Alphonse Mucha Set of Nine "La Princess Lontaine" Watercolors

This remarkable group of nine watercolor costume studies by Alphonse Mucha was created for the original production of La Princesse Lointaine by Edmond Rostand, first performed on April 5, 1895. The drawings depict a range of supporting characters from the drama, including Albert Laroche as Squarciafico, the Genoese merchant; Cauroy as the pilot; Charles Montigny as the ship’s captain; Magnin, Pelletier, and Arquillière as sailors; and Georges Monrose as a bargeman. A supplementary sheet of weapons and martial accessories accompanies the ensemble. Mucha’s costume designs capture the aftermath of the violent storm described in the opening act. In Act I, the sailors appear gaunt and exhausted, their pale, tragic faces marked by privation and fatigue. Some slump helplessly across the deck, while others bear wounds bound crudely with strips of cloth. Their garments hang in tatters, emphasizing both the physical hardship of the voyage and the heightened emotional characteristic of Rostand’s drama. The costume for the ship’s captain, portrayed by Charles Montigny, conveys authority through richly exoticized details inspired by Ottoman dress. He wears a towering wrapped turban, composed of a cloth sarık wound around a tapering inner kavuk, and carries a gilded whip and goad as emblems of command. His tattered tunic is nevertheless ornamented with bands of red, blue, and gold embroidery, suggesting faded grandeur amid adversity. Cauroy’s pilot is distinguished by a blue fur-trimmed cap, while the Genoese merchant Squarciafico is rendered in a highly theatrical pose. Bent forward in a gesture of obsequious persuasion, he clutches a red-and-gold drawstring purse and a cluster of gold chains beside an open chest overflowing with silks and swords. His acorn-shaped red felt cap recalls Renaissance Italian fashions, while his purple tunic is embroidered with stylized oak leaves. Rostand endowed the figure of Squarciafico with particular symbolic significance. In Act II, Scene 5, the merchant addresses Mélissinde in a double discourse: publicly advertising his luxurious wares while secretly informing her that the troubadour Joffroy Rudel seeks an audience with her. Mélissinde condemns the zecchino coin worn by Squarciafico as a sign of mercantile greed, contrasting Italian commercial wealth with the spiritual idealism and sacrifice of the French crusaders. Mucha’s designs subtly reinforce this tension between material luxury and moral aspiration through the merchant’s opulent—yet morally ambiguous—appearance. Several of the sailors’ names further evoke the cosmopolitan world of Mediterranean trade and crusading culture. Marrias d’Aigues-Mortes refers to the southern French port city associated with the Crusades, while Juan le Portugais identifies a sailor of Portuguese origin. Together, these studies reveal Mucha’s extraordinary sensitivity to historical costume, theatrical characterization, and the poetic symbolism at the heart of Rostand’s celebrated play.