Alexis Harlamoff (Kharlamov) (1840-1925). Set of twelve drawings to illustrate the romance Tristan & Iseult. Circa 1895-1900. Charcoal on laid paper, in-8° & in-4° format. Charcoal signature in the image: "Harlamoff" "A. Harlamoff", "А. Харламов". Of these twelve leaves: - five are loose (two without captions). - seven are laminated on a large sheet (on one of which a captioned space is empty). Watermarks: "L. BERVILLE" and "Lalanne". These watermarks appear on very uniformly grained papers produced between 1870 and 1895 according to the technical specifications of Maxime Lalanne. These sheets were considered among the best for draftsmen. Léon Berville opened a stationery store at 25 rue de la Chaussée d'Antin. Vincent van Gogh bought from him. These drawings were intended to illustrate the text of Tristan & Yseult. The captions accompanying the drawings distinguish between two translations: 1) the seven captioned sheets below the drawing: they reproduce phrases from the translation of Richard Wagner's opera-poem given anonymously by Paul-Armand Challemel-Lacour in 1861 (Paris, Librairie Nouvelle) and again in 1893 (Durand & fils and Calmann-Lévy). 2) the three captioned sheets on the mount, and probably the two uncaptioned loose sheets (formerly laminated onto a captioned mount): they reproduce phrases from the adaptation published by Joseph Bédier in 1900. Alexis Alexeevitch Harlamoff, a Russian painter of great renown, lived in France from 1868 until his death in 1925.