"Portraits-charges": 13 original watercolours.

Pencil, grease pencil and watercolour, c. 33 x 24 cm, wove paper, pencil foliotation, the first four signed "L. Ghémar" and accompanied by a burlesque quatrain, a few annot. and sm. sketches on versos (some marg. stains and very light spotting, paper reinforcement to the last leaf).

Mod. Bradel blue three-quarter cloth, gilt title label on cover, gilt title on spine (endcaps and corners sl. used). Very good condition.

Exceptional and astonishing collection of portraits drawn by the famous Brussels photographer Ghémar (1819-1873), who was also a painter, a lithographer, and a talented caricaturist, contributor to the Belgian edition of the "Charivari". Various characters: lawyer, dandy, general, artist, politician... The caricature n. 2 ("Duo concertant/ 1re audition") is dedicated "à son ami B. Pont"; the n. 8 shows a pianist with a score entitled "J'ai renié ma foi, le Christ". The n. 9 is a self-portrait of Ghémar, aged around twenty, with a title (later censored but legible): "Auto-portrait de Gh...". Of the many more or less caricatured representations we have of Ghémar, this would be the oldest.