← Honoré Daumier

The search for a house in the country: What is especially beautiful, sir, is the view!, from 'Parisian habits,' published in Le Charivari, April 25, 1866

Original title: The search for a house in the country: What is especially beautiful, sir, is the view!, from 'Parisian habits,' published in Le Charivari, April 25, 1866

Artist

Honoré Daumier

Date

April 25, 1866

Medium

Lithograph on wove paper; second state of two (Delteil)

Dimensions

Image: 9 5/8 × 7 15/16 in. (24.5 × 20.1 cm) Sheet: 13 3/8 × 10 1/2 in. (33.9 × 26.6 cm)

Credit line

Rogers Fund, 1922

kurzbeschreibung

Honoré Daumier published this lithograph in 1866 as part of his series 'Parisian Manners'. It depicts three people in an interior, one of them pointing to the rural view outside the window. The print is a lithograph on wove paper, second state of two (Delteil).

Description

Three figures populate a room that is clearly a dwelling. In the middle stands a man in a top hat and coat, talking with the other two. The person on the left looks toward the center, while the one on the right points outside, presumably at the view. Through the window opens a rural landscape with a lake and a bridge. The layout is clear, the outlines of the figures are distinct, and the light falling from the front spreads evenly across the scene.

Context

On 25 April 1866 the print appeared in the satirical magazine Le Charivari, within the series 'Parisian Manners'. In it Daumier took aim at the quirks of Parisian daily life, in this case the search for a country house. The series fell at a time when the bourgeoisie was increasingly interested in country homes outside the city—a trend Daumier treated satirically.

Impact

The exaggerated gestures and facial expressions of the figures are comic and critical at once. The contrast between the interior and the idealized landscape outside the window underscores the absurdity of the situation. The print feels lively and inviting without tipping into the grotesque.

Technique

The work was made as a lithograph on wove paper: drawn with greasy chalk on a stone and then printed. That it is the second state of two (Delteil) indicates a reworked printing plate. The black-and-white execution matches nineteenth-century printmaking and allows both fine shading and clear lines.

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