Beginning to regret his victory, from 'News of the day,' published in Le Charivari, May 4, 1868
Original title: Beginning to regret his victory, from 'News of the day,' published in Le Charivari, May 4, 1868
kurzbeschreibung
This lithograph by Honoré Daumier shows two figures clutching a tall, narrow person whose expression is one of bewilderment. It was published on 4 May 1868 in the satirical journal Le Charivari and printed in black and white on newsprint.
Description
Two figures in profile, dressed in simple garments, frame a central person with an arrow or staff. This figure wears an oversized headdress and shows alarm in posture and face. The setting is bare, with only lettering hinting at the newspaper origin. Realistic details meet caricatural exaggeration; light falls evenly, without shading.
Context
Daumier made this print for Le Charivari, where he regularly commented on politics and society. The title captures the irony of a triumph one later regrets—a theme that recurs in his work. The second state according to Delteil dates from the late 1860s, a period of tension under Napoleon III. Published on 4 May 1868, the lithograph belongs to Daumier's series 'News of the Day', which took current events as its target.
Impact
The mood oscillates between comedy and menace: the central figure's oversized headdress looks grotesque, its despair almost pitiable. Clear contours and the sparse setting draw attention to the group, which moves toward a moral or political point. What remains is a thought-provoking impression, quietly ironic.
Technique
The medium is lithography, a planographic process in which greasy chalk is applied to a stone and the image then transferred to paper. It was printed in black and white on newsprint, as was usual for the mass production of satirical sheets. In the second state, slight traces of stone wear appear, common in later impressions.
AI-generated description text
Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art · Public Domain (CC0 1.0)