ADOLPHE LALAUZE

SCENE FROM GIL BLAS: LORENZA SEPHORA CONFRONTS GIL BLAS

ADOLPHE LALAUZE
Rive-de-Gier 1838 – 1906 Milly-la-Forêt

Pen, ink and watercolor wash on paper
29.5 × 23.5 cm / 11.6 × 9.3 in
Framed: 58.5 × 47 cm / 23 × 18.5 in
Original period frame, circa 1930s

This spirited drawing captures one of the most vibrant and emotionally charged encounters in Alain-René Lesage’s Les Aventures de Gil Blas de Santillane: the explosive confrontation between Gil Blas and Lorenza Sephora. Proud, passionate and theatrical by nature, Lorenza bursts into the room in a storm of indignation, her vehement gesture and dramatic posture expressing a temperament as fiery as it is volatile. Gil Blas, equally unsettled and fascinated, is caught between seduction, danger and moral confusion — a perfect embodiment of Lesage’s vision of life as perpetual theatre.

The composition is orchestrated with remarkable intelligence: the luxuriant interior heightens the sense of worldly vanity, while the exaggerated gestures of both figures reveal the comic intensity and psychological complexity of the scene. Rather than simply illustrating the text, Lalauze stages it, transforming the episode into a miniature drama of character, pride and illusion.

This sheet is a superb work by Adolphe Lalauze, one of the most distinguished French illustrators and etchers of the late nineteenth century. A regular exhibitor at the Paris Salon from 1872, awarded medals in 1876 and 1878, and appointed Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur, Lalauze illustrated many of the great literary monuments of his time. The present drawing belongs to his celebrated cycle of illustrations for Gil Blas, created around 1880 for the bibliophile edition published in Paris by Édouard Rouveyre (Suite de vingt et une estampes pour servir à l’illustration de… Histoire de Gil Blas).

As with the finest works in this series, the sheet reveals what printed reproductions could never fully convey: the vibrancy of the wash, the precision of line, the carefully modulated play of light and shadow, and above all the immediacy of emotional presence. In recent years, such original drawings have gained renewed appreciation, recognised not merely as preparatory material but as autonomous works of art of remarkable refinement and cultural significance.

This is a rare and exceptionally vivid testimony to Lalauze’s narrative genius — a brilliant visual interpretation of one of the most memorable female figures of Gil Blas, and a striking expression of the theatrical, passionate and deeply human world of Lesage’s novel.