
Honoré Victorin Daumier’s caricatures of French King Louis-Philippe (reigned 1830–1848) used satire as a form of political critique. This print, published in the satirical journal La Caricature in 1834, depicts the king with an exaggerated pear-shaped head and three faces, reflecting the sharp shift in public opinion of the king—from inspiring hope at his coronation to inciting despair once his reign took hold. Daumier’s caricatures did get him into trouble: his earlier print, Gargantua, an even more biting critique of the monarchy’s gluttonous economic policies, resulted in the artist and his publisher Charles Philipon being sentenced to six months in jail in 1832.

“- Here, Eudoxie, take my bear skin... since from now on I will not have the pleasure any more to wear it, I give it to you to make a muff out of it... This way I have at least the satisfaction of seeing it from time to time”
Honoré Victorin Daumier French, 1808-1879

The Print Collector
Honoré Victorin Daumier (French, 1808–1879)

Nadar Elevating Photography to the Heights of Art, plate 367 from Souvenirs d’artistes
Honoré Victorin Daumier French, 1808-1879