Sarah Bernhardt as Melisande

Lithograph of Sarah Bernhardt in her role as Melisande. During his studies at L École Guérin with Eugène Grasset, Berthon focused entirely on the Art Nouveau style. This sensitive portrait is a good example of this. Like many artists of his time, Sarah Bernhardt represented the ideal woman. She was immensely popular internationally. Alphonse Mucha designed a diadem that was executed by René Lalique for the last act of this piece by Edmond Rostand (see last photo). Berthon has transformed this diadem into a set of flowers.