New Addition: Portrait of Alphonse Esquiros

Portrait of Alphonse Esquiros. Unsigned. c. 1843. Engraving.

The radical activity of Alphonse Esquiros spanned many underground networks. He was a leading figure in the Romanticist avant-garde, publishing poetry and fiction in anthologies and journals, and collaborated with the Jeunes-France / Bouzingo group; initially headed for ordination, he broke with the church under the influence of Lammenais and became a notorious anti-clericalist, denounced by the Church in 1840 after publishing a book presenting Jesus as a social reformer and proponent of democracy; furthermore, he played an important role in the french occult revival of the 19th Century, and was involved with the feminist-mystical Evadamist group led by the Mapah Ganneau, where he worked with the young Eliphas Lévi, as well as the feminist union-organiser Flora Tristan; and the self-declared Jacobin was very active in various socialist circles, both as an organiser and as an historian of revolution. After the 1848 Revolution, this heretical occultist experimental poet was, remarkably, elected to the National Assembly in 1850. He was expelled from France after Napoleon III's coup-d'etat the following year, and lived in Belgium, Holland and England for nearly two decades. Finally returning to France, he was again elected to the National Assembly after the emperor's abdication, and remained committed throughout his life to the far left.

The artist and source of this nicely-executed print are unknown. The dating is based on comparison with the sculptor David d'Angers' 1843 medallion portrait of Esquiros, which shows him with identical hair, beard, and even pose, and may well have served as the model for the engraving.