“- All right Rigobert, my old friend.... we are going to make a long trip today.... did you bring enough provisions on board of our vessel? - Don't talk about it.... all I was able to bring along are two biscuits and a red herring,” plate 1 from Les Canotiers Parisiens
Medium
Lithograph in black on buff wove paper
Dimensions
Image: 24.6 × 19.5 cm (9 11/16 × 7 11/16 in.); Sheet: 34.2 × 25.5 cm (13 1/2 × 10 1/16 in.)
Classification
lithograph
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
61106
Art Historical Context
Honoré Daumier’s 1843 lithograph opens a witty window onto mid-nineteenth-century Parisian leisure. The print belongs to the series *Les Canotiers Parisiens*, which gently mocks the city’s growing enthusiasm for recreational boating on the Seine In the dialogue inscribed below the image, two would-be sailors cheerfully prepare for a “long trip,” only to reveal that their entire larder consists of two biscuits and a red herring—an amusing commentary on the gap between romantic aspiration and everyday reality. Working in the newly popular medium of lithography, Daumier could circulate such obse...
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...