Of the world’s finest artists from. Our collection to yours. Thank you for visiting.. Edmond Malassis (French, 1874 – 1944). Secrets in the Bedroom III (Secrets dans la Chambre II) (Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles). Vintage copper plate engraving in black ink on Velin paper after the original by master engraver R. This is one of 249 numbered copies bearing the number 144. Image size 6 1/4 x 7 5/8 inches. Approximately 15 x 17 inches. This piece has been professionally matted and framed using all new materials. This is not a modern print. This copper plate engraving is more than 90 years old. The strike is crisp and the lines are sharp. The Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles (“One Hundred New Novellas”) is a collection of stories supposed to be narrated by various persons at the court of Philippe le Bon, and collected together by Antoine de la Sale in the mid-15th century. The nouvelles are, according to George Saintsbury, undoubtedly the first work of literary prose in French… The short prose tale of a comic character is the one French literary product the pre-eminence and perfection of which it is impossible to dispute, and the prose tale first appears to advantage in the Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles. Antoine de la Sale is supposed to have been the “acteur” in the collection of the licentious stories. One only of the stories is given in his name, but he is credited with the compilation of the whole, for which Louis XI was long held responsible. A completed copy of this was presented to the Duke of Burgundy at Dijon in 1462. The stories give curious glimpses of life in the 15th century, providing a genuine view of the social condition of the nobility and the middle classes. Lenient, a French critic, says: Generally the incidents and personages belong to the bourgeoisée; there is nothing chivalric, nothing wonderful; no dreamy lovers, romantic dames, fairies, or enchanters. Noble dames, bourgeois, nuns, knights, merchants, monks, and peasants mutually dupe each other. The lord deceives the miller’s wife by imposing on her simplicity, and the miller retaliates in much the same manner. The shepherd marries the knight’s sister, and the nobleman is not over scandalized. The vices of the monks are depicted in half a score tales, and the seducers are punished with a severity not always in proportion to the offence. Edmond Malassis was a French painter and illustrator. Edmond Malassis was born in the 10th arrondissement of Paris on 14 December 1874. He was a pupil of Gustave Moreau, and became a watercolourist. Malassis worked primarily in the first half of the 20th century. A prolific book illustrator, he did not do his own engravings. In 1935, he exhibited at the galerie de l’Écale in the Faubourg Saint-Honoré, Paris. He died in his home in the 7th arrondissement of Paris on 3 September 1944, aged sixty-nine. Accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity and is Fully Guaranteed to be Certified as Described. Any framing included in a listing is double matted and framed in a solid wood moulding. We can also frame any pieces not listed as such. We are usually half the price of a regular framer. We guarantee all our listings to be 100% as described.