I am going to compromise your client properly! I am going to drag yours through the mud!
Original title: I am going to compromise your client properly! I am going to drag yours through the mud!, from 'Parisian sketches,' published in Le Charivari, August 2, 1865
kurzbeschreibung
Honoré Daumier published this lithograph in Le Charivari on August 2, 1865, as part of his Parisian Sketches series. Three formally dressed gentlemen are caught mid-conversation, with the man in the middle holding the floor. The scene pokes fun at the legal and courtroom world of the nineteenth century.
Description
Three men in stiff, conventional garb stand together, top hats on and long coats buttoned. The one in the middle, wearing a light collar, appears to be speaking while the other two listen. On the left, a figure with a nervously twisted face keeps his hands in front of his body; on the right, another turns slightly away yet still looks toward the speaker. Behind them runs a wall of vertical stripes that suggests a curtain or wallpaper. Along the bottom, the French caption is printed in black.
Context
For the satirical magazine Le Charivari, Daumier drew the Croquis Parisiens series, taking aim at big-city life and the society of his day. This sheet targets the legal profession, a frequent butt of mockery in nineteenth-century France. It is the second state of two (per Delteil), printed on newsprint.
Impact
The distorted faces and clenched postures give the scene an immediacy and liveliness that feel observed from life. The satirical caption sharpens both the comic and the critical edge.
Technique
Lithography on newsprint, a printing method Daumier made his own. Graded shading and precise lines define figures and setting with clarity, showing the artist's characteristic attention to detail.
AI-generated description text
Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art · Public Domain (CC0 1.0)