This beautiful White Lip Shell pendant hangs on a Gauze Voile Necklace Cord and is hand painted as a famous painting by Alphonse Mucha "La Trappistine" by Russian Artist Zemina.

A French lithograph by Alphonse Mucha advertising La Trappistine. La Trappistine was a liqueur made in Paris, allegedly from a recipe handed down by Trappist monks. Here Mucha depicts a slender young lady in a garcefully draped pose, her head encircled by a halo . The embellishment with the Maltese cross serves to remind us of the religious order involved in the preparation of the beverage. Her hair hangs down in a single thick strand, which leads our eye to the tabouret in the foreground, holding the bottle.

Alphonse Maria Mucha was born in the town of Ivančice, Moravia (today's region of Czech Republic). His singing abilities allowed him to continue his education through high school in the Moravian capital of Brno, even though drawing had been his first love since childhood. He worked at decorative painting jobs in Moravia, mostly painting theatrical scenery, then in 1879 moved to Vienna to work for a leading Viennese theatrical design company, while informally furthering his artistic education. When a fire destroyed his employer's business in 1881 he returned to Moravia, doing freelance decorative and portrait painting. Count Karl Khuen of Mikulov hired Mucha to decorate Hrušovany Emmahof Castle with murals, and was impressed enough that he agreed to sponsor Mucha's formal training at the Munich Academy of Fine Arts.

Mucha moved to Paris in 1887, and continued his studies at Académie Julian and Académie Colarossi while also producing magazine and advertising illustrations. Around Christmas 1894, Mucha happened to drop into a print shop where there was a sudden and unexpected demand for a new poster to advertise a play starring Sarah Bernhardt, the most famous actress in Paris, at the Théâtre de la Renaissance. Mucha volunteered to produce a lithographed poster within two weeks, and on 1 January 1895, the advertisement for Gismonda appeared on the streets of the city. It was an overnight sensation and announced the new artistic style and its creator to the citizens of Paris. Bernhardt was so satisfied with the success of that first poster that she entered into a 6 years contract with Mucha.

Mucha produced a flurry of paintings, posters, advertisements, and book illustrations, as well as designs for jewellery, carpets, wallpaper, and theatre sets in what was initially called the Mucha Style but became known as Art Nouveau. Mucha's works frequently featured beautiful healthy young women in flowing vaguely Neoclassical looking robes, often surrounded by lush flowers which sometimes formed haloes behind the women's heads. In contrast with contemporary poster makers he used paler pastel colors. The 1900 Universal Exhibition in Paris diffused the "Mucha style" internationally. He decorated the Bosnia and Herzegovina Pavilion and collaborated in the Austrian one. His Art Nouveau style was often imitated. However, this was a style that Mucha attempted to distance himself from throughout his life; he insisted always that, rather than adhering to any fashionable stylistic form, his paintings came purely from within and Czech art. He declared that art existed only to communicate a spiritual message, and nothing more; hence his frustration at the fame he gained through commercial art, when he wanted always to concentrate on more lofty projects that would ennoble art and his birthplace.

Refund policy:You will be 100% delighted or return within 7 days (longer if abroad) for refund excepting P&P. We take feedback very seriously, please remember if you are not happy with our service,then please contact us.

FREE UK POSTAGE!!! (We take IBAN payments as well as Paypal outside UK) We speak French, English, German and Russian.

Please leave feedback once you have received the item so that I know it has arrived safely. I will leave feedback in return.

Smoke & Pet  Free Item

Good Luck and Happy Bidding!