Charcoals and wash representing Thérèse — Archives of the Carmel of Lisieux

Therese and her father

1898

Charcoal by Céline Martin

57x45 inch

Notes from Celine: "It was to illustrate the first edition of the Story of a Soul, published in October 1898. This drawing has a story, it's a small miracle... I told it in my notebook: One day that I was doing the portrait of "Thérèse et son Père" and that it was completely missed, our Mother (Mother Marie de Gonzague) told me that it had to be finished the same evening and, for this purpose, she sent me to work on it. during the evening recreation. But it was a waste of time! If Thérèse was fine, Papa was not at all like him and there was no more hope, the worn paper had become unworkable and I was only getting more encrusted Discouraged, I went to find our Mother who made a sign to my two sisters to come upstairs to help me with their advice, she doubtless hoped that being tired I was no longer a good judge and that they would find what I judged to be so wrong. But alas! they were even more severe than I. Nevertheless they made me try a few alterations which resulted in nt to miss it altogether. What to do ? our Mother had said that we were going to leave it and that she forbade anyone to touch it: that we wouldn't use it and that would be settled. Sr Marie du Sacré-Coeur, in a burst of faith, left the cell and prostrated herself at the feet of the statue of Mary in the oratory next door. We soon followed Mother Agnes of Jesus and me. When we returned all three we placed ourselves in front. O surprise! suddenly we see the portrait which gradually changes by itself. It was like a person standing behind and being seen through the paper. I cannot define that, it was extraordinary. We looked at each other without saying a word, seized with a supernatural feeling... In the meantime, Compline rang out, we descended, very moved, announcing to our Mother that the portrait was perfect and how the resemblance had arrived. This painting is the first large drawing I have done since entering Carmel".

Therese as an angel

1898

Charcoal by Céline Martin

57,5x44,5 inch

This work by Céline is a draft of the angel that appears in her large painting of that same year: The Sleep of the Child Jesus.

Therese Oval

1899

Charcoal by Céline Martin

60x45 inch

Notes from Celine : "Appeared in the 2nd edition of the Story of a Soul, bibliographers having told us that on the frontispiece of a beautiful book, there should not be the reproduction of a genre painting, but a large bust portrait of the character whose life is written. In the first edition we had put in part: "Therese at the Rosary" and in part "Thérèse with images" [in reality, in 1898 there is only photo n° 37, said to be of Thérèse with the rosary, reversed]. We resolved to make this portrait, a summary of all the photos we had of our Saint. As a starting point, I took the photo of Therese clasping her hands photo no. 9 in a group drawn at the court of Lourdes - at the precise place where the Shrine is today - in 1894. (I appear there as a novice, but I was only a postulant, I had been dressed as a Carmelite for the occasion). This portrait of our little Saint Thérèse underwent several transformations, because I didn't get it right the first time. Thérèse had moved to this pose which had forced me to look elsewhere for my elements of resemblance".

Therese and her mother

1902

Charcoal by Céline Martin

58x45,5 inch

Notes from Celine: "Appeared in the 5th edition of theStory of a Soul. Little Thérèse is very similar to it. It is the little cherub that we have known. Mom is good there too. But she's a bit young, I took her daguerreotype portrait when she was 25. I tried to age it without succeeding perfectly. This double portrait underwent several major alterations before the result we have today, so we should not stick to the first editions. My favorable judgment relates to the present work".

Therese and Leo XIII

1903

Charcoal by Céline Martin

140,5x97 inch

Notes from Celine : "He won me praise as far as Rome! Monseigneur de Teil admired him a lot".

Therese dead

**1905** - Charcoal by Céline Martin - 93 x 151 cm

Notes from Celine: "I was inspired by the photograph taken immediately after his death, photo no. 46, photo with misplaced shadows, but which gave the smile that I tried to render".

The bouquet

1907

Charcoal by Céline Martin

57,5x44,5 inch

Notes from Celine: "We thus name our grouped portraits, including Léonie and Sr Marie of the Eucharist - 6 heads. I was inspired by photographs taken in 1895 or around that time. We are all found there by putting the name on each face. Bishop Germain was surprised. It is a drawing made in 1907 at the instigation of Mother Marie-Ange".

Boarder Therese

1907

Charcoal by Céline Martin

58x44,5 inch

Notes from Celine: "Appeared in the 8th edition of the Story of a Soul. This portrait has undergone various transformations. I had established it by taking as a model the photo of Therese at 8 years old when she was photographed near me. But by avoiding making him raise his head which makes it much too short: this is the big flaw of this photo. Moreover, the head and the body being in front, which can be forgiven in a genre painting, became a real flaw in a portrait that should never appear like this all in one piece. These difficulties meant that I did not get the result I wanted, while giving me a lot of trouble. Before I put her in boarder uniform, I had dressed her in a kind of coat still with the same collar and tie that she actually wore.

Thérèse first communicant

1909-1910

Charcoal by Céline Martin

57,5x44,5 inch

Notes from Celine: "Life-size drawing, like most of the portraits of Ste Thérèse. It was offered to Our Mother for her feast day on January 21, 1910, and appeared for the first time in the Histoire d'une Ame on the 1th edition of 14. I undertook it encouraged by Mgr de Teil. It was he who advised me to put a crown of roses on Thérèse instead of a bonnet like they wore at the Abbey. He told me that a painter, in his compositions, was free to introduce a variant such as this, the bonnet not lending itself to aesthetics. It attracted us all the more since Thérèse always had a crown at the processions of the Blessed Sacrament and that our eldest sisters had worn them on the day of their First Communion at the Visitation, but letters followed with the Abbey... Apart from this famous crown, everything is quite exact: veil, dress, little frill on the collar, folds of the bodice... For the resemblance of the face, it is there as for the air, for this je ne sais quoi of the soul which transpires appears under the features. Because the resemblance, the real one, does not reside in the rigorous exactitude of the features, or does not reside there altogether.

Therese and Joan of Arc

1909

Charcoal by Céline Martin

86x55 inch

Notes from Celine: "At that time the trial of our little Saint was only just beginning and Jeanne d'Are was at the height of her glory. She invites Thérèse to unfurl the new banner which must lead souls to Love through sacrifice. Several times, Our Mother made me change the inscription of this banner. The two figures did not give me any satisfaction, although Thérèse is quite similar to them".

Therese and Celine

1911

Charcoal by Céline Martin

56,5x44 inch

Notes from Celine : "To make this double bust portrait including hands, I posed with Sister Thérèse of the Holy Face. We took a snapshot of this group and I used, for the resemblance of the faces, photos of the time".

Therese of Roses

1912

Charcoal by Céline Martin

73x51,5 inch

Notes from Celine: "It is the background portrait, the portrait of "the Saint" published everywhere. When the Cause had taken off and the Trial was taking its course, Bishop de Teil, Vice Postulator, said that it was necessary to have a portrait of Sister Thérèse other than a simple bust as was the "oval portrait", that is to say a portrait with attribution which, by depicting the character, the spirituality of the Saint, designates her for the devotion of the faithful, with a stamp of its own. We had good"Therese at the harp", but its attribution did not seem to us of a nature to be popularized, we feared that the public would not understand it sufficiently, its application not being direct enough. This is why, wanting to bring out his Love for the good God symbolized by the roses with which she caressed her Crucifix on her deathbed, and those, so numerous, which she had thrown to the Christ of the Préau [immortalized by the photo no. 44], we thought of putting roses in her arms with a Crucifix. To carry out this project I tried to make the Sisters pose, but no one understood the expressive gesture that I wanted to give. It was then that, taking the roses, I held them to my mind and placed myself in front of a camera! The Good Lord allowed it to be very good and that it was my left hand tenderly grabbing for the Beloved, which figured in this painting. The right hand was less successful, it needed retouching and other models. For my Thérèse's face, I took as a model a photo in which she had posed in the costume of Joan of Arc for the play composed by her that we had performed in the past. She had a martial air to her and the cut of the face that we loved and which reminded us of her so well. We also hoped by choosing this model to avoid a certain defect that had the "oval bust", which gave, in reduction, a too emaciated face. My goal was therefore that this portrait of "Thérèse aux roses" succeed in extreme reductions. But unfortunately! as nothing is perfect on earth, it happened that, without suspecting it, I fell into excess, and when this portrait was reproduced life-size, the eyes seemed too large. But above all, above all, when for the projection, he was still fat! I suffered a lot from it and I still suffer from it... I worked on this portrait at the Chapter and standing. I walked away constantly, I watched him from afar, then I came back to put or remove a touch. I was doing this shuttle seven meters deep for two hours. I remember that I felt an extreme weariness there, I remember it as 'being tired to death...' at this work that, for the first time, I noticed that my eyesight was failing a little. Finally, the good Lord blessed my efforts and veiled the defects of this portrait by allowing it to do good".

Therese sacristan

1914

Charcoal by Celine

86x57 inch

Notes from Celine: "It's a large drawing, a copy as exact as possible of the photo of Thérèse in the photo "group of breads" photo no. 40 . It therefore does not have the merit of a composition. This topic first appeared in the 1th edition of theStory of a Soul. July 1914".

The Martin family in Alençon

1916

Charcoal by Pierre Léon Adolphe Annould

56x40,5 inch

The Martin family in Lisieux

1917

Charcoal by Pierre Léon Adolphe Annould

58,5x40,5 inch

Notes from Celine: "From March 1915... we then took care of making the artists work: Annould made the "2 families" in drawing, which will need significant alterations".