Museum de 1933.

£2,750 · Offered by Maggs Bros Ltd

A fascinating print that appeared in the January 1833 edition of La Charge , a satirical magazine sponsored by the French government as a rival to the weekly La Caricature . The long caption in the lower margin sets the scene as an alien stumbles into a museum and admires the curious (laughable) relics from a century prior: “Un jour le Voyageur, aux Petites-Maisons / Où dorment les débris de tant de mirmidons, / Curieux d’admirer leur, risible dépouille, / En secouera gaiment la poussière et la rouille, / Et, pensant aux hauts-faits de ces nombreux zéros, / Avec hilarité contemplera leurs peaux.” Elizabeth Menon unpacks the image and its symbols in detail: “In the print, a voyager happens upon a collection of items in space suggesting a museum of natural history. These symbolic relics describe events, groups and individuals recognizable from the first years of the July Monarchy. The costume of Père Enfantin (the Saint-Simonist leader) a patriotic saw, the nose of a Republican, and the skin of a liberated woman are but a few symbolic items to be found here. The lobster in the upper right corner was a symbol for Charles X, the deposed King, who was accused of ‘walking backwards’ in terms of human rights and equality during his reign. The ‘patriotic saw’ likely referred to Persil (called ‘perscie’ in the satiric press) and his responsibility for censorship under Louis-Philippe. The ‘republican nose,’ reminiscent of costumes belonging to the Théâtre des Funambules , describes the

• Year: 1833

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