Gros, gras et........Constitutionnel

 

Honore Daumier

  1808 - 1897 (biography)

1833  

lithograph 

10 7/16 x 9 3/8" image, without text 

signed "Daumier" in the stone, lower left 

not limited 

Lower left: "Chez Aubert, galerie vero dodat", center: "B.71"; lower right: "L. deBecquet, rue Fursenberg 6" 

Delteil 176 ; HD 441; DR 176 

antique-white wove 

ii/ii 

Philipon for Charivari, November 19, 1833 

17503 

SOLD

This print shows that the King and the conservative newspaper "Le Constitutionnel" are the same. The bourgeoisie is a sleepy overweight man; his cap is covering his eyes, showing that this paper has no outlook into the future. A bottle of wine and a glass on the table, but most importantly, the cross of the Legion of Honor, the dream of every bourgeois of the period. The subject, Charles Guillaume Etienne (1777 - 1845) was an important journalist and author. He wrote the libretto for the opera “La Joconde” (music by Nicolo, 1814) and in 1811 became member of the Académie Française, an honour which was revoked in 1815. He served as a Deputy for his district Meuse from 1820 -1824 and again from 1827-1839. He was directing the paper “Le Constitutionnel”, preceding Véron, and was politically linked to Guizot. He was a well known journalist and founder of the newspaper “L'Indépendent”, which later changed its name to “Le Constitutionnel”. He was a favourite target for the caricaturists of the Charivari, who described him as being “ fat, big…. and constitutional”. Daumier depicted him in his busts as well as in his lithographs with chubby cheeks, puffy eyes and thriving in self-satisfaction. Etienne can be considered a converted Bonapartist, a benefactor of Thiers. Under his management, the Constitutionnel became the government organ. His influence was remarkable, since newspaper reading at that time was an institution, not an amusement. Taken from “The Daumier Register”, Dieter and Lilian Noack.