“You can use everything as if you were a bastard, or you can use everything as if you were a lord: here, the colours here are used like a great lord.”
JEAN GIONO
Le Déserteur © Gallimard
Nothing is known about where the Deserter got his colours. He certainly sent people over to Sion where there was a drugstore. He made some of the colours using plants – that is certainly the case for the colour red and for the ink. To make the red, he used cochineals and brandy.
Saint VIrgin Mary! Mother of our Saviour J. Christ, do not abandon me in my life and
especially at the hour of my death. So be it. Souvenir. Anne Léger Glassaÿ, 11 May 1867.
OUR LADY of victory. SAINT ANNE AND St MARY her daughter. SAINT MADELEINE at the
Commencement of her Conversion. at Beuson 11 May 1867. C.F.B.
28,5 x 45 cm. © Robert Hofer, Sion
Almost all of the images show flowers. The Deserter like to fill up ‘empty’ spaces with floral motifs.
PATOIS
Véire de töte é cooeû. See all the colours.
While coming down the Old Path (‘Chemin Vieux’), look at the other one coming down the valley. Which village points its steeple to the heavens?
What is your favourite flower? Can you draw it?