So I have bagged a partridge!... Oh well, it's just a sparrow!..., from "Hunting sketches"
Original title: So I have bagged a partridge!... Oh well, it's just a sparrow!..., from "Hunting sketches"
kurzbeschreibung
Two men in a rural setting stand at the center of this 1864 lithograph by Honoré Daumier: a laughing peasant with a spade and a hunter who examines a dead bird in his hand with puzzlement. The print belongs to the series 'Croquis de chasse' (Hunting Sketches) and is the second of two states.
Description
On the left, a man in simple clothes and a cap holds a digging tool and looks upward with a laugh. To the right stands a man in a hat and jacket; he carries a shotgun and contemplates a small bird in his hand. Trees and a rock on uneven, grassy ground form the backdrop. At the bottom appears the French caption 'J'ai donc tué un Perdreau!...tiens c'est un moineau!', at the top the series title and the number 2.
Context
In 1864 Daumier published the 'Hunting Sketches' in the satirical journal 'Le Charivari'. The lithograph plays on the contrast between the bourgeois's claim to hunting and his actual failure—a theme that recurs throughout Daumier's work. The caricature addressed an urban audience expected to laugh at the clumsy, inexperienced hunter; the laughing countryman serves as a foil.
Impact
The layout creates comic tension between the hunter, pleased with his supposed catch, and the disillusionment upon closer inspection. Daumier's drawing style gives the figures a lively, almost grotesque presence that heightens the satire. Through exaggerated facial expressions and the ironic caption, the caricature becomes immediately understandable and amusing.
Technique
For this lithograph, Daumier used fine lines and hatching to shape faces and landscape; contrasts arise from the printing ink on newsprint. The sheet is printed in the second state of the stone, suggesting the plate was reworked. The technique allowed for rapid reproduction for magazine production.
AI-generated description text
Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art · Public Domain (CC0 1.0)