The Thieves and the Donkey, from "L'Artiste"

Art Historical Context

In the mid-19th century, Romantic artist Alexandre-Gabriel Dec captured dramatic, often humorous scenes inspired by fables and everyday life, blending Orientalist influences with vivid storytelling. *The Thieves and thekey*, created around 1849, is a lithograph on ch collé by Alphon-Charles Masson after Decamps' original design. Published in the influential art periodical *L'Artiste*, it exemplifies how prints democratized access to high art, allowing middle-class audiences to own reproductions of celebrated works. The image depicts a chaotic tussle among men wrestling over a donkey—likely nodding to Aesop's fable of thieves quarreling over stolen goods—rendered with Decamps' signature dynamic composition and expressive figures. Lithography, a revolutionary technique using greasy crayon on stone for fine tonal gradations, shines here on delicate chine collé paper (thin Chinese sheets glued to sturdy support), enhancing detail and luminosity. Measuring about 9 x 10 inches, this print from the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Drawings and Prints collection highlights the era's printmaking boom. A gift to the Met in 1963, it reflects 19th-century France's cultural fascination with moral tales and animal antics, inviting viewers to chuckle at human folly while appreciating masterful reproduction techniques.

About the Artist

Alexandre-Gabriel Decamps|Alphonse-Charles Masson · 1803–1860

Comment on works: genre