La confession

Original wash drawing by Alfred Johannot, a study entitled La Confession for a lithograph published in volume 2 of L'Artiste (22nd issue).
Attached: a lithographed proof of the drawing (slightly spotted) executed by J. Lion and Bichebois the elder, signed Alfred Johannot pinx. in the lower left corner, and J. Lion lith. in the lower right corner.

Alfred Johannot worked with his brothers Tony and Charles as an illustrator, engraver and vignettist. The Johannot brothers occupy an important place in the history of the Romantic illustrated book for their work on celebrated works by Walter Scott, Beaumarchais, Bernardin de Saint-Pierre and Goethe, but also for numerous comic opera and vaudeville librettos. They also contributed extensively to illustrating stories published in the weekly L'Artiste, founded in 1831. This fine arts and literature review was essential to Romantic literature and a meeting place for artists, critics and men of letters. It published Balzac's Colonel Chabert and articles by Chateaubriand and George Sand, among others, and received contributions from Delacroix. Published as a booklet of about fifteen pages, its frontispiece was signed by Tony Johannot and young artists like Decamps and Raffet collaborated on it, giving it a very Romantic character.

This drawing comes from the collection of Aristide Marie (1862-1938), essayist, specialist in Gérard de Nerval, and great collector of works by Alfred and Tony Johannot, to whom he devoted a work (Alfred et Tony Johannot, Paris, H. Floury, 1925, 124 p.). He also wrote essays on other Romantic painters and lithographers, including Célestin Nanteuil and Henry Monnier. The majority of the Johannot works from this collection is now housed at the Musée de la vie romantique in Paris.