Une lecture intéressante et rafraichissante1854
A balding man in spectacles sits by the water with his feet submerged, absorbed in his reading, while his companion beside him, feet likewise in the water, sits upright with her hands in her lap. More about this work
About this work
A balding man in spectacles sits by the water with his feet submerged, absorbed in his reading, while his companion beside him, feet likewise in the water, sits upright with her hands in her lap. His top hat waits on the ground. The caption calls it “an interesting and refreshing read”. Daumier delighted in the small comedies of middle-class Parisians on their days out, and in his lithographs for the satirical press a few loose, expressive crayon lines are enough to suggest an entire character.
Written by Ochre Editions.
What you’re looking at
The image shows two individuals seated outdoors near a body of water with their feet submerged. Both individuals are seen from head to toe. The person on the left is seated with a slightly hunched posture, reading a document or a book. They have a balding head, wear glasses, a dark suit with the coat draped over their knees, and a top hat placed on the ground. The individual on the right is sitting upright with a scarf over their hair. They wear a long dress with a shawl, and their hands rest on their lap. The background features a bare tree and a rough, sketched environment. The sky and landscape are depicted in shades of light and dark.
Description from the National Gallery of Art.
How it was made
- Lithograph
- Drawn on limestone with a greasy crayon or ink. The stone is kept damp, and the oily printing ink clings only to the drawing. Invented in the 1790s, it let artists print exactly as they drew.
Honoré Daumier
French, 1808–1879 · Born in Marseilles; died in Valmondois.
Daumier grew up in Paris after his family left Marseilles, and learned lithography as a young man. For some forty years he drew for satirical papers such as La Caricature and Le Charivari, producing around four thousand lithographs that mocked politicians, lawyers and the habits of the Parisian middle class; a caricature of King Louis-Philippe earned him six months in prison in 1832. His paintings and drawings, such as The Third-Class Carriage, treat ordinary people with deep sympathy.
Written by Ochre Editions.
Rights and the museum’s record
Public domain. The National Gallery of Art has dedicated this image to the public domain under CC0, so anyone may copy, adapt and use it, for any purpose, without asking. Our prints and files are reproductions made from the museum’s image; the museum doesn’t endorse them.
- Object number
- 2015.143.1157
- Credit
- Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
- Type
- Licence
- CC0 1.0 Universal
- Museum record
- See it on the museum’s site
Report this work
More by Honoré Daumier
All their works
Close in colour
