At the Chalons Camp: –Papa, why do they make the soldiers go out in the rain? –My boy, it is in order for them to learn to be under fire! from 'News of the day,' published in Le Charivari, August 19, 1869
Original title: At the Chalons Camp: –Papa, why do they make the soldiers go out in the rain? –My boy, it is in order for them to learn to be under fire! from 'News of the day,' published in Le Charivari, August 19, 1869
kurzbeschreibung
Honoré Daumier made this lithograph in August 1869 for the series 'News of the Day,' published in Le Charivari. The print shows a family in the rain outside a military camp, pairing an everyday observation with a mocking undertone about how soldiers are trained.
Description
Three figures anchor the foreground: a man in a suit and top hat, a woman in a long dress, and a child holding up an umbrella and pointing back. Beyond them stretches a landscape streaked with dense rain, where several tents and a few horses hint at the camp at Châlons. The figures stand out with clear contours, while the rain is built from fine parallel hatching.
Context
On August 19, 1869, the satirical journal Le Charivari published this sheet as part of 'News of the Day.' The camp at Châlons then served as a key French military base for maneuvers and training. Daumier picked up on the tension between bourgeois daily life and military order, a theme that recurs often in his later work.
Impact
The contrast between the comfortable family in front and the soldiers drilling in the rain behind creates an ironic, thought-provoking edge. The rain lines deepen the gloomy mood and stress the absurdity of the exercise. The dialogue between father and son gives the print a didactic and at the same time critical note.
Technique
Executed as a lithograph on newsprint, the sheet is the second state of two (Delteil). This process allowed the fine hatching and precise lines used to render the rain and figures. At 24 × 20.9 cm, it has a compact format typical for publication in a newspaper.
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Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art · Public Domain (CC0 1.0)