A jester with a small guitar slung over his shoulder offers cherries to a bird on his hand as another bird takes the fruit from the plate on the floor, and a chained monkey looks on. Engraving by E. Mohn after A. Lambron.

[London] : [J.S. Virtue], [1875]

1 print : engraving ; image 27 x 17.7 cm

The jester. A. Lambron pinxt. E. Mohn sculpt.

The art journal, 1875, p. 105 ("This singular but very clever picture was hung in the gallery set apart for the works of the French school in the International Exhibition of 1862, when it bore the title of 'Un flâneur.' So far as we can ascertain, it is the only painting ever exhibited in England by the artist, M. Albert Lambron; nor do we learn from inquiry that he is very much more popularly known in France than among ourselves. A French acquaintance of ours, familiar with the arts and artists of his own country, has informed us that M. Lambron painted a large picture some few years ago, called 'Une Reunion d'Amis', representing a group of several persons holding a kind fête in the grounds of a cabaret in the suburbs of Paris ; the figures are nearly, if not quite, life-size. Another of his pictures, as we hear from the same authority, is also a 'Flâneur,' but treated very differently from our subject ; and one or two of his works have been reproduced in lithography, and published in Paris. This is but meagre intelligence concerning an artist who, judging from what we have here, is one of no ordinary talent, notwithstanding the rather eccentric manner in which he has thought fit to develop it. The attitude assumed by the wearer of the cap and bells shows the painter's boldness in design, while the drawing of the figure displays great power. All the accessories of the composition contribute to give point to the humour of the dramatic acting; and the expression of the monkey's face, as the animal watches one of the birds helping itself incontinently to the cherries in the plate, is inimitable: the monkey certainly divides the interest of the picture with its master. In the immediate foreground, discarded for the time, lies another of the jester's playthings— our old friend, Punchinello, with a ludicrous smile on his face. Notwithstanding the distorted posture of the jester, there is a very considerable amount of grace given to the figure. It is a most carefully painted picture, every part of it showing minute attention. The border of the panelled wall-paper is a great relief to the monotone of the background, filling up what would otherwise be an unpleasant blank on the canvas.")

Wellcome Collection 29519i