The President of the Federal Diet or the Double Sword of Damocles
Original title: The president of the federal diet or the double sword of Damocles, from "News of the Day"
kurzbeschreibung
The tale of Damocles, who sat at a feast with a sword hanging by a horsehair above his head, served Honoré Daumier in 1866 as a parable: in this lithograph, the president of the German Bundestag finds himself beneath not one but two crossed swords, standing for Prussia and Austria. The print belongs to the series 'Neueste Nachrichten' and survives in the second of three states.
Description
A gentleman in a dark suit sits at a table, lifting his gaze upward with visible unease. Above him two blades cross, one inscribed 'PRUSSE', the other 'AUTRICHE'. On the tabletop lie a sheet of paper, a writing implement and a flower; a clouded sky closes the top of the image.
Context
This sheet appeared on 22 June 1866, at the height of the escalating conflict between Prussia and Austria before the German War. Daumier published his political commentaries in the French journal 'Le Charivari', which also carried the series 'Neueste Nachrichten'. The title invokes the myth of Damocles to picture the danger threatening the Bundestag from the two rivals.
Impact
A tense unease hangs over the image: the crossed swords and the president's anxious glance drive it forward. Clear symbols make the political point immediately legible, with nothing extraneous to distract.
Technique
For this caricature Daumier used lithography on newsprint, a common process of the day. The image area measures 22.7 × 21.8 cm, and the print is preserved in the second of three states.
AI-generated description text
Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art · Public Domain (CC0 1.0)