Interieur d'un omnibus [bottom half]
published 1864
Medium
wood engraving
Classification
Department
CG-E
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of Jan Rie Kist
Accession Number
1979.71.1.b
Art Historical Context
Step into the crowded underbelly of 19th-century Parisian life with *Interieur d'un omn [bottom half]*, a wood engraving published in 1864 by Charles Maurand afteré Daumier. This print zeroes in on the lower half of a horse-drawn omnibus interior, likely capturing the tangle of legs, feet, and baggage in a packed public conveyance—a quintessential scene of urban hustle during France's Second Empire. Honoré Daumier, a pioneering caricaturist and lithographer, excelled at skewering social inequalities with incisive humor. His works, often reproduced in popular journals like *Le Charivari*, chro...