Ballade de Noël

Ballade de Noël by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec is a significant example of the artist's mastery of the lithographic medium, created sometime between 1890 and 1900. This highly illustrative print captures the essence of the Belle Époque's popular cultural output, having been produced as a song sheet edition, evidenced by the addition of text applied by another hand to the wove paper. This immediate context underscores the commercial and ephemeral nature of Lautrec’s graphic work during this prolific period.

The piece is a crayon lithograph printed in black, distinguished by the artist’s use of a scraper. This subtractive technique, where Lautrec scrapes away pigment from the stone, allows for brilliant highlights and striking contrasts, lending the image a dynamic, almost immediate quality. The composition centers on a group of Human Figures, captured with the expressive line and candid observation for which Toulouse-Lautrec is famed. His economical approach to line work focuses viewer attention solely on the characters and their interactions, typical of the way he chronicled Parisian life, from cabarets to private moments.

This unique impression, described as the only known state featuring the added text, resides within the extensive collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. As a critical document of fin-de-siècle commercial art and the development of the modern poster style, the work confirms Lautrec's status as a leading innovator in graphic prints. Because of its date and its inclusion in major museum archives, this key example of Toulouse-Lautrec’s influential output is frequently referenced among materials available in the public domain for academic study and appreciation.