Pictorial initial (page 14) from Les Petites Fleurs de St. François (The Little Flowers of St. Francis)
Émile Bernard
French, 1868–1941
1928
A printed book page from a 1928 edition of Les Petites Fleurs de Saint François featuring a woodcut pictorial initial by Émile Bernard that introduces the chapter and sets a devotional, medievalizing tone.
Your eye is arrested by the rust-brown, stylized initial — a robed, praying figure entwined with foliate ornament — which sits against neat black French type and generous, slightly deckled margins, giving the page a calm, tactile presence.
This work exemplifies the early-20th-century revival of woodcut and artisanal book design, where artists like Bernard reclaimed medieval visual language to give modern publications a handcrafted, spiritual authority.
Medium
One from an illustrated book with 329 woodcuts
Dimensions
composition (irreg.): 3 5/16 × 2 13/16" (8.4 × 7.2 cm); page: 12 13/16 × 9 13/16" (32.5 × 25 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
The Louis E. Stern Collection
Accession
677.1964.12
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
