Basile LEMEUNIER (1852-1922) Emma Calvé at six Gouache 40x31.5cm Signed and annotated at bottom "Emma à 6 ans" and "B. LE MEUNIER dated 1800 XII" (Date scratched) This gouache depicts Emma Calvé as a child, seated in a meadow, holding a bouquet of cornflowers in a bucolic setting very much in vogue at the time. The handwritten note "Emma à six ans" (Emma at six) and the obvious retouching of the date "1800", suggest that this work was kept and probably revisited much later in the life of the singer, famous for having shaped her own legend. This rare testimony to her childhood was undoubtedly preserved by Emma Calvé as a precious biographical relic.