ÉTIENNE DINET (1861-1929) ILLUSTRATION FOR LE PRINTEMPS DES COEURS, 1902 Watercolour, pencil and white gouache highlights on paper, signed lower left. DIM. (VIEW) 22.5 X 15 CM (8 11/16 X 5 15/16 IN.) NOTE In 1901-1902, Étienne Dinet translated and illustrated the book "Le printemps des cœurs" by his poet friend Slimane ben Ibrahim. On 15 December 1902, Dinet described our work in a letter to a commissioner of a single copy: "I must warn you that, as the craft of pure watercolour does not suit me, I am in the habit of adding coloured pencils, the solidity of which I have tested". He also mentions the smoke of burning palm trees entwining themselves in the sky in the form of an amorous apparition. This poetic work is one of the five illustrations in the third poem, and conveys the magic and mystery of Saharan legends.