Sarah Bernhardt’s lilies outlived the play that made them famous. She wore them as Mélissinde in Edmond Rostand’s La Princesse Lointaine, which opened at Paris’s Théâtre de la Renaissance in April 1895. Alphonse Mucha returned to the image in several printed designs. Putting those prints in order shows how a theatrical role became a recognizable image outside the theater.
A stage costume that audiences could recognize
Mucha and Bernhardt had already collaborated on Gismonda. His later theater posters often presented her as a full-length figure, recognizable through the costume, posture and setting of a role. For La Princesse Lointaine, the lily headdress gave Bernhardt an identifying detail. A close portrait could recall the character even when the rest of the stage and costume disappeared.
The 1896 banquet and the 1897 La Plume print
On December 9, 1896, a circle of Bernhardt’s admirers gathered to honor her at the Grand Hotel in Paris. Mucha’s design for the occasion concentrates on her head and the lilies, giving the portrait a different purpose from a street poster selling tickets. The Mucha Foundation catalogs a 1897 La Plume version and records that the image also appeared as a postcard. Print let a moment of celebrity travel far beyond the banquet room.
From theatrical image to biscuit advertisement
The later Lefèvre-Utile design places Bernhardt in the role again, this time with the biscuit company’s name and LU emblem. The Mucha Foundation dates its example to 1903, while Paris Musées catalogs a version dated 1904. Those dates belong to the advertising print and its versions. The role itself goes back to 1895. Read the bottom of the advertisement for the brand and look to the lilies for the connection to the stage.
Related prints from the collection
Browse all Alphonse Mucha posters or continue with How Lefèvre-Utile Sold Biscuits with Alphonse Mucha’s Posters and the stories behind Gismonda, JOB and Zodiaque.