Cyrano de Bergerac after Lucien Metivet

Christophe Adrien (Count) Regley de Koenigsegg

A watercolor in miniature after the poster by Lucien Metivet (French: 1863 - 1932), advertising the upcoming tour of the popular 1898 production of Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand. The titling in the bottom half of the image loosely translates: “Heroic-comic play in five acts / A great spectacle of Mr. Edmond Rostand / Immense Success”. Rostand (French: 1868 - 1918) was best known for his comedic play about Cyrano, a lovestruck soldier and renaissance man whose extraordinarily large nose causes him to doubt himself.

Rostand wrote the play in 1897 and by the following year it was one of the most in-demand productions in France, having famously received an hour-long ovation following its debut performance. This is likely an image of Constant Coquelin, the first actor to portray Cyrano with over 400 performances of the character to his name. Faithfully copying Metivet’s work to the smallest detail, Koenigsegg finely paints Cyrano’s most famous feature in profile illuminated by a bright yellow sky.