Poèmes de Charles d'Orléans.

A fine copy in the original box

First edition thus, first printing, number 1127 of 1,230 copies on vélin d'Arches signed by Matisse on the limitation page. This work was entirely composed by Matisse, reproducing his manuscript version of the medieval poetry by the Duke of Orléans (1394-1465), including some of his rondeaux, chansons, and ballads.

The Duke was taken prisoner by the English in 1415 at the battle of Azincourt and wrote most of the poetry he is remembered for, both in French and in English, during his 25-year-long captivity. Matisse's take on these poems, conceived in the early 1940s during the German occupation of France, can be seen as "Matisse invoking the imprisonment of a historical figure for the purposes of asserting a French cultural tradition during a period when the nation's future appeared uncertain" (Brown, p. 84). Fellow artists however saw in it more of an investigation into Matisse's artistic persona, as André Rouveyre put it in a letter dated 21 January 1943: "Many of these pieces could serve as a research into your own self in complete purity, beyond the figural" (Brown, p. 96).

A lovely copy of the last livre d'artiste published by Matisse during his lifetime, uncommon in the box.