The Hector Berlioz Website

Berlioz Cartoon Collection  2 : 1840s

Artist: J. Traviès – 1843

    This is part of a drawing by Traviès entitled "Panthéon Musical", which depicts "the principal composers in 1843". In addition to Berlioz, there are 15 other composers in the picture; among them: Meyerbeer, Rossini, Halévy, Auber, Clapisson, Donizetti, Thomas and Adam.

"The acrobats"

Artist: Daumier
Published in Charivari, 5 April 1843

    The names of the five people depicted in the back are, from left to right: Jules Janin, David d’Angers, Victor Hugo, Berlioz, P. Delaroche.

Artist unknown – ca. 1845

This sketch has been attributed to a person from Berlioz’s hometown, La Côte Saint André. The original copy is the Musée Hector Berlioz at La Côte.

"Un concert à mitraille et Berlioz"
[A concert of cannons and Berlioz]

Artist: Grandville (Jean Ignace Isidore Gérard, 1803-1847)
published in L’Illustration, 15 November 1845

    This cartoon was also published in Louis Reybaud, Jérôme Paturot à la recherce d’une position sociale (Paris, 1846). The caption reads: "Heureusement la salle est solide... elle résiste!" [Fortunately the hall is solid... it can stand the strain!]. A copy of this cartoon is in the Musée Hector Berlioz. 

The image here has been scanned from Adolph Jullien, Hector Berlioz: Sa vie et ses œuvres (Paris, 1888), a copy of which is in our own collection.

Artist unknown
published in Charivari, 18 January 1845

    This cartoon was published on the eve of Berlioz’s first concert at the Cirque Olympique des Champs-Élysée.

Artist and exact date unknown – after 1846

    These two cartoons were drawn with pencil on the flute part of La Damnation de Faust during a rehearsal session. One of the drawings represents the composer on a wooden horse with a rolled up manuscript in his hand. La Damnation de Faust was composed in 1846, so the drawings can be dated to 1846 or later. The original copy of this picture is in the Bibliothèque nationale de France.

© 2003-2007 (unless otherwise stated) Monir Tayeb and Michel Austin.

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