Salvador dali oiseaux gourmandeur de l'isle sonnante (greedy bird of the ringing island) from "les songes drôlatiques de pantagruel" (the drolatic dreams of pantagruel) from the rarest edition of 50 only original lithograph on japan paper year: 1973 76 x 56 cm ca hand-signed hand-numbered 8/50 catalogue raisonné: r.michler and l. W. Löpsinger "salvador dali, catalogue raisonné of prints ii - lithographs and wood engravings 1956-1980" pages 155 - ref. 1407 with certificate ___ history of this artwork sometime in the 1960s, spanish surrealist artist salvador dali, already considered one of the leading artists worldwide, discovered a special book published in paris in 1565 by richard breton, as the 'last work' of the writer françois rabelais, and named it after his bestseller about the giant pantagruel. This book, "les songes drôlatiques de pantagruel", i.e. The drolatic dreams of pantagruel (where 'drolatic' means funny and amusing), consists of 120 woodcuts, each page showing a completely different figure: strange, hybrid creatures, combinations of man and animal, insect, plant and object, pot-bellied or hunchbacked, with special noses, snouts, trunks or beaks; each having a title in the end of the book. enraptured and inspired by the new discovery, he chose 25 images and devised variations on these then four-century-old prints. These images have been printed as original lithographs at atelier grapholith in paris, and published by carpentier in geneve in 1973. this very artwork is one meant to represent the oiseaux gourmandeur de l'isle sonnante (the greedy bird of the ringing island) here the original text in french (an english translation follows): ce chevalier, armé de toutes pièces, mais singulièrement ventru, ayant une bouteille en tête, surmontée d'une plume d'oiseau de paradis, tenant de la main droite une épée flamboyante, et de l'autre une lardoire enfilée d'un grand lardon, est ou un oiseau gourmandeur de l'isle sonnante, c'est-à-dire un commandeur de l'île de malte, chevalier de l'église romaine, ou carême-prenant: "c'est, dit rabelais, le plus industrieux faiseur de lardouaires et brochettes qui soit en quarante royaulmes". Voyez livre iv, chap. Xxix. this knight, fully armed, but singularly pot-bellied, having a bottle on his head, surmounted by a bird of paradise feather, holding in his right hand a flaming sword, and in the other a larding-dove threaded with a large lardon, is either a gourmand bird of the isle sonnante (ringing island), that is to say a commander of the island of malta, a knight of the roman church, or carême-prenant: "he is," says rabelais, "the most industrious maker of lardons and skewers in forty kingdoms." see book iv, chap. Xxix. ___ sold with certificate of authenticity, copy of the catalogue raisonné, and copy of the original woodcut and which inspired dali (we have it in our collection) this piece has an attribution mark, i am sure that it is completely authentic and take full responsibility for any authenticity issues arising from misattribution