"Lourdes Travel Poster"
by F. Hugo d'Alesi

This beautiful travel poster shows the Basilica of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception near Lourdes, nestled in the foothills of the French Pyrenes, where the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to a young girl, Bernadette Soubirous. The basilica was finished in 1871, only 13 years after the visions of Bernadette, and has been a huge travel destination for many tens of millions of pilgrims over the years. Seeing this poster reawakens our desire to make a pilgrimage there! This can be a nice reminder for those who've gone, or, for those like us, who wish to go!

Chemins de Fer de Midi was a railroad company in the south of France that operated for about a hundred years starting in the mid-1800s. They produced many beautiful travel posters. The text box on the poster is about ticket options and discounts, and gives the address to write for specific ticket information.

You might notice that the two shorter spires are missing from the front of the basilica. They were finished in 1908, and this poster was from 1890.

F. Hugo d'Alesi was a French-Romanian painter and graphic artist (1849-1906). He was born Frédéric Alexianu in Romania, but took French citizenship and worked mainly in Paris. He produced many tourism posters, for railways and travel companies, around the turn of the century. (source: emuseum.delart.org)

** IMPORTANT ** THE IMAGE IS SMALLER THAN THE PAPER! There is a white border of about 0.5" inch for 5x7", 1.3" for 8.5x11", or 1.6" for 11x14" pictures. All Approx! Fine art printers do this because the images are almost never the same rectangular ratio of the standard paper sizes. It also gives the prints a finished look, and lets them look good in a frame without a matt.

- Acid-free paper
- Archival pigments, rated to last for generations.
- Cardboard backer
- Above story of the art
- Enclosed in a tight-fitting, crystal clear bag.

Thanks for your interest!

Thanks!
Sue & John

"In order to communicate the message entrusted to her by Christ, the Church needs art." ~ St. Pope John Paul II

Original image is out-of-copyright. Descriptive text and image alterations (hence the whole new image) © by Sue Kouma Johnson - CatholicArtAndJewelry.