Study of Reverence for the Quadrille of the Lancers, plate 380 from Actualités
Medium
Lithograph in black on white wove paper
Dimensions
Image: 20.4 × 24.8 cm (8 1/16 × 9 13/16 in.); Sheet: 26.4 × 35.2 cm (10 7/16 × 13 7/8 in.)
Classification
lithograph
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
79985
Art Historical Context
Honoré Daumier, the renowned 19th-century French caricist and lithographer, captures the elegant yet absurd world of Parisian high society in his *Study of Reverence for theille of the Lancers (plate 380 fromActualités*), created in 1857. This lithograph depicts a poised figure mid-reverence—a formal bow or curtsy from the Lancers quadrille, a popular square dance of the era derived from British military traditions and all the rage in Second Empire ballrooms. Daumier's sharp eye for human folly turns this social ritual into a humorous study of stiff formality and pretension. Published amid th...
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...