Bidspirit auction | Collection of Chromolithographic Postcards and

Collection of Chromolithographic Postcards and Cards Depicting the Wandering Jew. France, Late 19th Century - An interesting collection of 16 chromolithographic postcards and cards depicting the Wandering Jew. France, late 19th century. A series of seven French chromolithographic cards from the late nineteenth century, presenting a popular cultural combination of illustration, poetry, and music centered on the legend of the Wandering Jew (Le Juif Errant). The Wandering Jew is depicted according to the antisemitic visual conventions of the period, with a long white beard reaching his knees, ragged clothing, a leather apron, and a pilgrim's staff, together with the motif of the five sous that mysteriously reappear in his pocket each time he spends them. The various scenes portray the Jew's encounters with a wide range of figures throughout the ages, from medieval knights to peasants and bourgeois townspeople of the modern era. At the bottom of each card appear musical notation and lyrics from the famous folk lament (La Complainte), narrated in the first person by the Jewish cobbler condemned to wander the earth forever after refusing to allow Jesus to rest upon the threshold of his home. A chromolithographic advertising card produced by the renowned meat-extract manufacturer Liebig, which was known for including collectible series on history, science, and the arts with its products. This card is dedicated to the celebrated French-Jewish composer Jacques Fromental Halévy (1799–1862) and features at its center a detailed portrait surrounded by gilded ribbons listing his major works, including the grand opera Le Juif Errant (The Wandering Jew), composed in 1852. Along the lower portion of the card are illustrated key characters from his operas, while in the lower right corner the bearded, cloaked figure of the Wandering Jew emerges from the shadows, gazing from the background. A series of six postcards published by the renowned Vassellier printing house in Nantes, France, C. 1900, forming a sequential narrative of the Wandering Jew's endless journey. The entire series is accompanied by verses from the traditional French lament (La Complainte), printed at the bottom of each postcard and recounting the Wandering Jew's perpetual travels across the globe and through the ages. In one scene, the Jew walks alone through a rugged, rocky wilderness while an angel hovers above him, symbolizing the heavenly judgment and divine punishment that accompany him. Another postcard depicts him entering the outskirts of Brussels, set against a backdrop of magnificent Gothic architecture, where local townspeople and members of the bourgeoisie gather around him in astonishment, marveling at the extraordinary length of his white beard, unlike anything they have ever seen. As the series progresses, the forces of nature and the dangers confronting the wanderer intensify. One postcard shows him walking along a storm-lashed coastline beside a raging sea, where a wrecked sailing ship is being hurled against the cliffs. The accompanying text describes his passage across seas, rivers, forests, deserts, and mountains, declaring that ”all roads are good” for him because he has no place where he may rest. In another scene, the curse reaches a new level as the figure stands unharmed amid a blood-soaked battlefield strewn with the dead and wounded before a massive stone fortress. Here he is portrayed as the eternal witness to the destructive wars that have repeatedly ravaged both Europe and Asia, while death itself continues to pass him by. His journey carries him beyond the seas into a dense tropical jungle teeming with danger, representing the continents of the Americas and Africa. The figure walks among giant serpents and prehistoric monsters, having witnessed the ”great mortality” of the New World, yet declaring that even there death refuses to claim him. The series reaches its dramatic and theological climax in a postcard depicting the Last Judgment (Le Dernier Jugement). The aged Jew sits exhausted upon a rock as the heavens open in radiant light, angels sound their trumpets, and the dead rise from their graves. The concluding text describes the moment of grace and redemption, when Jesus—portrayed as compassionate—addresses him and announces that, after wandering for more than a thousand years, the Day of Judgment has arrived and his eternal suffering has finally come to an end. A card from a French series devoted to ”Legendary Heroes” (Les Héros Légendaires), published by Éditions H. et D., focusing on the Wandering Jew. The illustration depicts the Wandering Jew advancing with stooped posture and unwavering determination against the forces of nature, amid driving rain and violent winds whipping at his tattered cloak, while leaning upon his traditional wooden staff and carrying a humble traveler's sack over his shoulder. A biographical postcard featuring the portrait of the celebrated French novelist Eugène Sue (1804–1857),