Émile BERNARD (1868-1941) Fête de la Saint-Jean or The Dance of Life and Death, 1886 Charcoal, ink, ink wash and watercolour on paper Signed and dated 1886 lower right 34.5 x 27 cm PROVENANCE : - Atelier Émile Bernard - Clément Altarriba Collection - Private collection, Paris NOTE : - Only two dances of death survive in Brittany: the one in the church of Notre-Dame de Kernascléden (Morbihan, about fifty kilometres from Pont-Aven) and the one in the chapel of Kermaria-an-Iskuit in Plouha. These macabre dances were inspired by the one painted in Paris in 1424-1425, under the arcades of the Charnier cloister in the Saints-Innocents cemetery. The latter launched a veritable craze that spread throughout Europe, particularly in Brittany. - No equivalent iconography is listed in the catalogue raisonné of the artist's painted work, which leads us to conclude that Émile BERNARD, barely 18, was inspired by the macabre dances he must have witnessed during his visits to his grandmother in Brittany, with the help of Père Tanguy. A certificate of authenticity from Madame Béatrice RECCHI-ALTARRIBA, Émile BERNARD's granddaughter, will be given to the buyer.