Wrapper front from Daphnis et Chloé
Pierre Bonnard
French, 1867–1947
1902
The wrapper front of a 1902 illustrated edition of Longus’s Daphnis et Chloé, printed as a lithograph by Pierre Bonnard to give a discreet, pictorial accompaniment to the pastoral text.
What strikes you is the austere, spacious title page—large, elegant type set into wide cream margins—with a small, intimate vignette beneath: two nude figures entwined in a tender, understated lithograph.
This cover shows how turn-of-the-century artists like Bonnard brought modernist pictorial sensibility into book design, merging fine art and publishing to reframe classical subjects for contemporary readers.
Medium
One from an illustrated book with 156 lithographs (including wrapper front)
Dimensions
composition (irreg.): 1 15/16 × 13/16" (4.9 × 2.1 cm); page (each): 11 7/16 × 9 3/8" (29 × 23.8 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
The Louis E. Stern Collection
Accession
685.1964.156
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
