of flowers for Documents décoratifs | c.1900-1901 | Pen and ink on paper |
| Slavia insurance poster | 1907 | Poster |
| Slavs in their Original Homeland | 1912 | Egg tempera on canvas |
| Snake Bracelet with a Ring | 1899 | Gold, enamel, opal, ruby and diamond |
| Société Populaire des Beaux Arts | 1897 | Colour lithograph |
| Song of Bohemia | 1918 | oil on canvas |
| St. Vitus Cathedral Stained-glass Window, Prague: final design for the central panels, featuring SS Cyril and Methodius | 1931 | Ink and watercolour on paper |
| St. Vitus Cathedral Stained-glass Window, Prague: final design for the central panels, featuring St. Ludmila | 1931 | Ink and watercolour on paper |
| St. Vitus Cathedral Stained-glass Window, Prague: final design for the central panels, featuring St. Wenceslas (Duke of Bohemia) kneeling next to his Grandmother, St. Ludmila | 1931 | Ink and watercolour on paper |
| St.Vitus Cathedral Stained-glass Window, Prague: final design for the bottom left panels | 1931 | Ink and watercolour on paper |
| St.Vitus Cathedral Stained-glass Window, Prague: final design for the bottom right panels | 1931 | Ink and watercolour on paper |
| Stained-glass Window designed by Mucha at St. Vitus Cathedral, Prague | Early 1930s | N/A |
| Study for 'The Age of Reason' | 1936-1938 | Pencil and watercolour on paper |
| Study for 'The Slav Epic cycle' No.19: The Abolition of Serfdom in Russia | 1913-1914 | Watercolour and gouache on paper |
| Study for 'The Slav Epic' cycle No.14: The Sacrifice at Szigetvár by Nikola Zrinski | c.1913-1914 | Photographed drawings stuck together, tinted with watercolour and gouache |
| Study for 'The Slav Epic' cycle No.17: The Holy Mount Athos (1926) | c.1925-26 | Charcoal heightened with white on cardboard |
| Study for 'The Slav Epic' cycle No.18: The Oath of Omladina under the Slavic Linden Tree | c.1925-1926 | Pencil and watercolour on paper |
| Study for 'The Slav Epic' cycle No.1: The Slavs in Their Original Homeland (1912) | c.1910-1912 | Oil on canvas |
| Study for 'The Slav Epic' cycle No.2: The Celebration of Svantovít | c.1910-1912 | Oil on canvas |
| Study for 'The Slav Epic' cycle No.7: Jan Milíč of Kroměříž | c.1915-1916 | Oil on canvas |
| Study for 'The Slav Epic' cycle No.9: Master Jan Hus Preaching at the Bethlehem Chapel. The Magic of the Word: Truth Prevails (1412). | c.1915-1916 | Oil on canvas |
| Study for 'The Three Ages' triptych: Reason, Wisdom and Love [unfinished project] | 1936-1938 | Pencil and watercolour on paper |
| Study for 'Woman in the Wilderness' (c. 1922-1923) (Mucha Foundation object 315) | c. 1922-1923 | oil on canvas |
| Study for 'Woman in the Wilderness' (c. 1922-1923) (Mucha Foundation object 316) | c. 1922-1923 | oil on canvas |
| Study for Savon Notre Dame | c. 1896 | pencil and watercolour on paper |
| Study for the poster 'Russia Restituenda [Russia Must Recover]' | 1922 | Pen and ink and watercolour on paper |
| Study of a Male Nude | 1885-1887 | Oil on canvas |
| The Abolition of Serfdom in Russia | 1914 | Egg tempera on canvas |
| The Arts (series) | 1898 | Colour lithograph |
| The Arts: study for 'Dance' | 1898 | Pencil and watercolour on paper |
| The Arts: study for 'Music' | 1898 | Pencil and watercolour on paper |
| The Arts: study for 'Painting' | 1898 | Pencil and watercolour on paper |
| The Arts: study for 'Poetry' | 1898 | Pencil and watercolour on paper |
| The Bohemian King Premysl Otakar II | 1924 | egg tempera on canvas |
| The Bulgarian Tsar Simeon | 1923 | egg tempera on canvas |
| The Burr McIntosh Monthly, 1907 | 1907 | Magazine cover |
| The Celebration of Svantovit | 1912 | egg tempera on canvas |
| The Coronation of the Serbian Tsar Stefan Dusan as East Roman Emperor | 1923 | egg tempera on canvas |
| The Devil and Mr Twardowsky: study for an illustration for 'The Tale of Pan Twardowsky' (a variation of 'Faust') | c.1887-1888 | Charcoal on paper |
| The Flowers (series) | 1898 | Colour lithographs |
| The Flowers: Carnation | 1898 | Colour lithograph |
| The Flowers: Iris | 1898 | Colour lithograph |
| The Flowers: Lily | 1898 | Colour lithograph |
| The Flowers: Rose | 1898 | Colour lithograph |
| The Hussite King Jiri of Podebrady | 1923 | Egg tempera on canvas |
| The Introduction of the Slavonic Liturgy | 1912 | egg tempera on canvas |
| The Last Days of Jan Amos Komensky (Comenius) in Naarden | 1918 | Egg tempera on canvas |
| The Light of Hope | 1933 | Oil on canvas |
| The Meeting at Krizky | 1916 | egg tempera on canvas |
| The Months (January-June) | 1899 | Colour lithograph |
| The Months (July-December) | 1899 | Colour lithograph |
| The Moon and the Stars (four-panel montage) | 1902 | Colour lithographs (four-panel montage) |
| The Moon and the Stars (series) | 1902 | Colour lithograph |
| The Moon and the Stars: study for 'The Evening Star' | 1902 | Ink and watercolour on paper |
| The Moon and the Stars: study for 'The Pole Star' | 1902 | Ink and watercolour on paper |
| The New York Daily News art supplement | 1904 | Printed art supplement |
| The Oath of Concord of the Slavs (unfinished) | 1939 | oil on canvas |
| The Oath of Omladina under the Slavic Linden Tree | 1926, unfinished | Egg tempera on canvas |
| The Precious Stones (four-panel montage) | 1900 | Colour lithographs (four-panel montage) |
| The Precious Stones (series) | 1900 | Colour lithograph |
| The Precious Stones: Amethyst | 1900 | Colour lithograph |
| The Precious Stones: Emerald | 1900 | Colour lithograph |
| The Precious Stones: Ruby | 1900 | Colour lithograph |
| The Printing of the Bible of Kralice in Ivancice | 1914 | egg tempera on canvas |
| The Seasons (series) | 1896 | Colour lithograph |
| The Seasons (series) (1900) | 1900 | Colour lithograph |
| The Seasons (variation in screen format) | 1896 | Colour lithograph |
| The Seasons: Autumn (1896) | 1896 | Colour lithograph |
| The Seasons: Autumn (1900) | 1900 | Colour lithograph |
| The Seasons: Spring | 1900 | Colour lithograph |
| The Seasons: Spring (1896) | 1896 | Colour lithograph |
| The Seasons: Summer | 1900 | Colour lithograph |
| The Seasons: Summer (1896) | 1896 | Colour lithograph |
| The Seasons: Winter | 1900 | Colour lithograph |
| The Seasons: Winter (1896) | 1896 | Colour lithograph |
| The Slavonic Concord: study for the ceiling painting for the Lord Mayor's Hall, Obecní Dům, Prague | 1910-1911 | Oil on canvas |
| The Threat | 1912 | Colour lithograph |
| The Times of the Day (series) | 1899 | Colour lithograph |
| The West End Review | 1897 (Foundation); 1898 promotional cover | Colour lithograph |
| Thistle from the Sands | 1902 | Colour lithograph |
| Théâtre de la Renaissance: design for poster advertising Sarah Bernhardt's theatre | c.1895 | Pen and ink on paper |
| Tin for Lefèvre-Utile biscuits | 1899 | Circular tin with lid and handle; colour print on metal |
| Topaz | 1900 | Colour lithograph |
| Tragedy - study for a mural for the German theatre New York | 1908 | Oil and tempera on canvas |
| Trappistine Liquors | 1897 | colour lithograph |
| Wiener Chic | 1905 | Magazine cover |
| Woman in the Wilderness | 1923 | Oil on canvas |
| Woman masked in white head-scarf - study for the illustration of the Bosnia & Herzegovina Pavilion featured in 'Le Figaro Illustré' (1 March 1900) | 1899 | Pencil and wash heightened with white on paper |
| Woman with a Daisy - textile designed by Mucha | 1900 | Printed upholstery fabric |
| Zdenka Cerny | 1913 | Colour lithograph |
| Zodiac (La Plume calendar) | 1896–97 | Colour lithograph |
| Zodiac (textless decorative panel) | 1896 | Colour lithograph |
| ‘At the sight of the two storks the owl rose.’ Study for an illustration for Contes de Grand-mères | 1891 | Watercolour and gouache on paper |
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is shown in the Lorenzaccio poster?
What does the dragon represent?
Is the 1896 head drawing another poster?
Discussion
The poster shows Bernhardt as Lorenzo between a civic emblem and a symbolic dragon.
The printed wording and ornamental setting advertise a named performance.
Reader Insights
Which detail first connects the figure to the play’s conflict?
How does the dragon change the poster’s mood?
What becomes clearer when you compare the head study with the poster?
Join the Conversation
Share an observation about the star image or the story signs around it.
References
- Mucha Foundation, Poster for ‘Lorenzaccio’ (1896), object 25; medium, printer, measured sheet and interpretation of Bernhardt, dragon and Florentine imagery. Object record.
- Mucha Foundation, Sarah Bernhardt theme, production-poster sequence and long-format collaboration. Theme.
- Mucha Foundation, Head of Sarah Bernhardt: Study for ‘Lorenzaccio’ (1896), object 28, pencil on paper, 25 × 21.5 cm. Study record.
- Bibliothèque nationale de France, Lorenzaccio. Sarah Bernhardt. Théâtre de La Renaissance, catalogue notice cb40461528d, 1896 colour lithograph, Champenois, BnF impression 207 × 77 cm. BnF catalogue.
- Bibliothèque nationale de France, theatre notice FRBNF39460009, based on Rondel collection programme Rf 31800, documenting the 3 December 1896 production, adaptation and cast. Performance record.
- Université Toulouse–Jean Jaurès, doctoral research on Sarah Bernhardt's stage practice, pp. 386–389 of PDF, discussing d'Artois's concentrated adaptation and the premiere. Dissertation PDF.
- Henry Bauer, review of the 1896 Lorenzaccio premiere, L'Écho de Paris, 5 December 1896, transcribed by Lettres volées with a link to the Gallica newspaper issue. Review transcription.
- Musée Carnavalet / Paris Musées, Lorenzaccio poster, AFF1135, 1896, 97.3 × 37.6 cm; inscriptions, Champenois line and fiscal stamp. Collection record.
- National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, Poster of “Lorenzaccio”: Sarah Bernhardt, G.1971-0005, 1896 colour lithograph, 97 × 36 cm, donated by Sadajiro Kubo in 1971. Collection record.
- National Trust, Poster of Sarah Bernhardt in Lorenzaccio, Smallhythe Place, NT 1117316, 99.4 × 36.1 cm; Ellen Terry provenance and curatorial interpretation. Collection record.
- Ehime Museum of Art, Lorenzaccio poster, 1896 lithograph, 206.8 × 76.5 cm. Japanese collection record.
- Bibliothèque nationale de France, Les Maitres de l'Affiche, cb40469980j, six Mucha plates printed by Chaix, including Lorenzaccio no. 114; 39.5 × 28 cm group description. Catalogue record.
- Jules Lemaître, “Revue dramatique,” Revue des Deux Mondes, 31 December 1896, contemporary review of Bernhardt's Lorenzaccio and d'Artois's omission of the epilogue. Read transcription.
- Joël Huthwohl / Société d'Histoire du Théâtre, “Sarah Bernhardt,” Dictionnaire des metteuses en scène, on her production role and the 3 December 1896 Lorenzaccio. Read study.
- Librairie Denis, catalogue entries 39 and 48, pp. 41 and 49–50, for two separately described reduced Lorenzaccio variants, with attribution and dating claims. Read catalogue.
