This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 2/25/2023
[ROBERT-HOUDIN] de Boret, Amédée (1837 – 1916). Cendrillon. Paris: [Auguste] Delâtre, 1865. Suite of twenty mounted plates with captions by de Boret, being the artist’s reimagining of the tale of Cinderella, recasting the story in Algeria, and with the role of the Fairy Godmother played by Jean Eugene Robert-Houdin. Contemporary pebbled black cloth folio (short tear at rear of spine), cover lettered in gilt. Plates foxed. Though Robert-Houdin retired from the stage at the age of 48, he was pressed into the service of his country in 1856 by Napoleon III to help quell a rebellion of Marabout natives in Algeria. His performances in Africa not only aided the French ruler, but helped secure the conjuror’s reputation and legend. De Boret, like many of his countrymen, was clearly in awe of the magician and well aware of his accomplishments. Here, the artist depicts Robert-Houdin in a reimagined form, as a bearded conjurer holding a cane, who descends mysteriously from the fireplace to grant Cinderella’s wishes.