Daumier, Honoré (1808-1879)
Les Ribaudes (The Ribalds)
1848–1849
Oil on canvas, 128.9 x 96.5 cm
Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia
Honoré Daumier was one of the greatest caricaturists of the 19th century, creating thousands of keenly observed images of Parisian social types. This painting is actually a study for a more complex work, The Miller, His Son, and the Ass (Burrell Collection, Glasgow), based on a fable in which a traveling father and son are continuously harassed by passersby. Here, however, Daumier focuses not on the main subjects but on their hecklers, conveying the rudeness of their behavior through clumsy, contorted body language. (BF)