Les alliés s'apprètent à pousser les opérations du siège avec plus de vigueur que jamais…, from "Actualités"
Original title: Les allies s'apprètent à pousser les opérations du siège avec plus de vigueur que jamais…, from "Actualités"
kurzbeschreibung
Honoré Daumier made this lithograph in 1855, in the context of the 'Actualités' series: a man in a shirt, pen in hand, concentrates on reading a message, while a bird with a feather boa sits on his head. Beside him stands a uniformed man with arms crossed. The scene is sharply satirical.
Description
Two men in a dim, shadowy room: on the left, the reader in plain clothes, holding the pen, paper before his eyes, the bird on his head; on the right, the uniformed man standing with arms crossed. Light falls from above, emphasizing the faces while the background remains gray. The caricature uses exaggerated features and expressive faces.
Context
Created for the French satirical magazine 'Actualités' during the Crimean War (1853–1856), at a time when the Allies—France, Britain, and the Ottoman Empire—were besieging Sevastopol. The print is dated February 26, 1855, shortly before the death of Tsar Nicholas I, and takes a stance on the war situation. This is the second state of two (Delteil).
Impact
The print is humorous and ironic through its exaggerated figures and the contrast between the two men. The bird on the reader's head gives the scene an absurd twist that carries the political criticism. The dark, dramatic lighting underscores the serious undertones of the caricature.
Technique
Daumier worked in lithography: drawing with greasy chalk on the stone, then printing. The image is black and white with graded gray tones. The second state (Delteil) represents a revised version of the stone.
AI-generated description text
Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art · Public Domain (CC0 1.0)