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Image Not Available for Ô Maître Bilboquet, nous sommes flambés, ces farceurs là vont nous prendre note public. – Ne crains rien Gringallet, ce n’est point de la concurrence, c’est de la haute comédie!!! from Les Saltimbanques
Ô Maître Bilboquet, nous sommes flambés, ces farceurs là vont nous prendre note public. – Ne crains rien Gringallet, ce n’est point de la concurrence, c’est de la haute comédie!!! from Les Saltimbanques
Image Not Available for Ô Maître Bilboquet, nous sommes flambés, ces farceurs là vont nous prendre note public. – Ne crains rien Gringallet, ce n’est point de la concurrence, c’est de la haute comédie!!! from Les Saltimbanques

Ô Maître Bilboquet, nous sommes flambés, ces farceurs là vont nous prendre note public. – Ne crains rien Gringallet, ce n’est point de la concurrence, c’est de la haute comédie!!! from Les Saltimbanques

Creator Honoré Daumier (French, 1808 - 1879)
Date1839
Mediumlithograph on paper
DimensionsOverall (sheet): 27.3 x 36 cm (10 3/4 x 14 3/16 in.)
Credit LineAnonymous Gift, 1971
Category
  • Prints
Object number70/370
ProvenanceIn the foreground of this print, a mountebank, Gringallet, complains to his colleague, Bilboquet, because other men have taken over their performing space in front of La Bourse. Noticeable amongst this group of men is the fictional character, Robert Macaire, who stands above the crowd holding up a sign (Daumier represented Macaire in over 100 lithographs during the 1830s in a series called La Caricaturana). Bilboquet tries to reassure Gringallet that the group of men who occupy their space are but simple fools, comedians. This comment is humorous, because Gringallet and Bilboquet are comedic characters who appeared in Theophile Dumersan’s play Les Saltimbanques. They are the comedians, but by saying that Macaire and his entourage are fools, the print is attacking Louis-Philippe’s government and the financial system. Daumier characterized Macaire as a rogue who stood for the corrupted nature of the King’s regime after the 1835 – after the September 1835 censorship laws were enacted.
LocationNot currently on display

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