Les Invalides du Sentiment: A été "jeune premier"
1853
Medium
Lithograph in black on cream wove paper
Dimensions
Image: 21.8 × 18.5 cm (8 5/8 × 7 5/16 in.); Sheet: 36.5 × 26.8 cm (14 3/8 × 10 9/16 in.)
Classification
lithograph
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
27467
Art Historical Context
Paul Gavarni's *Les Invalides du Sentiment: A été "jeune premier"* (1853) is a witty lithograph that captures the satirical spirit of mid-19th-century Parisian society. Gavarni, a master caricaturist and illustrator for journals like *Le Charivari*, specialized in lithographs that poked fun at the follies of love, fashion, and social climbing. This black-ink print on cream wove paper, measuring about 21.8 × 18.5 cm, belongs to his series *Les Invalides du Sentiment*, which humorously portrays "emotional invalids"—those scarred by romantic disappointments. The subtitle "A été 'jeune premier'" a...
About the Artist
Paul Gavarni
Paul Gavarni, born Sulpice Guillaume Chevalier on January 13, 1804, in Paris to a cooper father from Burgundy and mother Marie-Monique Thiémet—whose brother, painter Guillaume Thiémet, served as his godfather—began his career far from the art world. As a youth, he worked in a machine factory and studied mechanical drawing at the Conservatoire des Arts et Métiers in 1818, followed by evening classe...