The first of 12 lithographs in The Twelve Maquettes of Stained Glass Windows for Jerusalem, Marc Chagall The Tribe of Ruben, from The Twelve Maquettes of Stained Glass Windows for Jerusalem, with its stunning blue hues, is perhaps one of the most beautiful of the series. Jean Leymarie states of this print, "The first window opens the cycle with a harmony as imposing and pure as the very breath of creation. Cerulean blue laid on a white base gleams majestically, evoking the limpidity of air, the transparent foaming of the sea, the amplitude and freshness of a newly created Biblical space. The solar disc, with its vast extending rays contains the Hebraic characters, in themselves sacred…Particularly noteworthy are the beauty of the underwater background, the strange rose and violet glimmers like a reflection under the central fish parallel to the horizon line, and the infinite delicacy of the water plants" (p. 29-30).

Created in 1964, Marc Chagall The Tribe of Ruben, from The Twelve Maquettes of Stained Glass Windows for Jerusalem is one in a series of twelve lithographs. Commissioned by the Hadassah-Hebrew Medical Center, Chagall created these works as maquettes for a series of stained glass windows to be installed in the Center's synagogue outside of Jerusalem. The work was engraved by Charles Sorlier, who worked in close collaboration with the artist and is printed on watermarked Arches wove paper. This piece is numbered from the edition of 150 in the lower left (total edition of 150 proofs signed and numbered in Arabic numerals, 75 proofs signed and numbered in Roman numerals, and 10 artist's proofs). This work is hand signed by Marc Chagall (Vitebsk, 1887- Saint-Paul, 1985) in pencil in the lower right margin and signed in the stone, 'CH. SORLIER. GRAV. LITH.' at the lower left of the image.

Catalogue Raisonné & COA:

Marc Chagall The Tribe of Ruben, from The Twelve Maquettes of Stained Glass Windows for Jerusalem is fully documented and referenced in the below catalogue raisonnés and texts (copies will be enclosed as added documentation with the invoice accompanying the final sale of the work).

1. Leymarie, Jean. Marc Chagall: The Jerusalem Windows. New York: Park Lane, 1988. Listed and illustrated on pp. 29-40.

2. Sorlier, Charles. Chagall Lithographs, 1974-79. New York: Crown Publishers, Inc., 1984. Listed on p. 203 as catalogue no. CS 12.

3. Martin Lawrence Galleries. Marc Chagall. 1999. Listed as CS 12 on pg 59.

4. A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany this work.

About the Framing:

Marc Chagall The Tribe of Ruben, from The Twelve Maquettes of Stained Glass Windows for Jerusalem is framed to museum-grade, conservation standards, presented in a complementary moulding and finished with silk-wrapped mats and optical grade Plexiglas.