← Honoré Daumier

Villégiature, from Nos Troupiers, published in Le Charivari, July 26, 1859 (July 26, 1859, Met-Objekt 3178)

Original title: Villégiature, from Nos Troupiers, published in Le Charivari, July 26, 1859

Artist

Honoré Daumier

Date

July 26, 1859

Medium

Lithograph on newsprint; second state of four (Delteil)

Dimensions

Image: 9 3/4 × 9 1/8 in. (24.8 × 23.2 cm) Sheet: 13 3/4 × 11 1/2 in. (34.9 × 29.2 cm)

Credit line

The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1962

kurzbeschreibung

Honoré Daumier's lithograph Villégiature appeared on July 26, 1859, in Le Charivari and belongs to the series Nos Troupiers. It presents two soldiers taking their rest in a landscape.

Description

Two soldiers in the uniforms of the day lie relaxed on the ground, side by side under a single tree. Around them opens a flat, undulating landscape beneath a cloudy sky. The arrangement stays simple and brings the two figures and the tree into focus. Black-and-white monochrome dominates the print, which shows even light without noticeable shadows.

Context

The lithograph was published in 1859, during the time of the Second Empire in France. With the series Nos Troupiers, Daumier contributed satirical pieces on military life. The work appeared in Le Charivari, a journal known for political and social caricature. Soldiers in idle hours recur again and again in Daumier's work.

Impact

The print affects the viewer through its caricatural, humorous tone: soldiers completely at ease. The simple layout and monochrome execution direct attention to the figures and create an ironic distance from everyday military life.

Technique

Lithograph on newsprint, executed in black and white. Daumier valued this process for its rapid reproducibility and the possibility of achieving fine gradations of shading. The present work is the second state of four (Delteil), with the line drawing and shading typical of lithographs.

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