New Addition: Louis Boulanger's image of Paganini in Prison

Louis Boulanger, Paganini in Prison. Early 20th Century. Original pressing 1831.
 

 

This image was something of an icon in underground Romanticism, and a rather controversial one. Paganini, the great violin virtuoso, was a major figure and precursor of a 20th Century rock star, and dark rumours about devil-worship, conspiracy, and mystery swirled around him (most, if not all, unfounded). This made him a particularly intriguing figure for the dark subcurrent of Frenetic Romanticism, as typified by Bouzingo group. This print, in fact, was made by a co-founder of that group, Louis Boulanger, and embroiled him in a public argument with Paganini himself, who was shocked to find a crowd gathered around a print-shop window discussing it, and he published an article asserting that he had never been in prison, the story was apocryphal, and the picture libelous. Boulanger, in turn, replied that he had been unaware of the truth or falsehood of the claims, but considered the imprisonment of the artist a fitting symbol for the tormented energy of Paganini's performances, and that he was furthermore referencing Tasso's imprisonment. This is an early 20th-Century reproduction of Boulanger's print.