Paul GAVARNI (1804-1866) - Lot 68

Paul GAVARNI (1804-1866) Mademoiselle Monarchie / Félicité Désirée - Cartoon, 1832 Watercolor and ink wash, signed lower left 17 x 19.5 cm Inscribed in pencil on the back of the frame: "(..) Mademoiselle Monarchie / Félicie Désirée keeps men weaned, shears them, cuts them, educates them and makes them happy, all at a good price". An HT plate published in La Caricature morale, religieuse, littéraire et scénique, volume 4, July 26, 1832 (Plate no. 182) is preserved in the collections of the Maison de Balzac in Paris. Maison de Balzac comments: "Criticism of the monarchical system. An old woman with glasses, embodying the monarchy, sits on a wicker cage containing small figures. She holds a knife in her left hand, with which she is about to cut off the head of a naked man, whom she is holding in her right hand. To the right, a jar of heads floating in a liquid stained with blood. Next to it, a ditch where the bodies are thrown. Two figures stand under lamps. One, a lawyer, seems to be ordering the old woman to kill the man. The other, a priest, appears to be in prayer. Denunciation of arrests (prison represented by the wicker cage) and executions. Ironically, the explanation states: "There is no need to say that we are dealing here with absolute and tyrannical royalty, as seen in other parts of the globe. It will never occur to anyone that we wanted to represent a monarchy surrounded by republican institutions". In this way, La Caricature equates the absolute monarchy of the ancien régime and the July monarchy in terms of injustice and fierce repression. According to La Caricature, both were equal, since the July monarchy did not embrace republican principles. "