Lucien Hector Monod ( 1867 - 1957 ) - Il Pleut Bergère

This pencil drawing on paper is a preparatory sketch executed in 1915 by Lucien Monod, intended for the illustration of a collection devoted to traditional French songs. It is inspired by the popular song Il pleut bergère, whose poetic and narrative atmosphere it conveys.

The scene unfolds in a rural landscape affected by inclement weather. At the center, a shepherdess wearing a hat and holding an open parasol shields herself from the rain and wind. Her inclined posture and the movement of her garments express the force of the elements. Around her, several sheep animate the foreground and reinforce the pastoral character of the composition. To the right, a winged figure, evoking a putto, energetically waves a large fan, personifying the wind and emphasizing the allegorical dimension of the scene. In the background, a church steeple appears on the horizon, anchoring the whole in a traditional rural setting.

The drawing is distinguished by a free and spontaneous style, which gives it great virtuosity and a strong sense of rhythm. This is not graphic writing in the strict sense, but rather a graphic language, in which movement, momentum, and the circulation of forms prevail. The strong dynamism of the composition gives the whole a lively animation and clearly reveals the preparatory character of the work, conceived as a search for composition and movement rather than as a finished drawing. The whole bears witness to the artist’s narrative sensibility, who succeeded in capturing the vivid, almost theatrical aspect of the subject.

The artist :
Lucien Hector Monod was a French painter, draughtsman, and printmaker active from the late nineteenth century through the first half of the twentieth century. Born in Paris in 1867 into a family of Swiss origin, he grew up in an intellectually and artistically cultivated environment that naturally encouraged his turn toward the arts.

He trained at the Académie Julian in Paris, where he studied in particular under Pierre Puvis de Chavannes, whose influence left a lasting mark on his sense of composition, formal synthesis, and visual narration. In his early years, his work aligned with Symbolist aesthetics, characterized by an emphasis on atmosphere, allegory, and poetic suggestion, before gradually evolving toward a freer and more intimate mode of expression.

Lucien Monod enjoyed a recognized artistic career during his lifetime. From the end of the nineteenth century onward, he exhibited regularly at the Salon of the Société nationale des Beaux-Arts and took an active part in the artistic life of the Belle Époque. His oeuvre includes paintings, drawings, watercolors, and lithographs, encompassing landscapes, figure studies, rural scenes, narrative subjects, and decorative compositions. As a highly skilled draughtsman, he developed a lively and rhythmic graphic language in which movement and spontaneity play a central role, particularly in his sketches and preparatory works.

Alongside his artistic practice, Monod cultivated a deep interest in printmaking and art history. He published an important reference work devoted to the print market, demonstrating both his extensive knowledge of the graphic arts and his role as a perceptive observer of the artistic world of his time. This dual activity as artist and theorist gives him a distinctive place within the French cultural landscape of the period.

From 1917 onward, he settled in Cannes, where he continued to work until the end of his life. He died there in 1957. His artistic legacy is complemented by a notable intellectual heritage: he was the father of Jacques Monod, the biologist and Nobel Prize laureate in medicine, and of Philippe Monod, a figure of the French Resistance. Today, Lucien Monod’s work is preserved in public and private collections, and his drawings and paintings continue to bear witness to an art that is sensitive, narrative, and deeply rooted in the visual culture of its time.

Condition:
Overall good condition.
Paper slightly yellowed; a cleaning of the sheet may be considered. Please refer carefully to the photographs included in the description.