Honoré Daumier was born in Marseilles into the family of a glazier, who was fond of poetry and even wrote his own verses. In 1814, the family moved to Paris. Daumier started to study art in 1822 under the renowned artist and archaeologist Alexandre Lenoir. The financial situation forced Daumier to earn his living as a delivery boy, while at his spare time he sketched at the Louvre. About 1828, he learned the technique of lithography and began to work for small publishing houses. After the revolution of 1830 in the atmosphere of freedom of speech in France the role of mass media grew and the art of political satire flourished. In 1830, Daumier started to work for Philipon’s “Caricature” and “Le Charivari.”
1866 Au Palais (At the Court of Justice):
1866 Au Salon:
A caricaturist famous for his scathing social commentary, Daumier earned his reputation primarily as a draughtsman. It was not until a posthumous exhibition held in Paris in 1878 that his paintings gained wide recognition. While Daumier’s political cartoons are often pointed—savagely precise in their references and implications—many of his paintings rely on ambiguity and nuance. This unfinished composition has been variously identified as a dramatic scene of escape and a mundane illustration of a house painter at work. With its bold, graphic style and equivocal subject, this painting is among the most shockingly modern pictures produced in the mid-nineteenth century.
For more biographical notes see part 1, and for earlier works, see parts 1 - 16 also.
This is part 17 of a major 23-part series on the works of Honoré Daumier:
1866 Actualités (Current Affairs):
1866 Actualités (Current Affairs):
 |
| 1866 La Nouvelle Cendrillon lithograph 23.8 x 21.5 cm ( image ) Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Pasadena, CA |
 |
| 1866 No.7. Ce qu’on appelle le Royaume Uni lithograph on newsprint 44 x 30.6 cm ( sheet ) Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT |
 |
| 1866 No.11. Abusant de la liberté. lithograph 36 x 27 cm ( sheet ) Boston Public Library, MA |
 |
| 1866 No.17. Empedocle recevant… les honneurs divins… lithograph on newsprint 44 x 30.6 cm ( sheet ) Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT |
 |
| 1866 No.29. Décidément je lui ressemble! lithograph 36.8 x 27.7 cm ( image ) Musée Carnavalet, Histoire de Paris |
 |
| 1866 No.40. La Réforme électorale en Angleterre. Un des membres du Cabinet. lithograph 36.6 x 27.8 cm ( image ) Musée Carnavalet, Histoire de Paris |
 |
| 1866 No.41. Le Barbe bleue Prussien se disposant à occire une nouvelle chambre. lithograph 36.5 x 27.6 cm ( image ) Musée Carnavalet, Histoire de Paris |
 |
| 1866 No.42. Madame Gargantua lithograph 36.4 x 27.5 cm ( image ) Musée Carnavalet, Histoire de Paris |
 |
| 1866 No.56. Doctor, one moment, your cow does not have the disease? lithograph 24.5 x 20.1 cm ( image ) Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT |
 |
| 1866 No.87. Ah! Ça mais on ne voit rien dans votre Lanterne magique?… lithograph 30 x 27 cm ( sheet ) Boston Public Library, MA |
 |
| 1866 No.88. In Germany; Let's pack up everything, caution is the mother of wit lithograph on newsprint 29.7 x 29.4 cm ( sheet ) The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
 |
| 1866 No.89. Ah! Ça mais ils n'ont plus l'air de s'occuper de moi... lithograph 36 x 27 cm ( sheet ) Boston Public Library, MA |
 |
| 1866 No.137 Commençant à s'intéresser à la lecture des journaux. colour lithograph 36 x 28 cm ( sheet ) Boston Public Library, MA |
 |
| 1866 No.141. En chemin de fer: Madame a tire la sonnette d’alarme?… lithograph on newsprint 21 x 21 cm Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT. |
 |
| 1866 No.147. Une lecon d’anatomie politico-geographique. lithograph on newsprint 44 x 30.6 cm Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT |
 |
| 1866 No.189. - Le Temps a bien fait de l'arroser... Une année qui voulait mettre le feu à l'Europe. lithograph 36.3 x 27.8 cm ( image ) Musée Carnavalet, Histoire de Paris |
 |
| 1866 No.190. - Attendez... Il faut encore ceci pour que le poids y soit lithograph 36.1 x 27.8 cm ( image ) Musée Carnavalet, Histoire de Paris |
 |
| 1866 No.198. La presse réactionnaire cherchant en vain à mettre un bâton dans les roues. lithograph 35.7 x 28.1 cm ( image ) Musée Carnavalet, Histoire de Paris |
 |
| 1866 No.199. - Voyons, debout ! ... on nous regarde... lithograph 36 x 28 cm ( image ) Musée Carnavalet, Histoire de Paris |
 |
| 1866 No.200. - Il se plaint de rentrer, moi c'est le contraire... lithograph 36.2 x 27.6 cm ( image ) Musée Carnavalet, Histoire de Paris |
 |
| 1866 no.213. Le rêve de l'inventeur du fusil à aiguilles, le jour de la Toussaint lithograph 36.9 x 27.9 cm ( image ) Musée Carnavalet, Histoire de Paris |
 |
| 1866 No.214. - Inutile madame ! Votre voix n'empêchera pas la mienne. lithograph 37.4 x 27.4 cm ( image ) Musée Carnavalet, Histoire de Paris |
 |
| 1866 No.215. Au théâtre de la politique jamais la scène ne reste vide. lithograph 36.2 x 27.8 cm Musée Carnavalet, Histoire de Paris |
 |
| 1866 No.220. - By god ... ! Si l'Irlande prend maintenant ce drapeau là ? lithograph 36.8 x 27.7 cm ( image ) Musée Carnav alet, Histoire de Paris |
 |
| 1866 No.221. La Dame des Oeufs. lithograph 36.7 x 27.7 cm ( image ) Musée Carnavalet, Histoire de Paris |
1866 Au Palais (At the Court of Justice):
 |
| 1866 No.22. En délicatesse published in Petit Journal Pour Rire lithograph on newsprint 13.7 x 23.4 cm The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
 |
| 1866 No.74. Oh, you are.... ( guilty ) and what do you want me to do about it? published in Petit Journal Pour Rire lithograph on newsprint 14.5 x 23.2 cm The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
1866 Au Salon:
 |
| 1866 No.1. Partons, madame.. ces nudites sont revoltantes… lithograph on newsprint 43.5 x 30.8 cm ( sheet ) Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT |
 |
| 1865-70c Man Seated Reading in an Armchair oil on canvas 82.2 x 65 cm National Museum Wales, Cardiff, UK |
 |
| 1865-70c Orchestra Stalls oil on canvas 59.8 x 84.3 cm Cincinnati Art Museum, Ohio |
 |
| 1865-70c Sancho Panza Sitting Under a Tree oil on panel 46.2 x 36.8 cm Oskar Reinhart Collection, Winterthur, Switzerland |
 |
| 1865-70c The Painter oil on panel 41 x 32 cm Musée des Beaux-arts de Reims, France |
 |
| 1865-70c The Wrestler oil on panel 35 x 27 cm Thielska Galleriet, Stockholm, Sweden |
 |
| 1865-70c Two Heads watercolour and wash, pen and ink 9 x 17 cm |
 |
| 1865c A Criminal Case watercolour and gouache with pen, brown ink and black chalk 38.4 x 32.5 cm The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA |
 |
| 1865c A Man Reading in a Garden watercolour over black chalk, with pen and ink, brush and wash, and lithographic crayon 33.8 x 27 cm The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
 |
| 1865c A Third Class Carriage oil on board 26 x 33.5 cm National Museum Wales, Cardiff, UK |
 |
| 1865c Accusation pen and black ink and wash over black chalk 19.7 x 28.8 cm The Morgan Library and Museum, New York |
 |
| 1865c Deux Avocats pen and black ink over traces of black chalk 20.7 x 29.6 cm Victoria and Albert Museum, London |
 |
| 1865c Don Quixote and Sancho Panza oil on canvas 56 x 84 cm Payson, Charles Shipman, New York |
 |
| 1865c Don Quixote and Sancho Panza oil on panel 24 x 31 cm Musée des Beaux-Arts, Marseille, France |
 |
| 1865c Don Quixote and Sancho Panza Resting Under a Tree oil on panel 42.5 x 38.5 cm Ordrupgaard Samlingen, Charlottenlund, Copenhagen |
 |
| 1865c Don Quixote and Sancho Panza Under a Tree oil on canvas 41 x 33 cm Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen |
 |
| 1865c Family Scene pen and black ink, brush and grey wash on ivory wove paper 21.6 x 20.5 cm Art Institute of Chicago, IL |
 |
| 1865c Four People oil on panel 26.5 x 34 cm Private Collection |
 |
| 1865c Grand Staircase of the Palace of Justice pen, watercolour and gouache on paper Baltimore Museum of Art, MD |
 |
| 1865c Heads of Two Laughing Men 25 x 21.8 cm |
 |
| 1865c Leaving the Theatre oil on panel 33.3 x 41.2 cm San Diego Museum of Art, CA |
 |
| 1865c Mother with her Children oil on panel 35 x 26.5 cm National Museum Belgrade, Serbia |
 |
| 1865c The Amateur 54.2 x 41.8 cm Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam, Netherlands |
 |
| 1865c The Bell-Ringer oil on panel 34.9 x 27.3 cm Armand Hammer Daumier and Contemporaries Collection, Los Angeles, CA |
 |
| 1865c The Print Collectors oil on panel 27 x 36 cm Städtische Kunsthalle, Mannheim, Germany |
 |
| 1865c The Strong Man oil on wood panel 10.6 x 13.8 cm The Phillips Collection, Washington, DC |
 |
| 1865c The Third Class Carriage oil on panel 29.6 x 33.6 cm Manchester City Art Gallery, UK |
 |
| 1865c Third Class 23.2 x 33.7 cm Oskar Reinhart Collection, Winterthur, Switzerland |
 |
| 1865c Une confidence ( deux avocats ) pen and black and red ink over traces of black chalk on paper 24.7 x 19.4 cm © Victoria and Albert Museum, London |