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Below the [https://www.lambic.info Lambic.Info] logo a saying in French reads ''« Après avoir terrassé le dragon, l’ange boit à votre santé. »'' Loosely translated to English it means ''“After slaying the dragon, the angel toasts to your health.”'' The saying and original illustration come from the very last page of an important work of early lambic literature titled [[Books#Les_Memoirs_de_Jef_Lambic|"Les Memoirs de Jef Lambic”]] written by Jef Lambic, who was the son of a lambic brewer at Brouwerij De Keersmaeker and illustrated by Robert Desart, a Belgian folkloric artist. No other explanation was given except for the phrase and the original image, and it immediately jumped out at us. We decided to dig deeper into the origin of the image and the meaning behind the phrase and adapt it for our logo here. What is still unknown is the inspiration for the original sign drawing by Robert Desart in the back of [[Books#Les_Memoirs_de_Jef_Lambic|Les Memoris de Jef Lambic]] and where the saying came from. It may be nothing more than a picture imagined by Desart in 1955 as he was illustrating the book, but it may also be a depiction of a real sign, possibly even still hanging above a door to an estaminet or café in an undiscovered corner of Brussels. Our hope is to someday find the original and uncover more of its history. The idea to adapt this logo for the project comes both out of respect for the cultural history of lambic and from the continued research that it represents.[[File:LambicInfoDragon.png|right|350px]]
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==New Findings, 2018==
Throughout 2017 and 2018, Gaëtan Claes of [[Brouwerij_3_Fonteinen|3 Fonteinen]] provided a thoroughly researched and referenced background on the origins of the Lambic.Info logo as well as its potential author. We are extremely grateful for the vast amount of new information that has come to light through Gaëtan's work!
===An Alternative to Saint George===
At first sight when looking at the lambic.info logo, one cannot but link it to the story of St. Georges. Living in a “Christian” country like Belgium it immediately points in the direction of this dragonslaying saint, as the story is well-known and there is an obvious beer-connection. Traditionally the brewing season for “regular” beer was very similar to the lambic brewing season nowadays. To protect the beer from infection e.a. one could only brew during cold weather. As a matter of fact the official end date was the 23rd of April, the date of death of … St. Georges. Brewing was prohibited from that day until the 29th of September, the Christian Feast of St. Michael, archangel Michael that
is. I want In order to bridge the gap here and it is necessary to point out that archangel Michael too overpowered a dragon, and a very important one too. As St. Georges killed a dragon only for his own benefit, or Christianity’s, St. Michael overpowered a dragon for the benefit of us, mankind. Let me tell you the story of Michael.
The story of archangel Michael can be found in the last part of the New Testament and thus the
The Lambic.Info logo has been explained as being St. Georges having slayed the dragon. The only clues to the direct meaning of this scene are the mentioning of 1) an unfortunate dragon and 2) an angel. As already pointed out, both St. Georges and St. Michael defeated a dragon but only one of them was an (arch)angel (above being a Saint), St. Michael. As we all know, Georges was “just” a Saint.
In addition to that St. Georges is almost always depicted riding a horse while stabbing the dragon, which is clearly not visible on the logo. Although I must admit the absence of the angel’s lifeline, his wings. Moreover I want it's important to emphasize that the text says “terrasser” which means “to overpower”, not “to kill”, though in English the most common construction is "to slay" if speaking about a dragon. When looking at the biblical texts of both St. Georges and St. Michael the first one “killed” the dragon and the latter “overpowered” it. One last element that may point to St. Michael is the fact that the author of ''Les mémoires de Jef Lambic'' was not only telling the life story of Jef Lambic (if he ever existed, cf. infra) but wanted, in my opinion, to educate the reader on folkloric and everyday life in bygone Brussels during the previous decades and mainly the turn of the 20th century. The author must have been a
Brusseleir or at least someone very close to Brussels (physically or by heart). St. Michael is just around the corner…
===Les mémoires de Jef Lambic: The Author===
[[File:Article Desart.jpg|left|thumb|Article on Robert Desart listing ''Les Memoires'' as being written by him]]
1) Jean d’Osta: the most renowned of these men. He was an intellectual jack of all trades. He created the figure of Jef Kazak (does it ring a bell?) and wrote a bunch of stories that are similar to Jef Lambic (just take a look at his bibliography. Louis Quiévreux was a close friend and likely knew Robert Desart.
2) Louis Quiévreux: Brussels linguist, intimate of Jean d’Osta and very close with Robert Desart. Quiévreux and Desart had a long standing relationship according to an email conversation I had with his daughter Anne Quiévreux. Quiévreux and Desart published many books together, Quiévreux being the writer and Desart the illustrator. Take a look at ‘Les Impasses et Vieilles Rues de Bruxelles’ for example.
But Robert Desart actually was not only the illustrator but also the author of ''Les Mémoires de Jef Lambic''. I wanted however to introduce d’Osta and Quiévreux because their style, status, topics,… are so close to Desart that I am convinced they must have influenced Desart regarding the content.