My field plundered... my horse taken away... my money stolen... and this is what they call patriotism!..., from "News of the day"
Original title: My field plundered... my horse taken away... my money stolen... and this is what they call patriotism!..., from "News of the day"
kurzbeschreibung
Where many caricatures of the day turned war into heroics, Honoré Daumier's 1870 lithograph fixes on the lone man who has lost. Wearing a hat and long robe, he weeps over what war and patriotism have cost him. This black-and-white sheet on newsprint belongs to the series "News of the Day."
Description
A man in a hat and long robe stands weeping in the foreground, a dog on a leash at his side; his face is contorted with grief, which throws his loss into relief. Behind him riders on horseback move toward him. The layout is lopsided, with the weeping figure as its pivot. The lithograph stays monochrome, and the light is diffuse in the way this printing method tends to produce.
Context
The caricature appeared on August 5, 1870, in the thick of the Franco-Prussian War. Daumier's series "News of the Day" ran in the satirical journal Le Charivari. The sheet questions the patriotic fervor of those days and shows its other face for the individual: plunder and the loss of property. The artist was known for political and social caricatures that took aim at abuses.
Impact
The man's exaggerated grief, paired with the ironic caption, lands on the viewer at once. Humor and reproach join in a way that prompts thought about the price of patriotism. The expressive features and the clear arrangement heighten the emotional force.
Technique
The image was printed as a lithograph on newsprint, in the second state of two (Delteil). The process allowed fine lines and shading, which were put to use in this detailed caricature. Black-and-white printing on newsprint was standard practice for satirical publications of the nineteenth century.
AI-generated description text
Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art · Public Domain (CC0 1.0)