CHAGALL, Marc (Russian-French, 1887-1985). "Musée National Message Biblique..." (Le Cantique des Cantiques [Song of Songs]) Signed Poster.  [Paris: Mourlot, 1975]. Color lithograph, printed in an edition of 8,500 by Charles Sorlier. Printed for the Société des Amis du Musée National Message Biblique Marc Chagall, Nice (Sorlier Posters, 142-3). Signed and dated "Marc Chagall 1976." in blue felt-tip pen at the lower right. Embossed stamp at upper center. Sight 29 x 19 1/2".  Nicely presented in layered linen mats set in a gold metal frame. Frame 36 1/2 x 27".

This painting reproduced here is one of five in a cycle of works by the master French painter Marc Chagall. The collection beautifully illustrates the Song of Songs, a book from the Hebrew Bible that celebrates love and sexual desire between a man and a woman. Rather than illustrating the text, Chagall visually represents three themes from the book: the lyrical, the sacred, and the sensual. The Song has been interpreted in many ways, both as a love poem between a man and a woman and as an allegory representing the love between man and God. The betrothed couple become one as they ascend to the heavens, eye level with the angels. The figures watch over the workaday scene below—animals grazing, a woman carrying her load and a quaint town resting under the night sky.

Fine.