These two exceptional pastels on cardboard are unique, not only for understanding how banknotes are designed, but also for the history of art in Luxembourg.

They are the first prototype of a national banknote designed by a Luxembourg artist. In 1924, the government entrusted animal painter Auguste Trémont with the task of designing the first cash certificate issued after World War I. Trémont had lived and worked in Paris since 1919. He regularly exhibited in Luxembourg and had won the Grand Duke Adolphe Prize in 1918. In the early 1920s he produced several animal drawings, and his first sculptures date from 1924 – for instance “Chimpanzé sautillant”.

The original composition for the back of the note was generally respected. The peasant woman and a steel worker represent the two economic pillars of the country; they continued to be widely used in the iconography of Luxembourg banknotes.

- François Reinert / Cécile Arnould