1845
ink
From the collection of National Gallery of Art
Dominant colour
Avons saisi dito... un pot a eau, sans eau is a 1845 ink by Honoré Daumier, a Romanticism work, held at National Gallery of Art.
This sketch shows three men in a cramped room. One holds a rope tied to a noose, another reads a paper while looking confused, and the third sits on a stool, clutching a pot. The men wear old-fashioned hats and coats, and the room has simple furniture—a chair and a table. The scene looks tense, like something’s gone wrong. The title at the bottom reads *"Avons saisi dito... un pot à eau, sans eau"*—which roughly means they "seized a water pot... without water." It’s a funny jab at the men’s bungled job. Next, check out lithography, the printing method Daumier used to make sharp, fast sketches like this.
Honoré-Victorin Daumier was a French painter, sculptor, and printmaker, whose many works offer commentary on the social and political life in France, from the Revolution of 1830 to the fall of the Second French Empire in 1870.
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