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Lot Essay
The actress and singer Marcelle Lender (1862-1926) was one of the Lautrec’s favourite performers. In 1895 she starred in the comic operetta Chilpéric, performed at the Théâtre des Variétés in Paris. Such was Lautrec’s infatuation that, in the operetta’s three month run, he attended more than twenty times, arriving just to see Lender dance the bolero in the second act. When asked by his friend the poet and playwright Romain Coolus about his devotion to the play Lautrec explained, ‘I come only to see Lender’s back’, he replied. ‘Look at it carefully; you will seldom see anything as wonderful. Lender’s back is magnificent’ (Romain Coolus, Souvenirs sur Toulouse-Lautrec, 1931, quoted in G. Adriani, p. 157).
This celebrated portrait of Lender in Spanish costume, bowing to the audience, is one of Lautrec's most famous. Gotz Adriani observed that 'no other lithograph is printed with such a wealth of subtle colour combinations, and none embodies, as this does, the opulent decoration of an age moving towards its close' (Adriani, p. 161).
This celebrated portrait of Lender in Spanish costume, bowing to the audience, is one of Lautrec's most famous. Gotz Adriani observed that 'no other lithograph is printed with such a wealth of subtle colour combinations, and none embodies, as this does, the opulent decoration of an age moving towards its close' (Adriani, p. 161).