Burnand - Parables

Burnand did not like the religious illustrations that he was familiar with, and felt he could make an important contribution to religious art by providing illustrations for religious texts that depicted scenes from real life to reinforce the everyday relevance of the stories and messages, in keeping with his protestantism. As an artist of realism he used places and characters he knew with the right atmosphere to illustrate the texts without symbolism. His enterprise came to fruition when his series of pictures was published in "Les Paraboles" for French publishers Berger-Levrault after three years of work in 1908. It became very popular, was constantly reprinted, and was also published in German, and in Protestant and Catholic editions. There was also an English edition. The example I found was published as late as 1948. The format of the French edition was a long foreword by Eugène-Melchior de Vogüé followed by 32 parables and 76 illustrations, each in a separate chapter with text taken directly from Bible. It is probable that in France, and certainly in Germany, Burnand was best known amongst the general public for "Les Paraboles".