Les Propos de Thomas Vireloque: The old story, my lambkins
1852
Medium
Lithograph in black on cream wove paper
Dimensions
Image: 19 × 16 cm (7 1/2 × 6 5/16 in.); Sheet: 34.4 × 24.7 cm (13 9/16 × 9 3/4 in.)
Classification
lithograph
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
10993
Art Historical Context
Paul Gavarni's *Les Propos de Thomas Vloque: The old, my lambkins* (1852) is a charming lithograph capturing the wit and whimsy of mid-19th-century French culture. Created in black ink on cream wove paper, the intimate image measures just 19 × 16 cm, while the full sheet spans 34.4 × 24.7 cm—perfect for affordable reproduction and display in Parisian homes or journals. Housed in the Art Institute of Chicago's Prints Drawings Department, this piece exemplifies Gavarni's mastery lithography, a technique he helped popularize for its fluid lines and tonal subtlety, allowing artists to mimic drawin...
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...