• ink on paper mounted on board, c.1942
• inscribed indistinctly lower right recto
• titled L'ange de reims no 1 on the original matting lower right recto
• paper size 6½" x 5½" (16.5 x 14 cm.)

The Angel of Reims, also known as the Smiling Angel, is a statue sculpted around 1240 and located in the Reims Cathedral in France. Its image became well known to Europeans after it was decapitated and damaged during a German bombing early in WWI (September 1914). The broken pieces were retained and the angel was fully restored in 1926 after which it became the emblem of the cathedral and a national symbol.

The image of this angel was apparently also of great interest to Labisse who utilized it in several well known works (at least two oil paintings and one gouache) during the 1942-1945 period (see below).