← Honoré Daumier

Grande révolte des rats de Montfaucon, from Les Hippophages, published in Le Charivari, October 21, 1856

Original title: Grande révolte des rats de montfaucon, from Les Hippophages, published in Le Charivari, October 21, 1856

Artist

Honoré Daumier

Date

October 21, 1856

Medium

Lithograph; second state of two (Delteil)

Dimensions

Sheet: 10 3/16 × 13 9/16 in. (25.8 × 34.5 cm) Image: 7 13/16 × 10 3/4 in. (19.9 × 27.3 cm)

Credit line

The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1962

kurzbeschreibung

In this 1856 lithograph by Honoré Daumier, two men armed with sticks go after a pack of rats. The print belongs to the series 'Les Hippophages' and appeared on October 21, 1856, in the magazine Le Charivari.

Description

Two men in suits lunge forward, striking at a cluster of rats with their sticks. More rodents scurry across the background while several dead animals lie on the sandy ground. Drawn in black and white under even lighting, the image is caricatural and funny, with movement and action pushed to the fore.

Context

Daumier made the lithograph in 1856 for the satirical journal Le Charivari, where he regularly published political and social caricatures. The series 'Les Hippophages' picked up on the Parisian debate over horse-meat consumption in the 1850s. Montfaucon, a notorious execution and knacker's site in Paris, was a place where rats thrived in great numbers.

Impact

The exaggerated gestures and the comic overstatement of the rat plague make the sheet feel at once funny and dramatic. The figures' energy gives it a lively, almost cinematic pull that draws the viewer straight into the action.

Technique

For this lithograph Daumier drew with greasy chalk on a stone, which was then printed. It is the second state of two (Delteil), suggesting the plate was reworked. The process allows for delicate lines and shading of the kind typical of Daumier's style.

AI-generated description text

Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art · Public Domain (CC0 1.0)