JOSEPH DE LA NÉZIÈRE (1873-1944) SIMPLON - ORIENT - EXPRESS. 1927. 42 1/2x31 1/4 inches, 108x79 1/2 cm. Lucien Serre, Paris. Condition B+: repaired tear from top edge through central image; repaired tears and overpainting in margins. "The Simplon Orient Express belonged to the Compagnie des Wagons-Lits and carried passengers from Calais, Ostend and Paris to Bucarest and Istanbul via Switzerland, Italy, Yugoslavia and Bulgaria" (Orientalist p. 40). One of the stops along the route was in Aleppo, Syria, which vies with her neighbor Damascus for the privilege of being the oldest inhabited city in the world. Pictured here is the 13th century citadel. "Joseph de la Nézière was a painter and a great traveler. His frequent visits to North Africa provided him with material for a number of posters and he was artistic director for the Moroccan section at the Exposition Coloniale de Marseille in 1922" (ibid). Wagons-Lits 142, Orientalist p. 40, Luxusreisen p. 59, .
