Comiques du Palais-Royal.

[Paris, circa 1870].. 16 original watercolors, each signed Lh in pencil within the composition, tipped onto windowed album leaves. Average dimensions: 200 x 148 mm. (ca. 7 7/8 x 5 3/4 inches). Contemporary full gilt embossed leather (partial split at one hinge, light rubbing). New fitted cloth clamshell case. This cavalcade of finished watercolor caricatures consists of a unified series of 15 compositions, each on the same buff-colored paper, mounted within captioned ruled borders. The comic artist Romain Thomas, who styled himself Lhéritier (1809-1885) had a dual career as an artist and an actor, which is encompassed in this series of caricatures of leading figures of the Palais Royal, one of the principal theatres of the Paris stage. The subjects include Lhéritier himself, Brasseur, Grassot, Hyacinthe, Gil-Perès, and Luquet--some in several different roles--as well as the artist Henry Monnier. The sixteenth water color here would appear to be a later addition to the album, being on a different paper stock of slightly larger dimension, signed in full (rather than initialled), and without caption or frame. (Inventory #: B175280-1)