David et Bethsabée (d'après Cranach)

This work is a unique proof gifted to Geneviève Laporte (1926-2012), Picasso's lover during the 1950s. In 1951, Picasso and Laporte began an affair which lasted for two years and during which time the artist presented her with a number of his works. A poet and writer herself, Laporte published her book 'Sunshine at Midnight: Memories of Picasso and Cocteau' in 1973 in which she recounts Picasso giving her the current work:
'He [Picasso] also pulled out a lithograph to show me, a David and Bethsabée after a painting by Cranach. The date on the first proofs appeared in reverse because for once, said Picasso, he had forgotten that it had to be written back to front on the zinc. The plate shows Bethsabée richly dressed, seated in a garden and stretching out her foot to be washed by a serving woman, while David peers down at her with lust in his eye, from a terrace above… The proof Picasso showed me was pulled on a sheet of paper which had a silken feel. 'It's Chinese paper,' Picasso told me. They don't make much of it anymore. This is the only proof of this state.' He looked at me, while I, fascinated by the lithograph, remained silent. Then Picasso said with a smile: 'Tell me, as you used to do, what you think of it.' I remained speechless, tongue- tied by the beauty and force radiating from this black and white linear image… he put it on the table, took a red pencil and wrote: Pour Geneviève Laporte (épreuve unique). Then he added the date and remarked: 'It's for you. Take care of it, because your print is unique.' Then he disappeared into a cupboard and returned with a very simple white wooden frame. Picasso himself put the lithograph into this frame and Marcel brought it round to my apartment that evening.' (Laporte, Geneviève. Sunshine at Midnight: Memories of Picasso and Cocteau, 1973, Weidenfeld ad Nicolson, London, p.89-90.)

In the late 1940s Picasso entered his 'old master period', spending the next decade studying and reworking masterpieces of the past to rewrite them in his own visual language. This work is based on a painting by the German Renaissance painter and printmaker, Lucas Cranach the Elder and depicts the biblical King David gazing upon the beautiful Bethsabée as she bathes. Noted for the use of contour and absence of chiaroscuro in his works, Cranach was a highly skilful and much revered printmaker. Picasso greatly admired the Master Printmakers who had come before him, highlighting the importance of the medium in Picasso's own work.

Lithograph, 1949, on Velin Arches paper, inscribed, dated and signed lower left in red chalk 'Pour Geneviève Laporte (épreuve unique) 26.5.51 Picasso', a rare unique print, dedicated to Geneviève Laporte, his lover during the 1950s, aside from the six artist's and printer's proofs, image: 64.5 x 47.7 cm. (25.4 x 18.8 in.), sheet: 70 x 50 cm. (27.5 x 19.7 in.)

Mourlot 109 (State 10a or 10 bis); Bloch 442; Hatje Cantz 214