La Halle Aux Charges. Le Nouveau Ballon Dirigeable. La Belle Alphonsine. 14 Septembre 1884.

Object Details

Physical Description: French newspaper from September 1884. The front has a cartoon of a winged woman flying through the air with her skirt as a dirigible balloon. A man in a chair behind her is using bellows to keep her skirt/balloon filled with air. Her skirt /balloon is labeled 'La Belle Alphonsine.' A gondola below the balloon contains three men and has a French flag hanging from either side. Scene is hand-colored with blue, hot pink, and nude-colored ink. Information about the newspaper is at the top, and there is a caption for the scene at the bottom. The paper has three more pages filled with text and small cartoons.; Le Belle Alphonsine is perhaps a reference to Alphonsine Fournaise, who was known as "La Belle Alphonsine," and who is a figure in Renoir's "The Luncheon of the Boating Party," as well as the subject of several portraits. As the term "La Belle Alphonsine" occurs in other works of French literature. However, it is possible that the reference is to something else.

September 14, 1884

Medium: Newspaper, Colored
Dimensions: Mat (H x W): 45.7 × 55.9cm (18 × 22 in.); Unmatted (H x W): 34.9 × 48.6cm (13 3/4 × 19 1/8 in.)

National Air and Space Museum

GUID (Link to Original Record): http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/nv98cfd553c-0172-472f-9a82-bc1beb1edc45