De l'utilité d'une famille pour une cantatrice, from Croquis Dramatiques, published in Le Charivari, January 28, 1857
Original title: De l'utilité d'une famille pour une cantatrice, from Croquis Dramatiques, published in Le Charivari, January 28, 1857
kurzbeschreibung
What use a family is to a singer is the subject of this 1857 lithograph by Daumier: adults and children crowd at a window to watch a singer perform in a concert hall. The print belongs to the series Croquis Dramatiques and appeared in the satirical magazine Le Charivari.
Description
A group of adults and children has taken up position at the window and looks into the hall, where a cantatrice in elegant dress is giving her recital. Light falls on the singer from the front, while the onlookers in the foreground remain half in darkness. The rest of the audience appears only as blurred silhouettes. The layout is broad, and the eye is led clearly between the performing singer and the listening family.
Context
The print was published on 28 January 1857 in the French satirical magazine Le Charivari. It belongs to Daumier's series Croquis Dramatiques, in which he engaged with the theatre and music business of his time. The artist was known for his critical and humorous images of nineteenth-century Parisian society.
Impact
A comic tension arises between the family's secret watching and the singer's public performance. The light puts the cantatrice at the center, while the relatives in the half-shadow show a mixture of distance and curiosity.
Technique
Executed as a lithograph, the work is in the second of two states (Delteil). The lithographic process allows fine lines and graduated gray tones, with which figures and lighting conditions are precisely captured. The sheet measures 25.3 × 36.5 cm, the image area 21.1 × 25.8 cm.
AI-generated description text
Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art · Public Domain (CC0 1.0)