Cognac Bisquit

Cognac Bisquit is one of Alphonse Mucha's most famous advertisements.  This framed print was a surprise that showed up on the front porch yesterday.  John found it on the fun-to-browse llusions Gallery website.

I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer when it comes to French, and I always thought the "bisquit" in this ad referred to some sort of cookie or wafer.   But Bisquit is a brand of cognac founded by Alexandre Bisquit in 1819, of the house of Bisquit, with its home at the Château de Lignères by the banks of the Charente River.

The Bisquit family had a long tradition of making cognac until the house was sold to Pernod in 1966. It is said to have been the favorite cognac of Winston Churchill and King George IV, and they should know good brandy.  The brand was sold again in 2009 to the South African group Distell. 

 

This is the original advertisement with the text.  Mucha said that art existed only to communicate a spiritual message, and he was frustrated by the fame he gained through commercial art like this.

Although John would make the case that paintings of beautiful young women in flowing robes surrounded by lush flowers and holding glasses of wine have a "spiritual" aspect.