Image Not Available
for La Déclaration de Damoclès from Actualités
La Déclaration de Damoclès from Actualités
Creator
Honoré Daumier
(French, 1808 - 1879)
Datec. 1870
Mediumlithograph on paper
DimensionsImage: 23.8 x 20.4 cm (9 3/8 x 8 1/16 in.)
Overall (sheet): 30.4 x 25.8 cm (11 15/16 x 10 3/16 in.)
Overall (sheet): 30.4 x 25.8 cm (11 15/16 x 10 3/16 in.)
Credit LineGift of Robert Hunter, 1936
Category
- Prints
Object number2395
ProvenanceIn this image, the statesman, Emille Ollivier (1825-1913), offers a bouquet of flowers to an allegorical figure representing the majority vote in France. Ollivier, the Minister of Justice in 1870, is meant to be exposed as a liar. His offer is not sincere, since a snake rises out of his bouquet, frightening the allegorical figure in the process. Many Frenchmen feared that Parliament would be dissolved if Ollivier’s cabinet would take charge. The reference to Damocles in the caption, the Greek mythological figure, is to evoke that peril may come to those in power. This print dates from a time period during which Daumier primarily produced allegorical images (1869-1871).
LocationNot currently on display
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