“- Adelaide, Adelaide.. I think I can see the comet coming!!... - Oh my God... this is the end of the world.... how annoying. They promised it wouldn't come until June 13!,” plate 31 from Croquis Parisiens
February 18, 1857
Medium
Lithograph in black on ivory wove paper
Dimensions
Image: 20.4 × 25.9 cm (8 1/16 × 10 1/4 in.); Sheet: 25.2 × 36 cm (9 15/16 × 14 3/16 in.)
Classification
lithograph
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
3400
Art Historical Context
Honoré Daumier, a master of 19th-century French satire, captures the absurdities of Parisian life in thisograph from his *Croquis Parisiens*. Published on February 18, 1857, plate 31 a comically panicked couple—likely a bourgeois pair—gazing skyward as the husband exclaims about an impending comet, only for his wife to lament its untimely arrival before June 13. Titled “- Adelaide, Adelaide.. think I can see the coming!!... - Oh my God... this is the end of the world.... how annoying. They promised it wouldn't come until June 13!,” the work skewers apocalyptic hysteria and petty complaints ami...
About the Artist
Honoré-Victorin Daumier · 1808–1879
Honoré-Victorin Daumier (1808-1879) was a prolific French printmaker, caricaturist, painter, and sculptor whose works offered incisive commentary on the social and political life of 19th-century France. Known as the 'Michelangelo of Caricature,' Daumier produced over 4,000 lithographs, 500 paintings, 1,000 drawings, and 100 sculptures during his lifetime. His biting political satire led to his imp...